Disqus - Latest Comments for smwade

Re: geek in white

smwade — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:57:25 -0000

wow! that's beautiful!

Re: DIYP: Make a Cottage Shelf from a Shutter

smwade — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:23:02 -0000

now THAT'S awesome. Great ingenuity using those traditionals for something other than holding the wall up ;-)

Re: Social Media in Manufacturing

smwade — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:41:36 -0000

Great article, David. I've been pondering this myself as our manufacturing company, Sewell Shutters, Inc, has a customer base of people who are not very interested in social media. I'm constantly watching myself to ensure I'm spending my time producing good content instead of trying to convince people to use social media.

My overall marketing strategy is two-fold. Short-term, I'm trying to convince dealers to sell my product. Long-term, I'm trying to establish brand recognition among consumers who will then ASK for our product. To establish our brand requires a) getting our name out and b) establishing credibility.

David, I absolutely love the point about writing content that answers questions. That's why one of the best places to find blog or article ideas is in your email's SENT folder. People ask great questions all the time; I find it most beneficial to post in depth answers on our website (www.sewellshutters.com) and then refer people to it - where hopefully they'll look around and consider partnering with us as a dealer or (if they are a homeowner) purchasing from one of our dealers.

At Sewell Shutters, my social media strategy is simply to "be in the right place at the right time with the right answer to the question." For example, I have my RSS reader downloading industry related tweets in real time. The other day, my reader alerted me to somebody asking how to repaint their existing shutters. In 280 characters (e.g. two tweets) I responded to him (via our corporate twitter account @sewellshutters) with some very specific instructions. I plan to expand that response to be a full blog post that I can refer people to later.

On LinkedIn, I've created a Plantation Shutters group that hosts interior designers, home furnishing retailers, homebuilders, and other window covering professionals. I regularly submit articles of interest to them. LinkedIn is the only (professional) social networking site I actively encourage my client base to join. Those that accept my invitations primarily do so to become part of our Shutters group. Right now I'm in the middle of working on a deal between our company and new dealer whom I met in the group.

Thus far, Facebook has been the biggest money maker for me. In one instance I was visiting Boston when a buddy called and said a friend of his on Facebook had posted a question about finding a reputable plantation shutter company. Again, I was at the right place at the right time with the right answer to a question. I quickly added the lady as a friend on Facebook, adding a note that a mutual friend had pointed me to her question and I was standing by to help her. I connected her with a local dealer of ours, and a sale was made!

Another Facebook story: I wrote a blog profiling a friend's tech firm. One of the employees at that company posted a link to my blog as her status on Facebook. A friend of hers saw that link and commented: "Did a shutter company REALLY write this?" She went on to say she was in need of shutters, and my friend referred her to me to find a local dealer for her.

Thanks for reading the short novel I've written here :)
If you have any other questions on how social media fits into my overall marketing strategy, don't hesitate to email me at smwade@sewellshutters.com

Stephen Wade

Re: Social Media – Over Hyped?

smwade — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:17:11 -0000

I'm glad somebody recognizes that Social Media is simply another utensil in the marketing tool belt. I attended a seminar in Plano the other night where a marketer I greatly respect was speaking on social media. What fascinated me is that there were hordes of non-marketers present to learn how to get rich using new media. I almost wanted to scream. Basically, if you don't know marketing, then your skill at utilizing social media will be mediocre at best, or you'll simply resort to "advertweeting" (e.g. spamming).

Learn how to appropriately market your product. Become a member of the online community. Don't abuse what's intended to be a fun social network for the sake of trying to make money.

As far as Twitter receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, I respectfully disagree with that notion in the same way I'd disagree with giving an artistic award to the paintbrush that decorated the Sistine chapel.

Bottom line: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. are all great online communities that enhance my relationships. If people need what I sell, I've made our company easy to find through these networks, but I'll log us off if I ever feel we're abusing the privilege of being there and damaging other people's enjoyment of the sites.

Learn how to market before you begin Tweeting! Learn to drive before getting behind the wheel!