I see a lot of automation companies and suppliers creating Facebook pages these days and I was wondering what you all think of that. Full disclosure (I REALLY don't wanna violate the posting guidelines), I'm in marketing and I'm trying to find out for a client, but I imagine there are a lot of other people in this group who would like to know this type of information. Anyway, thanks in advance for any insight you might be able to give me!

Here are some other questions if you're feeling particularly helpful

Do you use Facebook to engage with your suppliers?

If so, why do you follow them and do you find it worthwhile?

How frequently to you visit their page?

What sort of information would you find valuable on a supplier's Facebook page?

 

NEVER!
If I had a supplier who demanded it I would find a different supplier.

I have no intentions of signing up to FB or Tritter.

 

I don't use FB or other public social media to interact with suppliers. I do use their web sites and blogs extensively (web sites more than blogs). I also allow those I am interested in to email me stuff.

--
Bob

 

A significant portion of our new business does indeed come from the internet (including this site, that's why we use it). However, Facebook is not our preferred tool - Its a social media tool for individuals not a marketing tool and it doesn't contact the market we are interested in so its return on investment is extremely small.

Of course that doesn't mean that it won't work, and since it's basically free then any return at all is better than none. As long as you don't spend more than a couple of hours creating an account then you've got nothing to loose. Obviously as you can see from at least one other post - <b>forcing</b> someone to use a tool they don't like will have quite a negative effect.

Rob
www[.]lymac.co.nz

 

I'd have trust issues with an engineering product based company investing heavily in a social media website. Its bad enough that some sites require logins just to view a datasheet so salespeople can hound you.

KEJR

 

According to the suppliers, the answer is yes. After all, otherwise why would they do it?

Walt

Walt Boyes, FInstMC, Chartered Measurement and Control Technologist
Life Fellow, International Society of Automation
Editor in Chief, Control and ControlGlobal.com
[email protected]

 

And you don't have to. Nobody I know is going to "demand" that you do. There are, however, significant numbers of people who do use Facebook and _Twitter_ to interact with their peers and with suppliers, as well as LinkedIn.

For the supplier it is all about contacting their customers in ALL the ways they can, so they can find their customers the way the customers want to be found.

Walt

Walt Boyes, FInstMC, Chartered Measurement and Control Technologist
Life Fellow, International Society of Automation
Editor in Chief, Control and ControlGlobal.com
[email protected]

 

Andy, while I applaud your ingenuity, I think you should go to a polling website, create the poll and then post it here. Answering your questions will certainly clutter up the list.

Walt Boyes, FInstMC, Chartered Measurement and Control Technologist
Life Fellow, International Society of Automation
Editor in Chief, Control and ControlGlobal.com
[email protected]