This is the fourth installment in our on-going series on Social Media for Manufacturing.  This is an extension of a recent seminar Web Marketing Manager Carmen Fontana gave on the topic for the Cleveland manufacturing association, WIRE-net. While geared towards industrial companies, many of the principles can be applied to businesses of all types.

Even if you do not plan to engage in all (or any!) of the major Social Media channels soon, you should still claim your spot on them.

Why?  It’s simple.  If you don’t do it, someone else will.  “Someone” could be a competitor, an unrelated company with a similar name, or even just a well-meaning customer or employee. 
In the first two instances, it can be a long and painful process to establish your rightful ownership and regain your spot. 

In the later instance, you could lose control over the messaging and content.  In our experience, regaining ownership from an employee or customer is sometimes more difficult than regaining it from another company.

Here are a few tips to get you started on claiming your spot in the Social Media space:

• Blogging – Check with your company’s web master to see if your website software platform already has blogging capabilities.  If not, sign up for a very economical blogging package such as WordPress or Tumblr.  Either way, make sure your IT team sets up a custom URL for your blog. For example, blog.acme.com or www.acme.com/blog
• LinkedIn – If you do not already have a personal account, set one up.  Once that’s done, set up an account for your company at set up an account for your company
  
• YouTube – Set up an account on YouTube.
• Twitter – Set up an account on Twitter.  If possible, try to use your full company name.  If it’s too long or already taken, try a common abbreviated version.
• Facebook – If you don’t already have a personal account, set one up.  Once that’s done, create a "Company" page .  After you have 25 “likes” you can request a custom Facebook URL.  For example, you can request that your company Facebook URL be www.facebook.com/acmecorp instead of the default www.facebook.com/dsfksdfh?/efksdfsdf/acmecorp/asfcksf.  Not only is it easier to remember, it looks more professional on printed materials.

Next installment: The Social Media Process: Step 2, Listen & Learn