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According to the latest data from Pew Research Center, 69% of U.S. adults are now social media users, and that number jumps to an astonishing 86% for the 18to 29-year-old age group. As such, savvy business owners in all sectors are using the power of social media to extend their marketing reach, and the flooring industry is no exception. Flooring manufacturers realized early on that social media is a great platform for such a highly visual industry, and now many flooring contractors are also getting great results from social media.
We sat down with Reva Revis, who manages the Fuse Alliance social media program, and five Fuse members whose companies are at different points in their social media journeys, to better understand how they're using social media, what platforms and tools they recommend, and what advice they have for other flooring contractors considering using social media as a marketing tool.
The panel included Patrick Sandomenico, general manager, Flooring Solutions, Inc., San Francisco Bay Area; Danielle Noss, director of business development, Commercial Interior Resources (CIR), Orange County, Calif.; Rachel Iannarino, vice president of marketing, Continental Office, Columbus, Ohio; Jerry Kenney, vice president of operations, One Source Commercial Flooring, Dallas; and Jill Hoffman, accounting/ human resources, River City Flooring in western Michigan.
FT: When did you or your organization start using social media and why?
Sandomenico: We started using social media in 2015 as a way to communicate to and educate customers about the commercial flooring business. Most of our team is active on social media personally and was supportive of our decision to start using it for our business.
Noss: CIR originally started using Facebook and Instagram occasionally in 2015, but it wasn't until a few months ago that CIR started having the robust social media presence that you see today. Everyone was definitely in favor of it, but there was not a designated person to handle it until I was hired in March to spearhead it.
Iannarino: When I joined Continental four years ago, we had very small followings and sporadic activity on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We refocused our efforts and were able to grow those communities and add Instagram and YouTube. We grew our Facebook community by 138% and increased our reach by...