Author: Charli K. Matthews

If I am the hub in the wheel of industrial social media, then who am I connected to, how are we connected, and where are we going?

I found this illustration amazing. It does describe me and my vision for the future quite well. When I read it for the first time, I could see the wheels turning. Yes, wheels because let’s be honest – we cannot move industry ahead by ourselves. I have found that I can’t even move my company forward without help. My team is essential to the growth of my company brands as well as my personal development. I think all leaders need to learn this, first by being involved, and then by doing.  I am a strong believer that the customer is first and right. I also believe my employees are the ones who are taking care of those customers so it is my responsibility to care for them…putting them first!

So you can see the connection to employees in this wheel… but what or who is with us?  I have been very fortunate in my career to have resources available to me that have taught me, among other things, the basics of business. I am also grateful for my partners that have given me much needed advice and guidance throughout my journey. This is the first spoke in the wheel. I believe paying attention to the needs of our clients and listening to their challenges is one of the best ways of gaining the much needed insight the industry needs to grow.

Second on my list is media. Obviously, I am partial to Empowering Pumps & Equipment, but we also have great relationships with many other media partners; each outlet with its own vision and audience. This leads us to our media outlets partners, which includes public relations firms, advertising agencies, and content marketing firms. Created content is vital in today’s landscape. You MUST have compelling stories to tell and they must be relatable to your perspective audiences. This is where associations, governments, and other organizations can help us. They have a collective voice that should make your storytelling stronger, allowing you to influence through real data and a common mission. At Empowering Pumps & Equipment, our mission is to connect, inform, and educate the pump systems community. We would never be able to do this without all the people I mentioned. Specifically, we also wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet our online friends without events.

Events, trade shows, and conferences are the best way to see a connected group with a common goal, and most of the time the common goal is learning. Archiving and passing along knowledge through educational and mentoring programs is essential to help our future workforce. This is not new, although we do have a unique challenge with the ‘baby boomers’ retiring in droves. Luckily, they are hard workers and are willing to stay engaged by being consultants, mentors, and educators.

On the other hand, our manufacturers must pay attention to important issues such as safety, reliability, and efficiency. They must look at the data and evaluate the true cost of ownership and then evaluate how to make an investment on the future of their businesses productivity and sustainability. They must pay attention to the amount of waste they generate and learn more effective and efficient ways to reuse the resources that they are consuming. I truly believe that this will lead to success, not only for the manufacture but also for the consumer. The more efficient and productive our pumping systems become, the more effective our communities can become in enhancing the quality of life. At the end of the day, we are all working together to sustain life. At Empowering Pumps & Equipment, we focus a lot of our efforts on the things that are vital to life… not surprisingly somewhere along the line most of these things have a pump attached to them. For this reason, I see how the industrial side fits into the title of this post.

Now, if we take this one step further and look at the social media element, we find that it has made it easier to almost immediately connect with all of these segments. I love the quote I saw on Instagram by Sara Beth Rosa: “Social media is a Conversation. Social Media is Customer Service, Social Media is Advertising, Social Media is Connectedness.” If anything, being the hub in the wheel of industrial social media has made me appreciate the spirit of Connectedness and the power of Connecting for Purpose.

I have to thank Bill for giving me such a great title. I accept the challenge to continue to be the HUB.  Now… where should we go next?