The Thomas Blog

7 Social Media Mistakes Industrial Companies Need To Avoid

When done right, maintaining an active social media presence can have a significant impact on your business, helping to increase web traffic, establish stronger relationships with customers, and, perhaps most importantly, increase revenue. Social media should therefore be a pivotal part of your inbound marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, when not done right, social media can still make an impact on your business — but not in a good way. One social snafu can cost you customers and do serious damage to your brand’s reputation, as you’ll see in the examples below.

Avoid these setbacks by steering clear of these seven common social media mistakes: 

Video: Fruit And Animals Will Pave The Way For Safer Industrial Equipment

Safety on the shop floor is about to get better, and you can thank fruits and animals for their help. Groundbreaking research from BMW's Bio-Inspired-Safety Systems (BISS) Consortium is leading the way to create new safety prototypes based off of natural models. 

Manufacturing Industry Jobs Update: June 2017

At THOMASNET.com, we are big champions of American manufacturing and reshoring. In fact, we work with suppliers who produce amazing products made in America every day, and we play an instrumental role in helping small- and medium-sized suppliers grow.

But how can we measure growth for the industry overall? A good barometer is the state of the manufacturing workforce. That’s why we will be regularly diving deep into the latest information from the Bureau Of Labor Statistics to take the pulse of hiring in the industry and to highlight sectors that are growing.

Here is our Manufacturing Industry Jobs Update for June 2017 (scroll down for previous releases):

Bringing Manufacturing Back To The U.S.: A Discussion With Thomas CEO Tony Uphoff

Manufacturing is essential to the American economy. Every 100 jobs in a manufacturing facility creates 250 jobs in other sectors. Unfortunately, however, many of these manufacturing jobs – as many as two million according to estimates — will go unfilled over the next ten years.

To combat the problem and close the skills gap, the federal government is investing in apprenticeship programs. 

Forklift Sourcing 101: Know Your Options, Save Money

Though they serve as critical elements in many material handling operations, forklifts can come with many potential hidden costs, such as maintenance and operator salary — in total, costs can reach as high as $250,000 annually per machine!

Despite these expenditures, more and more companies are making use of forklifts; a recent Peerless Research Group survey of material handling managers found that 69% of respondents planned to acquire a new forklift in the near future, with a per-respondent average of seven planned purchases, up from six the year prior.

The Shift To Electric Vehicles Is Accelerating – And Suppliers Should Take Notice

While electric vehicles (EVs) account for less than 1% of all vehicles sold in the United States today, two new forecasts show that this number will skyrocket in the years ahead. The shift will have a profound impact on automakers and their suppliers.

Should I Advertise On Thomasnet.com? Hear Reviews From Other Business Owners

Whether you are a product and component manufacturer, capital equipment manufacturer, custom manufacturer, service company or industrial distributor, advertising on Thomasnet can help you connect with the B2B buyers and engineers you need to grow your business. In fact, a supplier is evaluated by a buyer every seconds on our platform!

We've helped hundreds of thousands of manufacturing and industrial companies like yours generate exposure, leads and new business, and we can help you do the same. 

If you're thinking about advertising on Thomasnet.com and wondering how it works, check out what some of our customers have to say. 

Three Ways You Can Help Close The Skills Gap

Manufacturing is one of the main contributors to economic growth in the U.S. and Americans know its value. In fact, 83% of Americans believe manufacturing is important to America’s prosperity. Unfortunately, young professionals are currently less interested in the manufacturing industry. 

MIT's Drones Pave The Way For Flying Cars

For years, movies about the future have featured flying cars, and today we're closer to seeing them become reality. However, while the concept of flying cars is tremendously exciting, it could become a nightmare.

That's because, without the safety mechanisms we take for granted on the road today – traffic lights, stop signs, speed limits, etc. — the risk of crashes and collisions is very high.