Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/713205
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • July-August 2016 37 puts most of its energy into Facebook and YouTube. "Twitter started out strong but we no longer even use it, as it has gone down in all aspects of public interest, at least for our purposes," says Laga. "In order to get people to our site, Facebook has had the greatest return on investment." On YouTube, Nazareth Pallet shares videos about pallets, mulch-making, and company-sponsored events. Nazareth Pallet works closely with the firm to come up with content ideas. The company takes those ideas and turns them into blog posts and videos. The firm will also suggest posts, especially when they're indirectly related to the industry. For instance, stories about upcycling pallets, sustainability and conservation are part of the scope. Laga says that general audiences are most likely to respond to posts when they are in the form of contests. One of the most popular posts took the form of a quiz. The company published a photo of its new snow rake and asked followers to guess, "What is this?" Similarly, a video on the company's YouTube site demonstrates how mulch is made. Employees and their families and friends respond to stories and photos from company-wide events. Posts about equipment and manufacturing are especially popular. "Everyone seems to comment about how interesting it is to see how pallets are made or how mulch is produced," says Laga. Most of the company's approach to social media is educational. Unlike traditional advertising, which emphasizes products, this approach seeks to engage followers for long-term branding. "Part of the premise is that we're not promoting ourselves directly. We're promoting pallet recycling," says Laga. Rose Pallet Since national pallet provider Rose Pallet opened its doors five years ago, it has experienced tremendous growth in sales and infrastructure. Social media marketing has been part of its business development plan since day one. "We just think in this day and age, social media is important," says Amy Angellotti, vice president of Rose Pallet. "We weren't too strategic in the beginning. We just knew social media was the way of the future and we wanted to be a part of that space." In some ways, starting from scratch made it easier to incorporate social media, but that doesn't mean that it's easy. "It's a lot of work and we spend a good amount of money. It's not free," she says. Most of the company's approach to social media is educational. Unlike traditional adver tising, which emphasizes products, this approach seeks to engage followers for long-term branding. — Ken Laga, Nazareth Pallet How Two Industry Leaders Engage Online Followers