East Greenbush, NY (March 6, 2012) – Social media activity by engineering, technical, manufacturing and industrial professionals continues to rise according to the latest results from GlobalSpec’s third annual survey of social media usage in the industrial sector. While traditional sources like search engines, websites and trade publications continue to be viewed as most valuable for industrial professionals conducting work-related research, social media is seen as a key tool to keep apprised of the latest company and product news and technologies.

Based on this research, GlobalSpec has made a number of recommendations for manufacturers, distributors and service providers that market their products and services to the industrial sector.

“If your target audience is industrial professionals, you’ll want to develop a social media presence, if you haven’t done so already,” said Chris Chariton, senior vice president, product management & supplier marketing for GlobalSpec. “Industrial professionals are adopting social media channels in increasing numbers and spending more time on these platforms for work-related tasks. However social media should never replace established marketing initiatives; these efforts should complement one another.”

Some key findings include:

• In just the past year, participation on LinkedIn grew from 37 percent to 55 percent.
• Sixty-six percent have a Facebook account and, of that group, 60 percent follow (i.e. “like”) businesses within their industry and nearly 40 percent participate in work-related discussions.
• Nearly 30 percent of industrial professionals have already created Google+ accounts.
• Twitter is seeing the slowest adoption rates with just 22 percent saying they use the platform and 61 percent indicating that they are “not at all likely” to sign up.
• Keeping up to date on the latest company and product news and technologies is the most popular use of social media, with 61 percent of respondents saying they’ve utilized social media for that purpose.
• Watching videos is the most frequent way respondents say they participate in social media, performing that activity a “few times a month.”

Along with the results from the latest research, the report also offers recommendations for industrial suppliers on how to:

• develop a vision and define goals for their social media campaigns
• begin exploring social media tools
• integrate social media into their current marketing efforts

The complete results from the Social Media Use in the Industrial Sector research is available for download on the GlobalSpec website.

About GlobalSpec, Inc.
GlobalSpec, Inc. is the leading provider of digital media solutions designed to connect industrial marketers with their target audience of engineering, technical, industrial, scientific and manufacturing sector professionals. GlobalSpec provides its registered users with a domain-expert search engine to search more than 50,000 supplier catalogs by specification, a broad range of proprietary and aggregated Web-based content, over 15 annual online events, and more than 70 e-newsletters - helping them search for and locate products and services, learn about suppliers and access comprehensive technical content. For suppliers, GlobalSpec helps generate awareness, demand and engagement opportunities among the professionals they are looking to reach – from inbox to desktop, through networks and via real-time engagement.

Contact:
Amber Cooleen
Senior Product Marketing Manager
518.880.0200 ext. 5338
E-mail: amber.cooleen@ihs.com

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