David Stevens, managing director of the Tire Retread and Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), gave a presentation on branding, marketing and social media to attendees at the Louisiana Independent Tire Dealers Association's (LITDA) annual convention and trade show held in New Orleans.
Stevens discussed branding and how companies need to work harder to ensure every customer interaction is an accurate reflection of their company's values. If not, they'll find your company discussed in negative ways across multiple media outlets for the world to see.
He also discussed how companies need to look for ways to be different from competitors and to have ongoing discussions with employees and customers about what the brand stands for, and to constantly try to innovate and test new things in order to not fall behind competitors that are successfully doing those things.
He also discussed social media statistics, stating that people spend 500 billion minutes on Facebook every month, 42% of companies are recruiting employees on Twitter, Dell generated $6.5 million in sales from Twitter in 2009 and U.S. companies will spend $3 billion on marketing in 2011 on social networking sites.
In other TRIB news, the group has announced that it will hold its Annual Membership Meeting in Louisville, Ky., on March 29, 2011. In addition to normal business, the group will be voting to adopt a new set of bylaws.
