The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Business

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
September 3, 2010

Werner Braun: Social media useful tool for CRI

Communicating a message is half the battle when sharing news about an industry. The thing is I never imagined the other half of the battle would be learning how to “tweet.”

Confused? Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one. The sea of social media boggles my mind — Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, company websites and blogs — just to name a few.

Still confused? Let me explain.

Social media is rather simple: Any sort of Internet media outlet used to share conversation in a quick manner that brings people together to then discuss the information is considered social media. For example, to “tweet” means nothing more than adding information to share with others on the social media site Twitter.

The Carpet and Rug Institute uses social media to help inform, promote and have a conversation about the happenings in the carpet industry. Through our website (www.carpet-rug.org) and blog (www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/), social media allows for a two-way conversation for whatever your opinion may be.      

But what many have underestimated, myself included, is not only the growth and power of social media, but really how effective it can be. The latest good news to roll across my desk reflects just this.   

The Carpet and Rug Institute blog captured the No. 1 ranking position for influence in a recently published post in Christine Whittemore’s Social Flooring Index, with influence being measured as a function of page rank, traffic and number of postings. The CRI blog also ranked the most social — it links to other blogs and other blogs are linked to it.  

But being social is even more than being clicked on by others. It is about what is being communicated. Over the past six months, blogs in the Social Flooring Index issued 1,532 conversations and of those conversations:

• 1,001 related to carpet, wood, laminate or flooring

• 450 focused on carpet

• 252 touched on design or fashion

• 143 addressed cleaning

• 89 discussed benefits

• 32 related to recycling

• 25 touched on allergy-related topics

• 25 addressed padding

I think it is fair to say that not only carpet but the whole flooring industry wins on these numbers. For those of us who reside in the “Carpet Capital of the World,” we don’t stop to think that others outside our community’s walls don’t know about our carpet.

For example, I had a recent conversation with a pedestrian in Washington, D.C., who had never heard the phrase “Big Carpet.” The person’s eyes lit up in excitement and interest. Big Carpet — a phrase that I had never considered others wouldn’t understand. But the other half of that is I had never thought about how many people do know what Big Carpet is, about how many people do know that carpet benefits your home or business by reducing noise, adding style and beauty, and how it can soften slips and falls. The amount of people who know that carpet does create a healthier environment — inside and outside of the home. And after I explained to the pedestrian about Big Carpet, he proceeded to tell me that his favorite part about carpet is the warmth and comfort it provides in his home.     

How did our message spread like wildfire?  

I know that hard work and determination from all of the carpet industry is the No. 1 answer. But with surveys like these now being conducted, it also shows that the new age of “spreading the word” has drawn even more attention to carpet from crowds of all ages and from corners of the globe that I hadn’t even considered.

So to all newbies of the carpet world who have come across us from afar, I welcome you to carpet community. And even more importantly, thanks for your interest in how carpet can benefit your own hometown.

Werner Braun is president of the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute.

Text Only
Business