Kickstart: Making a splash on social media

How do you social media?

Are you a frequent absorber of tweets and rush to hit the "like" button on posts? Do you lurk? Do you avoid at all costs?

I tend to be somewhere in between, skimming a lot of items, interacting on occasion and all too often falling into the trap of watching just one more video (followed by the realization 45 minutes later that it's past my bedtime).

For businesses, it's increasingly becoming a way to reach new talent and attract customers. It's a way to put a human face on your business within your community.

Used well, companies can convert social media shares into free advertising. Highlighting employees and work-related perks can help attract talent. Use it poorly, and you can turn off that same talent or those same customers and you can end up trapped in an echo chamber. (You can find more of my thoughts on how to balance your social media feed in this week's viewpoint here.)

In this week's print issue — and in stories we'll post on plasticsnews.com throughout the week — we offer some examples of how companies and individuals connect on social media. PN's Sarah Kominek also takes a look at how rotomolder Redline uses social media to reach new employees.

You can find past coverage of social media in the plastics industry here.

Each year, when the annual survey of supplier relations in the auto industry comes out — now handled by Plante Moran — a few things are certain: Toyota and Honda will be near the top of the list, U.S. automakers will scramble for attention in the middle of the pack and a few high-profile automakers won't be listed at all.

The 2023 North American Automotive OEM-Supplier Working Relations Index Study surveyed 715 salespeople from 459 Tier 1 suppliers, tracking six of the largest automakers in North America, John Irwin from our sister paper Automotive News writes.

You'll notice some automakers don't participate in the survey, so you should probably take the results from the study with a grain of salt. Despite that, the key issues cited as problematic by suppliers — a lack of communication and difficulty in turning a profit — still hold true regardless of which automakers took part.

NPE2024 has sold out more than 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space.

The Plastics Industry Association announced May 22 it sold all of the space at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., for the event May 6-10, 2024.

More than 2,000 exhibitors will take part in the event, Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based trade group, said in a news release. The group expects 55,000 attendees.

Beyond the numbers of exhibitors and floor space, organizers aim to divert 100 percent of the recyclable plastic waste generated during the event. An on-site NPE recycling center will reduce waste and also serve as an interactive display for attendees to learn about the latest recycling techniques.