While social media have been around for several years, 2010 was a landmark period in their evolution. The popularity of the movie “The Social Network” and the designation of Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg as Time magazine’s man of the year propelled this emerging phenomenon to widespread attention. The news this week that Goldman Sachs plans to invest $500 million in Facebook further cements the increasing value being placed on this movement and Facebook in particular.

This caused me to reflect on the impact Social Media are having on the Freight Transportation industry. Here are some thoughts based on my own personal experiences and on the experiences of a number of people who shared their observations on a transportation discussion group in LinkedIn this week.

While I would not consider myself an expert in social media, I have been an active blogger for the past two years and have used LinkedIn for about the same amount of time. More recently I began participating on Facebook and Twitter.

Social media are all about communication, participation, relationship building and networking. These are the essential components or building blocks. To take advantage of social media to build your business requires a pragmatic and focused effort using an assortment of tools and resources. This is what I am seeing.

Job Search/Recruiting

LinkedIn and Facebook have become essential to recruiting and are widely used by both recruiters and job seekers. LinkedIn can highlight a range of potential candidates. It can identify shared contacts that can provide feedback on the quality of the candidates. LinkedIn profiles can also contain references on some of these individuals. By joining the various special interest groups on LinkedIn, one can ask the other members for names of candidates. Trucking companies can also post profiles. Facebook can be used to review their interests, appearance, friends, hobbies, and a variety of other data. They can be quite or even too revealing.

Facebook is also being used for “quick hires” by spreading the word on the availability of positions through a company’s employees. In one specific case, a company used LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist to recruit 10 drivers. Within 24 hours they had found the number of drivers they were looking for.

Business Development

A LinkedIn search can reveal the names of companies in specific industries and geographic areas. A search of your LinkedIn contacts can identify individuals in these companies. These lists can be matched against your contacts to see if there are any shared names. If so, these individuals can be contacted to arrange introductions or appointments that can ultimately lead to sales. Similarly Twitter is being used by drivers seeking loads and shippers seeking trucks.

Information Sharing

LinkedIn and Twitter are often used to share information on specific topics. The topics can range from CSA 2010 to transportation management software. There is a broad range of discussion groups and new ones are surfacing on an ongoing basis. Social media can also be used to advertise an upcoming event or public speaking engagement. Blogs are also effective, particularly the popular ones since they tend to build a group of followers. Over time some of these folks may be more inclined to connect with a particular blogger if they feel that the individual or his company can provide services of value.

Many websites are being programmed for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This increases the website traffic from those individuals most likely to have an interest in the company’s services. By creating groups of interested website visitors or “fans,” distribution lists can be created to send information of specific interest to particular targets.

Customer Service

Vendors are taking advantage of social media to reach potential clientele. One trucking industry vendor that is active in social media is Find Truck Service (www.findtruckservice.com), which helps trucking companies and truck drivers locate commercial service and parts providers in the United States. The company also provides a free locator for road service, repair shops, towing, truck stops, dealers, locksmiths, pallets and heavy-duty parts. If one tweets the words "lost package" and mentions FedEx or UPS they will be contacted by the company.

Clearly social media are in their infancy but there appear to be many applications for them in the transportation industry.

We have all read the horror stories about the trucking company bankruptcies experienced during the recent economic downturn and the high unemployment level in the U.S. that is hovering at almost ten percent. The good news is that many indicators are pointing in the direction of an economic recovery. Retail sales have been edging upwards, the ISM index has been staying in positive (growth) territory for months and there have been several reports highlighting increases in freight volumes, particularly for intermodal transportation.

This begs an obvious question. If we are truly in an economic expansion, where can the unemployed, the underemployed and those unhappy in their current positions look for job opportunities? The most recent issue of Time magazine features as its cover story, “Where The Jobs Are”. In their report they look at the U.S. economy as a whole and focus on specific sectors that appear poised for job growth (and others that do not). In this blog I will attempt to draw some inferences and extrapolate from their analyses.

The first point they make is that there were more jobs lost in The Great Recession of 2007 – 09, an estimated 8 million in the United States, than in the last four recessions combined. Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for HIS Global Insight estimates that it will take a long time, at least until 2015 to return to the six percent (or full unemployment) level.

A second key issue is that many companies have money to spend on plant, equipment and people but they need to see increasing sales and consumer confidence to begin hiring. Another piece of good news is that the aggregate job openings in the various employment websites has increased from 2.1 million to 5 million. A fraction of these openings are in logistics and transportation. So where are the jobs?

Career-Builder.com reports that 27% of the companies it surveyed across all industries are adding sales people. This suggests that sales is one of the first areas to take a hit in tough times and one of the first areas where companies invest to drive a turnaround in revenues. Transportation and Logistics should follow a similar pattern.

As sales ramp up, drivers will be needed to move the freight. If the housing sector remains soft in the U.S. due to the continuing number of foreclosures, this may cause a shift from construction to truck driving. Similarly, the downsizing in the auto industry may provide another source of drivers and freight transportation personnel.

Technology jobs are also expected to be in demand. In fact this is the second fastest growth sector after biomedical engineers. As highlighted in the Time article, “the boom in tech related jobs isn’t limited to the technology sector”. Demand for green technology is on the rise. Carriers will continue to look at how to increase productivity and reduce costs (e.g. hybrid trucks). Lean supply chains and lean manufacturing will continue to be important initiatives.

As the U.S. dollar declines in value against other currencies, this will create opportunities for people who can play a role in export shipping, including shipping to Canada. This will be a growth area. There will be requirements for people who speak multiple languages and who are familiar with export shipping. There will be opportunities for transportation and forwarding companies that specialize in overseas shipping. From a manufacturing perspective, agriculture, aircraft and high tech are expected to flourish as exports grow. Also as the economies in China, and India ramp up, they will need minerals, coal, gas and oil. This will create demand in the energy and mining sectors and demand for transportation services providers that can service these industries.

We should not forget that we will be heading into one of the peak baby boomer retirement periods. Some of those people born immediately after World War 2 will be retiring as the reach age 65 or beyond. This will likely create jobs in middle and senior management for skilled but younger mid and senior management personnel who have the capabilities to move up to the next level.

There is no quick fix that can produce a sustainable job creation engine. This is no consolation for people who have been unemployed for some time. On the other hand, there will continue to be openings in many sectors and professions if the economy can remain on its positive growth track.

At this week’s annual SMC 3 winter meeting in Atlanta, David Tuttle, director of digital strategy at TMP Worldwide, a New York-based advertising and communications firm, gave an outstanding and informative presentation on Social Media and Logistics. He was able to “connect the dots” in a way that helped everyone grasp the potential of social media as a tool to build a business. Here are some of the highlights of what he said.

Fact #1: Facebook, the social networking phenomenon, reaches more than 1.92 million U.S. transportation professionals. That’s about two-thirds of the total number who are considered regular Internet users.

Fact #2: Those transport professionals spend, on average, 187 minutes on Facebook each month.

To David Tuttle, those numbers spell tremendous opportunities for companies that understand social media and commit adequate resources—notably an employee or group of employees dedicated to social networking. To leverage its power, social media needs to be an integral part of every business.

Every company should first understand the value and usefulness of each of the major media. Second, every business should create quantitative social media objectives and monitor the results of their initiatives every day. Third, every company should have a leader who is the social media champion, the one who directs and manages the company’s effort in this fast growing and increasingly important area.

David took the audience through the four most prominent social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and You Tube.

Facebook

With 23 percent of online advertising market share, Facebook has become the dominant site for social media. Just as important—though perhaps unnoticed by all but the savviest observers—is that Facebook has improved the functionality and user-friendliness of the site to draw more businesses. Ads can be targeted to specific audiences and companies only pay for people who click on their ad.

He encouraged everyone to publish. Take the user somewhere, specifically where you want them to go. Get people to interact with your company. Be innovative by creating a blog, online polls or forums to build user traffic and interest. Be timely and relevant and “establish a consistent voice”.

Facebook has clearly moved to the forefront as evidenced by the fact that over 500 million people are users. He encouraged the attendees to look at the business value of Facebook. In addition to a personal page, he suggested that companies should create a corporate identity. He proposed that it is important to do four things:

• Make it social
• Keep it simple
• Optimize for speed
• Integrate (with other media)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has been specifically designed for business applications. It is of enormous value to job seekers and recruiters. Again David recommended that in addition to personal pages, companies should create corporate profiles. He encouraged everyone to build their networks to the maximum and actively participate in groups of interest to them. Don’t just sit back and watch but share information with your groups. Don’t be shy to ask self-serving questions that position you and your company as experts in a particular field.

Twitter

Twitter is unique in that each tweet can only be a maximum of 140 characters. It is particularly useful if you are an expert in a specific area and are in a position to share information on an ongoing basis. This builds a “fan” base and ensures those who follow your tweets stay connected to you. He recommended that companies install Tweetdeck.com on their desktops and monitor their Twitter and social media traffic.

You Tube

David highlighted that You Tube has more than just entertainment value. It has value as an educational tool. It can be used to:
• Create commercials
• Let users know that you understand their needs
• Encourage interactivity

It is important to be authentic, have a think skin and use the site as a huge fan group.

For companies seeking a helping hand in creating their social media strategy, David’s presentation provided a valuable roadmap for success.

There have been a lot of words written about “Green” strategies, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Supply Chains and Sustainability over the past decade. It has often appeared that the actions taken by North American based companies have not lived up to the rhetoric. While reducing carbon use and water consumption have been laudable causes, the cost of change has been an impediment to progress.

We may have reached a turning point in the “green” movement. Judging by the remarks of several panellists at last week’s SMC3 conference in Atlanta, there appear to be some very exciting initiatives under way that have the potential to move America to the forefront in this area and create a long term competitive advantage.

Mary Ellen Mika, Supply Chain Manager at Steelcase, gave a fascinating presentation on the green initiatives under development at her company. She noted that over 90 percent of RFP’s include Sustainability requirements. This pattern is mirrored in Canada with the freight RFP’s that my company has been engaged to perform over the past several years. Carriers are expected to participate in the Smartway program and are required to articulate their energy savings initiatives.

Mary Ellen also outlined how aggressive Sustainability KPI’s are being developed and achieved by her company. Specifically she highlighted her company’s use of returnable blanket wrap rather than corrugated packaging as a way to reduce shipping costs and damages. To limit the amount of material going into landfill sites, compostable agricultural waste (mushroom roots) are being used in place of foam. Her company’s furniture products are being designed in such a way that they can be disassembled at the end of their service life and placed in recycling bins. A scorecard system is being utilized to identify and reduce urgent items that require a high carbon footprint application (e.g. air freight).

David Hyatt, Senior Assistant Dean at the University of Arkansas’s Sam Walton College of Business, outlined the structure and composition of the Sustainability Consortium. There are now over 62 companies on the team including Wal-Mart, Safeway and Best Buy. This is a fourfold increase over the number of participants in the third quarter of 2009. The initial centre of attention has been on Food and Beverage, Electronics and Home and Personal Care Products. This collaborative effort is focused on taking a “pragmatic, science-based approach” to Sustainability. The objective is to create standards for business application and then informing decision-makers. The Packaging sector will be added to the list in the spring of 2011. The Energy sector will follow at a later date.

The trucking industry perspective was provided by Tommy Hodges, immediate Past Chairman of the American Trucking Association and Chairman of Titan Transfer. Tommy spoke about the fact that the trucking industry now recognizes that fuel is a scarce resource and that 1 gallon of fuel burned equals 22.2 lbs of CO2. He then provided an overview of the ATA Sustainability Policy.

1. 65 National Speed Limit---All Vehicles
2. Decrease Idling
3. Increase Fuel efficiency with SMARTWAY
4. Reduce Congestion through Highway Improvements
5. More Productive Vehicles
6. Support National Fuel Economy Standards for TRUCKS

Tommy highlighted a number of “low hanging fruit” opportunities for truckers to lessen carbon usage. They include:

• Reducing Idling rates to as low as 4% with use of APU’s
• Using Route Optimization Software to reduce deadhead miles and out of route miles
• Aerodynamic design of trucks and equipment to reduce rolling resistance

The message from this set of presentations was that American business is now embracing energy efficiency. If shippers and carriers take a leadership role in this area, this could significantly improve America’s competitiveness and cost structure, thereby improving the economic prospects for the country down the road.