ODESSA Exhibitors and attendees at the Permian Basin International Oil Show eschewed tweeting for the face-to-face networking that a trade show offers.
Unlike the technology and entertainment industries that rely on social media to recruit and retain customers particularly during trade shows that get international coverage exhibitors at the oil show were content with giving away free items and displaying their wares and business cards like it was still the dial-up Internet age. None of the exhibitors signs or flyers were inundated with the row of social media logos that are now standard on everything from restaurant takeout bags to business cards.
And to one Odessa-based exhibitor that specializes in seals and bearings, the traditional social networking method of face-to-face interaction and relationship-building is what keeps his company in business, not Facebook likes or Instagram-filtered imagery.
Most of our marketing is done directly, or client-based, which are primarily the large independents and the major oil companies, said Greg Masters of Odessa Babbitt Bearing Co. We found that theyre not much of a social media-based market. We found that its much better to work directly with them.
To confirm how unnecessary social media is for the oil industry, Masters said that because his company has been in business for 54 years, it has ongoing relationships it has maintained with companies over the years.
Masters did not rule out social media for the entire industry though, saying that startup companies in the industry may want to use social media.
One Odessa-based company that is relatively new to the oil game, Power Industrial Transmission, was founded in 2008 and utilizes social media for some aspects. Though the company was not making Facebook posts during the oil show, CEO George Orosco said the company uses the platform to tell customers of the companys latest news, including an expansion into Hobbs, New Mexico.
Its a cheap way to get news out there, Orosco said.
But when asked how necessary social media is for the oil industry as a whole, Orosco said he was unsure.
The oil industry seems to be behind on (social media) and things like that, Orosco said.
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Social media takes back seat to in-person networking