John S. Wolfe

To hear Brian Krause tell it, social media has revolutionized how Molex.com connects with customers .

Krause, vice president of marketing and communications for the Lisle, Il-based enterprise, discussed the change that has occurred since April 2009 at the Sept. 23 Arizona Marketing Technology Summit in Phoenix.

Molex is a global supplier of interconnect products. Its engineers design and develop electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnects to switches and applications.

One could say it followed the “social media playbook”: introducing The Connector blog, an informal conversation separate from the Molex website; a YouTube channel; a Facebook page; and a Twitter account. It created a company profile on LinkedIn.

Here’s how he describes the approach:

Molex works with its partners and distributors to “broadcast” each other’s messages. They connect, re-Tweet and refer each other’s customers to the information.

“Together we are taking our messages out to the marketplace,” Krause said.

It’s working, he said. With all of the external links and some SEO, Molex has climbed up the search rankings from fourth or fifth to first or second, he said.

Krause emphasizes that doing business today is different than how he use to interact with customers.

The lesson? Identify ways to add value to your relationships with customers.