I first became aware of Indium Corporation when I read Content Rules by C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley. Indium Corporation proves that every company has a story that certain people want to hear. The key is to mobilize the storytellers in your company and find out what story or stories resonate with people.

Indium Corporation has five different businesses including semi-conductors and electronic assembly materials such as solder paste. Rick Short, Indium’s Director of Marketing, began blogging in 2006 in written and video formats. He felt that there was value to be derived from ownership of their subject matter and the associated thought leadership. He wanted Indium to be ahead of the curve because “nobody gets paid to be average.”

Short began with a throwaway blog and kept it simple to avoid writer’s block. He started writing about his own area and won over engineers by setting an example. Now there are 13 bloggers and 73 different blogs on long-tail topics. They do not have a social media policy, but have a public discourse policy.

They strive to have the answer today to the question their readers will have tomorrow. They also maintain a theme of authenticity resulting in the evaporation of their filters and no marcom bloggers, allowing their engineers to be at the forefront, communicating from one engineer to another.

Indium does not care about bounce rates. They are looking for opt-in, self-qualifying, urgent need, hot leads. They surround content with numerous methods for people to contact Indium. They also offer very specific white papers that are downloaded by a very specific type of customer. Their mantra is “content to contact to cash.” Their efforts produced a 600% increase in customer contacts in the first quarter and saw them double again over the year.

Beyond blogs, Indium has a presence on Facebook and Twitter. Their presence on Facebook is to convey the warmer side of the company and literally connect with their community. Children of the staff have the opportunity to say, “That’s my Dad” on their wall.

If you or your company is uncertain if blogging — or social media more broadly — are right for you, you need look no further than Indium Corporation for inspiration. Don’t overwhelm yourself with apprehension because you think you have to create net-new content. Your customers have an affinity for your company and that affinity translates into stories and content. You just need to cull those stories and/or content from within the company. Go ahead. Get started. We are waiting to consume.