Pentagon Plastics has enjoyed an auspicious week, as the Horsham-based manufacturer has scooped a coveted #SBS award thanks to its social media strategy.
As a business, Pentagon entered the world of Twitter a year ago as an innovative approach to complementing the organisation's current marketing scheme.
Joining the busy microblogging site paid off, because on March 18th the company received a Tweet from Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis, who wrote to his 337,000 followers that Pentagon had been awarded the #SBS (Small Business Sunday) prize.
The message read: "#SBS family run Plastic Injection Moulder encouraging staff to be empowered to develop business and be motivated..."
Taking home the #SBS award is a massive coup for Pentagon, as it may be the only company in the polymer industry to receive it.
Managing Director Paul Edwards stated: "Last year, we celebrated our 40th anniversary as a business and to celebrate we underwent a huge rebranding to show that we are now looking ahead to what we can achieve in our next chapter."
He added that it was Business Development Manager Gabby Day who had the foresight to approach him with the idea of exploring social media as a fresh way of approaching marketing.
The MD added: "We were met with some scepticism within our own organisation but I think this award shows it was a bold yet strategically great move for us as a business."
Ms Day commented: "The #SBS award is very exciting for us and should be for the manufacturing industry as a whole.
"Raising awareness of the polymer industry and the opportunities within it is something that we have been focused on over the last year as well as promoting our own brand of services. We strongly believe that this award will go a long way to helping us achieve our long term goals."
Pentagon initially wanted to raise its business profile locally and make some new business connections - something Twitter has helped achieve.
The firm has both a national and global following on the social media site, raising its profile even higher.
Pentagon is proud to have brought the sought-after Small Business Award home, and it gives true recognition that its forward thinking is taking the business in the right direction.
The company offers a high-quality Plastic Injection Moulding service including Design Assistance, Rapid Prototyping, Mould Tool Manufacture, Repeat Production and added value items for customers requiring bespoke products. Social media has developed into a very valuable marketing tool running alongside more traditional approaches. As well as making some invaluable contacts it has helped Pentagon to bring UK manufacturing to the fore and shows that it is a growing industry.
Anyone looking for a re-Tweet from Theo should Tweet him about their business on a Sunday between 17:00 and 21:30 BST and include hashtag #SBS. Six lucky winners are then re-Tweeted every Monday at 20:00 BST and are invited to enter their business profile on the new website. This is done free of charge and the new business is sponsored by Rymans Stationary, of which Mr Paphitis is Chairman.
To view their winners profile visit http://www.theopaphitissbs.com/profile/PentagonPIM and to follow them on Twitter look for @pentagonPIM