The rise of the internet celebrity operator

Tue 13 Dec 2016

The rise of the internet celebrity operator

There is an ever growing band operators out there who are extremely internet savvy and know just how to use the media to gain attention and in many cases to get demos of machines and attachments to use on their respective job sites. It’s a scenario that works well for everyone, as the operator puts themselves in a worldwide shop window for potential work and the manufacturers get good PR from it too.

One operator who has taken a slightly different route is our friend Aimee Pooley who has graced the pages of this blog on many occasions in the past. Miss Pooley has chosen to use the medium of You Tube using the handle Duckgirl86, to showcase her talents as a machine operator specialising in rubber ducks equipped with tilt-rotators and towing trailers. Just recently Aimee has taken the opportunity to move to Sweden and follow her dreams working for Stockholm based Backstrom Plant AB. Aimee has been in the spiritual home of tilt-rotators now for some weeks and has just put together her first video since relocating.

I think as you will see in this footage Aimee is enjoying the experience very much and early next year I plan to visit Sweden for a full report on her exploits for Earthmovers Magazine.

Another operator who has made clever use of his Twitter account is Scott Hastings who’s online interaction with manufacturers including Volvo Construction Equipment GB recently resulted in him fronting up the first in a series of videos for them entitled Live it, Dig it. Mr Hastings was also invited along to JCB with another batch of social media influencers for a “hands on” event earlier this year, a move which further highlights the importance of social media to manufacturers.

Liebherr Constuction Equipment held what I think was the first social media influencer’s event of its kind during the run up to Bauma when a selected group of construction plant and machinery bloggers, vloggers and journalists were invited along for a special preview of their products which were on display at the triennial Bavarian machinery fest. Among the group was another machine operator who has made a name for himself on the internet, Denmark’s Lasse Holst, who’s You Tube platform the Danish Construction Channel has had phenomenal success.

Another long term celebrity operator is Scott Colclough from Alberta in Canada, he’s been running his various Pushysix platforms for a number of years now. Scott’s journey started out on You Tube and took its name from the Cat D6T he was operating at the time. Since those early days his dream has actually become a trademarked brand that is well known around the world on all the usual suspects such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram in addition to You Tube.

Of course those mentioned in this blog post are just the tip of the iceberg as more and more people choose social media to promote themselves and their skills, it also goes to show what can be achieved by clever use of the platforms as a marketing tool.

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