Time to turn into Twits: Stream conference

Social media expert urges printers to familiarise themselves with the F word and start putting their thoughts into 140 characters or less.

Online and print may be considered mortal enemies by some, but Hannah Law, social media coordinator at Switched On Media and guest speaker at Stream’s Strategy Day, showed the audience how developing a Facebook, Twitter of LinkedIn account can increase a printer’s popularity and branding.

She also highlighted the importance of avoiding blatant “advertising speak” and encouraged users to instead see the medium as a chance to show their point of difference.

“Don’t be boring: find a part of your business that’s interesting,” she said. “Don’t just push out one-way messages on Twitter and use ‘advertising’ speak. Talk to the people who follow you and try to incorporate some multimedia.”

Pictured: Getting social, (l-r) GASAA’s Garry Knespal, Hannah Law of Switched On Media and David Leach, president of GASAA

According to GASAA’s Garry Knespal, who organised for Law to speak at the conference, printers who increase their online presence will only benefit as a result.

“It’s good for printers to show that they are part of the online world – it’s not us and them,” he said. “It is important for those printers that generally have an engagement with marketing firms and creative agencies; they use it extensively and would like to think the printers they use understand the world they live in.”

Knespal also warned that remaining active is key to being successful with social media. “If you start it, make sure that you sustain it,” he said. “Stopping updating after a little while would be worse than not starting at all. Using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn is not difficult to do, you just need to devote some resources to it, and those print companies that have dedicated marketing people should certainly include it in the mix.”

This does not mean that small companies who have limited staff cannot take part, Law added. “Generally, working professionals like to be spoken to upwards of three times a week on their social networking site,” she said.