Seven Tips to Help In-plants Get Social
7 Use social media as a sales and customer service tool.
Social media marketing hawks will say that social media is all about the conversation and should not be used for overt selling. It's true that a tweet saying "Need postcards? Come to ABC Printing" isn't very enticing. But particularly in the case of an in-plant, using social tools to let your customers know what you have to offer isn't a bad idea. Social media messaging can be used to prod your customers to bring in work when the shop is slow ("Special today: We can turn around your business cards in four hours!") or to let them know it's crunch time and to allow a little extra time for projects.
Julie Shaffer is Vice President, Digital Technologies at Printing Industries of America. She heads up the Digital Printing Council (DPC), as well as the Center for Digital Printing Excellence at Printing Industries headquarters in Sewickley, PA. In her position, Julie plays a lead role in developing programs and tools to help members grow their businesses with digital technologies.
Known for her graphic production expertise, Julie has a 20-plus year background in pre-media and print. She is often called upon for training, presentations and to provide on-site consulting throughout the industry on diverse range of topics, including PDF, color management, digital printing, social media and Web-to-print implementation. Julie is co-author of several books, including "The PDF Print Production Guide" (1st, 2nd and 3rd edition), the "Web-to-Print Primer" and the forthcoming "Field Guide to Social Media."
