Anne Stewart, Online Managing Editor @Hotcards
Continued from Part 1
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Many printers are uncertain about the benefits of trying social media, what has your experience shown? |
| Anne: | When we originally started the Hotcards blog, the idea was to create a space on our website that was friendly and welcoming, that people could use as a resource and a touchstone, since so much of the work we do is web-based. Expanding into social media platforms like Twitter has been an extension of that same philosophy. Being friendly, engaged, and involved with our customers and with the printing community, the benefits have been the creation of points of contact, sales, and opportunities for collaboration that we never would have found, otherwise. |
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Can you directly track social media back to actual sales? |
| Anne: | We’re not currently tracking sales based on our social media investment. However, we have had a lot of personal experiences that make us feel confident in the investment. For example, a customer will come into the head office and want to discuss a blog post that motivated them to place an order. Or a customer will make their first contact with us through Twitter after someone recommends us on their own feed. Or a graphic designer will take an interest in our printing services based on some of the graphic design work they’ve seen from us on a forum or photo site. |
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Has social media contributed in any significant way to the bottom line? If not, why do you continue? |
| Anne: | Another way of looking at this question might be to ask: do the relationships and friendships that we make in everyday life contribute to the bottom line? Basically, we bring the same attitude to our presence online that we bring to our presence in Cleveland. We like to be involved. If we take the time to develop those relationships discovered through social media, then we’re the first name they think of when they need printing. And maybe they won’t need our services immediately, which makes it difficult to track the value of those connections, but we continue to do it because we believe that yes, the relationships we build through social media have a huge impact on the bottom line. |
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What are some of your favorite tools for social media to listen and spread the word? |
| Anne: |
I use Analytics obsessively to track and target my efforts. • I love the AddThis button, because it makes it so easy for readers to share content. • I’m really into tools like TweetDeck, which allow for really easy management of multiple Twitter accounts. • One particular toolset that I’ve always been reluctant to explore is the blanket social submitters that allow you to automatically and repeatedly update multiple accounts across varying sites. Easy for the submitter, but annoying for the recipient. • I’m very interested to see what goes on with the integration of the Facebook Like button on websites. Good for business, good for monetization, but a possible huge turnoff to individual users. |
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Are you going to submit your blog to the Positively Print campaign? (I say go for it. You know I’m a fan of your blog!) |
| Anne: | Thanks! Right now I’m working on putting together a little portfolio of our best posts over the years. If I feel that I can put together something tangible and meaningful to the industry today, then yes, I’m definitely planning on submitting the blog. |
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Any final thoughts? |
| Anne: | I think a lot of businesses approach social media in the wrong way. A business can’t just add a thousand people on Twitter, send a generic thank-you note to those who return the add, and then spam their feed with repetitive product links. That’s not going to get a response, and it’s not the right way to use social media. In fact, it’s exactly this kind of misuse that is threatening to destroy social media advertising as a viable tool. |
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