By Adriana Rehbein, Distribution & Marketing Officer
Build a Social Media Strategy that you can combine with your Print Advertising.
Do you think print is dying? Do you believe digital is taking over? Let’s take a closer look.
How many times have you heard that print is dead? I keep hearing that digital is taking over but I can still see newspapers, magazines and new ways of print advertising developed reaching a much broader audience.
What about digital? What is digital? Most people think that a digital strategy is based on banner ads only, but there is so much more you can be doing to connect with you audience.
Knowing that we can still use print and that digital is more than just banner ads then: “How can I make my strategy work?” It’s all about creativity! Combining print advertising with a digital strategy is the best way to go to reach a better ROI and create brand awareness.
Thinking about just one strategy will be less effective than making print and digital work together. How is this possible? Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are also a digital way to reach, connect and interact with your target audience, and it’s not as hard as you think to integrate Social Media with print.
#Hashtags: Get your brand noticed by thousands using hashtags.
Facebook introducing hashtags has allowed companies to use this strategy across different Social Media platforms.
But, where can I start?
- Check what’s trending on Twitter and Facebook and add the hashtag to your post allowing your company to be seen by thousands, for example: Share with us information on #SydneyStorm at #AMSJ safety comes first.
Remember: Always check if your campaign hashtag already exists, it will be a shame to get your brand confused with something else. Also, for an effective result use no more than three hashtags.
- How can I follow up my campaign? Easy! Just click on your hashtag and you can see how your campaign has been received.
- Now that you have a campaign going on your Social Media platforms, add the hashtag to your print advertising to give your customers the chance to follow it, access all the information they need and see how others are responding to the campaign. But it doesn’t have to be the main attraction on your print campaign, the hashtag can be placed offset from the rest of the text in a smaller font and it can still generate interest.
Don’t stop only on print advertising, add your hashtag to business cards, mail, billboards, etc.
Connecting your print advertising with your Social Media strategy is all about mystery. Give your print audience a hint but not all the information, that way they will go to your digital campaign for more information, whether if it’s on your Social Media via a link or the hashtag, your website or a landing page.
Cross platform consistency
One of the key components for a successful advertising campaign is to keep your logo and hashtags consistent across all platforms. Adding your logo to your advertising campaign will create Top Of Mind (branding) within your customers.
Print, Social Media, or Both?
Here are a few things to know about print and digital that might interest you.
Online catalogues, eBooks, eMagazines and online newspapers are easier and cheaper to publish, however they don’t do nearly as well as their print equivalent. The Australian Catalogue Association (ACA) did a study in December 2012 proving that 11% read online and 70% of Australians (14+ years old) prefer printed catalogues.
In saying this, $1.5 billion each year is spent by Australian retailers on catalogues – 60% of their advertising budget – this is definitely a part of advertising where print outshines digital. But, combining the two will create better brand awareness and ROI.
How can I incorporate a digital component to my catalogue or eMagazine ad? Easy! Add your Social Media links and hashtags to your catalogues and print ads. QR codes are always of interest for customers to go straight to your website through a QR reader app.
Important: if using a QR code, remember adding the url at the bottom of the QR code just in case the customer has trouble with the code.