LEXINGTON, KY -- WhatTheyThink, the leading news and information source for the graphic communications industry, announces the immediate availability of its new “strategy summary” report, Social Media for Graphic Communications: A WhatTheyThink Strategy Summary Report—The Hows and Whys of Social Media. This 63-page report defines social media, the growing importance of using media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and others to network and communicate with present and prospective customers, offers third-party estimates of the growth of the importance of, and spending on, social media by marketers in all industries, and offers specific advice for companies in the printing industry. 

Social Media for Graphic Communications: A WhatTheyThink Strategy Summary Report—The Hows and Whys of Social Media explains the difference between “outbound” and “inbound” marketing, and discusses the changing trends in advertising and marketing that are causing wholesale shifts in how businesses cultivate customers and build relationships that lead to sales.

The report also offers a “primer” on the various new and social media channels, such as:

• Web sites and e-mail
• Blogs and podcasts
• Twitter and other microblogging sites
• Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites
• Digg, StumbleUpon, and other social bookmarking sites
• YouTube and other online video applications

For each of these groups of channels, the report explains, in a nutshell:

• what it is
• what is required to get started
• what it costs
• best practices for inbound marketing
• how printers can use it for their own purposes
• how printers can offer it to their clients

According to the report:

• A 2009 study by the Society of Digital Agencies found that  45% of senior marketers worldwide cited “social networks” as a “top priority” for 2010, with a further 42% citing it as “important.”
• A September 2009 survey, cited by eMarketer, found that 84% of businesses don’t measure the ROI of their social media initiatives.
• Closer to home, the September 2009 WhatTheyThink Economics and Research Center survey found that 43% of print businesses are not involved at all in social media; and one-third of print businesses that call themselves “marketing services providers” are not involved at all in social media.
• A December Economics and Research Center/CreativePro.com survey found that only 13% of creatives said they planned to offer social media management capabilities as a billable service for your clients in 2010.

Social Media for Graphic Communications: A WhatTheyThink Strategy Summary Report—The Hows and Whys of Social Media also provides WhatTheyThink’s outlook, conclusions, and specific recommendations for print businesses vis-à-vis social media.

Researcher’s Comments

“There are many within and without the industry who think that all this is just a fad that will all just go away in a few years—which is exactly what many of these same people said about the Internet in 1990s. No doubt social media will reach its maximum buzz potential, but ‘social networking’ in some form is here to stay. It’s still very much the Wild West in terms of setting hard and fast rules for implementing these things for our own businesses or for our clients. But therein lies the opportunity for graphic communications professionals to take the lead and understand how to integrate these things into present and potential communications campaigns.”

Availability

The WhatTheyThink special report, Social Media for Graphic Communications: A WhatTheyThink Strategy Summary Report—The Hows and Whys of Social Media is available for purchase by visiting the secure WhatTheyThink Store. The price for the 63-page report is $195. WhatTheyThink Store customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase. Enterprise site licenses are also available for $995.

Purchase Social Media for Graphic Communications: A WhatTheyThink Strategy Summary Report—The Hows and Whys of Social Media.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events that are timely and relevant o today's busy industry executives along with consulting and speaker services that leverage a talented pool of writers and industry analysts.

WhatTheyThink consists of flagship site WhatTheyThink.com, discussion forum site PrintPlanet.com, and industry blog PrintCEO.com.