Lexington, Kentucky USA - WhatTheyThink.com today reported that nearly 300 industry professionals registered to attend a recent webinar to hear a panel of printers discuss how they are incorporating social media into the marketing mix.  WhatTheyThink hosted this free printing industry educational webinar. Social Media in Action: The Printer’s Perspective, sponsored by Grow Socially. The event was held November 17th, and was Part 3 of a three-part social media series.

The archive of all three sessions is available by visiting WhatTheyThink and selecting the Webinars tab.

“This series included a Social Media Primer delivered by social media expert and author Tamar Weinberg as well as a look at how marketers are using social media,” said Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor and Director of Services for WhatTheyThink, who moderated the session. “In this session, we added the ‘third leg of the stool,’ taking a look at how printers are using social media both in support of their own businesses as well as delivering social media services to customers.  We were also pleased to have Margie Dana, President of Print Buyers International, join us for this session.  Margie contributed anecdotal data from the many buyers and sellers of print she talks to and surveys on a regular basis, as well as sharing her own social media experiences and advice.  This third session in the series should be extremely useful to our audience in preparing their own social media strategies.”

Featured speakers included:

• Scott Dubois, Reynolds DeWalt. As the Vice President of Cross-Media Services & Marketing, Scott works closely with Reynolds DeWalt's account managers and clients to provide innovative methods of communication. Once cross-media projects are underway, Scott stays involved from concept to completion, ensuring that everything proceeds as designed. With an extensive background in information technology, he provides insight and innovative ideas on cutting-edge content delivery methods.
• Brett Olszewski, KP Corporation.  As KP’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Brett is responsible for driving overall company revenue and directs both KP’s national sales team and marketing operations. He is also responsible for steering KP’s manufacturing and technology offerings to meet the market’s needs. As CMO, Brett oversees all facets of KP’s marketing efforts, including market analysis, segmentation, offering definition, company branding, multi-channel campaign management, and public relations activities. Brett is dedicated to significantly improving the ROI of marketing through process and technology efficiency, reducing the total cost of marketing operations, making data actionable, and the application of emerging communication channels such as social media.
• Margie Dana, President, Print Buyers International. Margie is Founder of Print Buyers International and its member-based group, Boston Print Buyers. She is a recognized leader in the area of print customers and their trends, behaviors and practices. Publisher of the popular weekly enewsletter, “Margie’s Print Tips,” Margie also produces an annual print & media buyers conference in New England, regularly attracting industry experts including Frank Romano, Dr. Joe Webb, and Daniel Dejan. This November will mark the 5th Annual Print & Media Conference, to be held in Westford, MA.

“This session demonstrated that social media is already delivering value in terms of gaining more visibility and developing though-leadership credibility for participating printers,” said Randy Davidson, President, WhatTheyThink. “How printers monetize social media—either by tying its use directly to revenue increases or developing social media services for customers—is clearly an area that is still developing.  But it is also clear that printers must begin to engage with social media now as part of the transformative work they should be undertaking to ensure their businesses are positioned for the future. We appreciate the fact that Grow Socially is sponsoring this important session, allowing us to make it available at no charge.”

“For those who missed it, this webinar series is well worth watching from the archives,” added Sherburne. “Fun, informative, and forward looking … lots to learn and lots to think about.”

About Grow Socially

Grow Socially, Inc helps companies with their online marketing efforts, including social media marketing.  These services include planning the strategies, tactics and goals that align with the company’s needs. Content creation, execution of services and measuring the results are all important parts of the process. Grow Socially helps ensure that its customers have a presence on key social media sites such as:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Other

Once campaigns are launched, Grow Socially provides highly targeted information based on the target demographic delineated in the strategic planning process. This includes full reporting and analysis that enables companies to view the results of their marketing activities in social media channels in increases awareness and sales of products and services.
Online marketing services from Grow Socially:

• Improve Search Engine Optimization results.
• Spread brand and message to the target audience through multiple social media platforms.
• Direct more online traffic to corporate websites.
• Improve customer interaction.
• Add additional venues to promote products, services, discounts, events, etc.
• Provide an opportunity to connect with colleagues and prospective clients/customers.
• Build a company reputation as a quality information resource and industry expert.

About WhatTheyThink.com

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 as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites.