Recently, I participated in a discussion about the ROI of social media. Print industry audiences are always looking for examples.  One printer recently told me that he gained two to three new contacts that resulted in sales by using LinkedIn.  Calculating the ROI and linking it back to new revenue is a challenge. Most evidence in our industry to date is anecdotal so far. You cannot measure what you do not track.  The first item to start tracking is your time on social media.  Can you translate your time in hours per day or week?  So if someone gets two or ten new customers, what were the other expenses associated with the total customer acquisition?  Also what is the value of the spend for the first job and potential for other jobs.  Obviously there are many questions to answer the cost of a social media campaign.   The link http://prnt.in/Zwc discusses the ROI such as staff costs, advertising, external fees and the “other” category to estimate, tracking, technical or creative costs.  The article is very discouraging.  The suggested salary of the needed positions to carry out a campaign was also listed such as the social media strategist at 52K, community manager at 95.6K etc.  The article lists various benefits for social marketing such as customer engagement, direct customer communication, instant feedback, low cost, brand building etc.  Since I could not really relate to the total cost of a social media campaign (212K) in my non-profit-association world, the benefits and the campaign were of more relevance to me.  It was fascinating that just over half the respondents to a mentioned survey cited the “low cost” as a benefit. The respondents, like me, have not calculated the details if the results mentioned in the link above are accurate.  Really, 212K?  OK if you are a Fortune 1000 company, this figure is reasonable but for me?  I am still calculating how much time I spend on social media and the benefits I see.  What do you think?  ...

Hear an interview with Adam Ostrow of Mashable Blog, where he talks about how the Mashable blog operates behind the scene.  Since we have a blog that needs to find its balance, I am looking at how to make the SMFG blog more successful.  I was fascinated with the fact that Mashable publishes 30 articles daily and they have 20 people working on the blog and that does not include the other contributors.  It was discouraging since it is easy to see why it is difficult to keep a blog going but we (Julie and I) are planning to re-launch the SMFG blog to be more relevant and gain more people interested in the contents.  If you are interested in blogs, check out the short video with Ostrow.  You probably will find it very informative and worth the few minutes.  Let me know what you think. http://prnt.in/Z3P  Mashable is a very good example of a blog to emulate.  I checked out Technorati for other blogs to review. http://technorati.com/blogs/top100 Sure enough, Mashable was #3.  Huffington Post continues to rack up #1 positioning on blog ratings; www.huffingtonpost.com   According to Technorati, blogs are now the new arm of the fourth estate.  The 2010 State of the Technorati Blogosphere is an excellent source of information about blogs. http://prnt.in/Z3W Any blogs that you like? What topics attract you?  ...

It is very common to see the shorten service site such as bit.ly. It turns out that the “ly” is Libya’s Internet domain which uses the English language’s adverbial suffix: ly.  English language Internet users like the ly…sort of catchy. The article states that 43% of the “ly” domain is owned by English speaking countries such the US, UK, and Canada.  Today in the Wall Street Journal http://prnt.in/ZJm the entire possibly embarrassing connection is outlined.  From the US Air Force, to House leaders to ordinary people, many Internet sites have used the “ly” domain.  According to the article, bit.ly paid $75 for the domain name.  According to the Treasury Department (another bit.ly user), a spokesperson says that Americans could not rent .ly domains from entities controlled by Gadhafi regime.  Does it matter?  You can be the judge.  What shortening service do you use?  At  Printing Industrieswe have our own service and I enjoy  it.  Our service also gives a QR code for every address. I have not used that part yet.   Just as other services, you can place a long Internet address in one part of the site, shrink the address, and share it with others.  Note the Wall Street Article short address in the paragraph above.  The best advantage is the ability to track how many clicks to the address were completed.  When I wrote this article, I used my account to shorten the address.  When a reader clicks on it, I will be able to track how many people bothered to check out the article. I cannot track “who” clicked on it.  The number of clicks is the most important.  It is very helpful for an author (like me) to see if some of the references are being used.  In other words I can see if this topic is of interest. The use of a shorten service is widely accepted but I am surprised how many people don’t use it.  Twitter users always need to shorten addresses to keep to the character limitations. Are you using a shorten service?  Which one?  Does it concern you that the “ly” is fromLibya?   ...

Along with following the latest trends in digital printing, we at the Digital Printing Council also keep our eyes on innovative developments in social media and marketing technologies.  When we heard about an upcoming event at the New York Public Library (NYPL) called “Find the Future: The Game” we were so intrigued that we knew we had to share it. “Find the Future: The Game,” a combination interactive online game/real-world scavenger hunt, will coincide with NYPL’s Centennial Festival weekend, which takes place from May 20 to May 22 and honors the 100th birthday of the Library’s landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The custom designed, alternate reality game will have players collaborating and solving clues with the aid of laptops and smartphones. Their goal? Locate 100 significant artifacts from NYPL’s collection—and write about them. Before it opens to the public, a group of 500 players will have the chance to experience the game in a unique “Write All Night” lock–in event at the Schwarzman Building. The pre-selected players will assemble into small groups and search for the hidden artifacts among 70 miles of books—including 40 miles of underground stacks not normally accessible to the public. Upon finding each artifact, players will record their discoveries using smartphones and a custom built iPhone/Android QR code App. Additionally, each hidden artifact will present players with a specific writing prompt. The responses to these prompts will then be used to create a collaborative book, which the Library will actually publish and add to its public archives. As stated in the FAQ section of the game’s website “It is the first game in the world in which winning the game means writing a book together—a collection of 100 ways to make history and change the future, inspired by 100 of the most intriguing works of the past.” For a chance to participate in “Write All Night,” prospective players (18 years or older only) must register on the game’s website (http://game.nypl.org/) and respond to the following prompt: “Just imagine who you are ten years from now. What do you want for the world? What extraordinary goal do you want to achieve? When you have a vivid picture of your future, just fill in the blank: In the year 2021, I will become the first person to_______________.” Responses will be judged on creativity, originality, and determination. “Find the Future: The Game” also contains a unique social component. Right now, you can visit the game’s website to read and vote on entrants’ responses to the initial query about where they see themselves in ten years. Then, once the game has been “unlocked” by the participants in the overnight event, individual responses to the writing prompts for each artifact...

There are so many free resources on the internet that it is difficult to choose what is worth your time.  Watch Lon Safko, author of Social Media Bible.  What I liked most were his examples of how social media has paid off.  Real “dollars and cents” examples as well as fun examples. The Subway vs Quizno clip is excellent but actually dated 2007. http://prnt.in/ZJY  What was news to me was the issue related to reputation management for Subway and the fact that Subway actually increased sales when Subway declined legal action. It is a bit long, but I listened and watched with one computer while I worked on another project on my other computer. ( yes, mulltitasking. ) Here is the link:  http://prnt.in/ZJf  for Lon Safko’s video.  Please send me any “worth my time ” info! PS  Also more “blend it” videos which we have all seen but still...

With the struggle of bricks and mortar book stores and the reported eclipsing of the sale of ebooks by some sources, printers of all products shouldl be keeping abreast of the news. Some in the book industry predict the transmforamtion will happen faster than expected when compared to the music and movie industry.  http://prnt.in/ZJx   24 Months?  12 months? In my observations while traveling, I still see more hard copy books than digital readers, but the volume of ereaders is definitely increasing. With the demographics of internet users constantly increasing, the cost of Kindle, iPad and other devices decreasing no one doubts the direction.  Probably the “when” is the question.  What are printers doing about this direction is of bigger concern.  What new revenue streams are being developed?  How are printers serving their customers who choose  to publish digitally?  Savvy printers are offering to digitize magazines and books as a service.  Other printers are moving into a broader role in working with customers.    What are your thoughts?  When will the transformation take place?  What should printers do about...