4 Ways to Mine a Printer’s Website for Hidden Gems

If you’re like most commercial printers, you’re sitting on a pot of gold. Content gold. All of that good stuff populating your Website—even if the site’s been neglected like a middle child (what, me bitter?)—can be used to create and improve your online presence. I’ll bet the bank that you’ve got content in your site that you should be using to push out across different media channels and therefore promote your company.

Here are the top 4 sections of a printer’s Website that are most likely home to great content for your target market:

• Resources—if you have a Resources section on your site, it probably contains articles you’ve posted to help print customers. Maybe you call it “Tips & Tricks” or “Helpful Articles.” Whatever it’s called, this section is rich with educational insights. Why not isolate short snippets of this content and push them out on your company Facebook page and Twitter account?
• Company Information—you share information about your company in this section or one called “About Us,” right? It generally contains a bit of history. It might include information about your employees. Why not show off your employees in Twitter and on your FB page? Don’t share “name, rank and serial number;” rather, share something interesting about each team member. What are they passionate about? What else are they involved in, aside from keeping your company humming?
• Glossary—many printing sites include a Glossary. My PBI site does as well, and I often set up a tweet-a-day (using Socialoomph, a free management tool for Twitter) highlighting a printing term.
• Capabilities—every printer has this section. Maybe you call it something else, like Products & Services. Regardless, it is rife with sharable content! Don’t just regurgitate content that’s on your site, necessarily. Instead, turn it inside out so it reveals why a particular product or service benefits your SM followers. For example, let’s say you print a lot of direct mail pieces—and you offer tracking services for them. Tweet about the effectiveness & value of tracking your print campaigns, not simply that you print a lot of direct mail.

Building a social media presence is easy for printers if you mine your Website for great content. Think “value” and “informational,” not “sales” and “promotional.”