Synergy of Websites, Social Media, & Print

While it's important to focus on your social media presence, your website, and any print material you have (flyers, handouts, ads), the real value of all of these becomes more obvious when you leverage one or more to draw attention to the others, compounding the effectiveness of all of them. Print is going to be very important, but it will only be effective after the background elements are in order.

Website

The first step is to make sure you have an accessible, easy-to-find website, with all the information any potential customers might need. Having a site that loads quickly and makes sense will give visitors a sense of legitimacy.

Once you make the decision to use your website with social media and print, you can develop a strategy to split the responsibilities between the three. Suddenly, the website becomes the closest option to an actual conversation between you and your customer.

There is a level of commitment involved in going to a website. If someone has made it to your website, it's most likely for a specific reason. The reason might be to find out how to contact you, to make sure you are trustworthy, or to buy a product. Focusing on what your consumer is looking for and destroying any distractions, no matter how enticing they may be, is the key to successful synergy between web, social media, and print. It is tempting to make the website flashy or fun, but these qualities are actually better left to your social media presence or your print media.

Social Media

Social media was designed to be, and should remain, a fun distraction.

Any social media presence should be geared toward fun stories about people, and the occasional coupon or deal added in as an incentive to connect or stay connected. Social media can be used to echo your print advertising, but should mostly be used to find your audience.

Social media is an inexpensive, low effort way to find out who is interested in you. Once you've found your audience you can find ways to reach out to them with the appropriate message. What do your followers have in common? Why do they start following you? Is it your location, their age or sex, or is it just the occasional discounts you offer? No matter what what common element they share, you can take that information and create a well-thought-out impressive advertisement to attract similar people.

Print

Contrary to popular belief, printed media is not dead, bad printed media is dead. However, print is expensive and should be given the appropriate amount of respect that comes with the cost. This is your chance to show off your style as much as possible, including really nice photos, excellent design, and even creative print products.

Printed media can represent you physically anywhere from your storefront, customers mailing address, and any physical location they might pass through. Printed media is a powerful tool and should be used with the research and analysis that can come from using it in conjunction with social media and your website.

Once you've used your social media to determine who your target audience is, you can adjust the type and style of your printed media to fit that audience.

Make sure to use hashtags or coupon codes on any printed media to enter into your website so you can measure the return on printed media. Also, always make sure to point to your social media to provide another dimension to your advertising personality.