Social Media and Signage

In our ever-changing marketing world, we have to adapt to the trends! Promote your online presence in your offline materials. MegaPrint, Inc. has a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account, as do many companies and individuals these days. Do you? Social media is a great way to reach new customers, keep current customers informed, and build credibility by having your customers post comments about your product and services. These marketing mediums are tried and true ways to build your business.

Put them on your signage! If you are going to a trade show, putting up a grand opening sign, or just some meeting and event signage add a line of text that says, “Follow us on Twitter!” or “Become a fan of our Facebook page.” Use the familiar logos that Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter provide. This is a way to let your clients know you are there. Not many people will go out searching for you on these social medias unless you let them know you are there.

Consider how much time people spend on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc! Don’t miss out on your next opportunity to spread the word about your social media endeavors through your printed signage.

Protecting your print from fading

If you've ever left a magazine on a window sill for a month or two, you'll be familiar with fading. Most printing inks will fade when exposed to UV light. And, since fluorescent lighting also emits UV, it can happen to prints hanging in your office, even if they are not getting direct sunlight from your window.

To keep your prints from fading, we need to use UV stable inks. Anything that is going in a window, or that will be up for years, should be printed with them. UV inks are good for up to two years in sunlight, and just about forever (well, OK, 20 years) in a normal office environment. Trade Show graphics and meeting signs are used for just a few days, and we find that UV inks are not normally required.

People often ask about using lamination to reduce the amount of UV that reaches the print. This is a throwback to the days before we had UV inks. While our testing does show that lamination slows fading, it does not stop it. We think the solution is really to use the inks that do not fade.

The good news is that the latest HP equipment gives excellent color with UV inks. Older equipment did not give us good reds, and we had to make tough choices between color fidelity and longevity. Today, you can get both. Less filling, and tastes great!