If you’ve been waiting to see if Pinterest would catch on in the social media world, you really shouldn’t wait any longer. Especially if your target audience is women. Women make up 80 percent of Pinterest users and since women make 85 percent of all consumer purchases, you don’t want to miss out on all these eyes seeing information about your business. Now, Pinterest is offering Web Analytics so you can measure how well your Pinterest business account is performing. Be sure to set up your Pinterest account as a business account and then sign up for Pinterest Web Analytics. You’ll find out how many people are pinning from your website, seeing your pins and clicking on your content. Plus, pick a specific timeframe to see how your numbers trend over time.
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Posts Tagged ‘Pinterest’
How to Stand Out on Pinterest If You’re a B2B Business
January 16th, 2013 :: Monika Jansen
If you’re a B2B small business or offer a service instead of a product, you can still use Pinterest. All it takes is a little thought and creativity. Here’s how to get started:
Use your own images
While it is very important to repin images that others have shared on Pinterest, it is also good to create and share your own images. As they are repinned, they will always be sourced back to you, helping you attract new followers.
Create personas
If you don’t already have a persona for your ideal customer, create one so you know what kinds of images will be most appealing to them. What is your ideal customer’s gender, age, location, household income, education level? Get as detailed as possible (you will probably have more than one persona).
Pin based on customer interests
Of course, you can also ask your customers what they care about, both personally and professionally. What are their hobbies, interests, favorite sports, favorite foods, top travel destinations?
Start boards based on your own interests
If you’re a travel junkie, coffee fanatic, or just love the color orange, create boards around those themes. It will help humanize you and your business and let your customers and potential customers get to know you better.
Create boards related to your business
Whether you are an attorney, software developer or SEO expert, you can create boards that are related to the service you offer. Let’s say you’re an accountant who specializes in personal finance. You could create a board of fabulous vacation homes since you help your clients save for specific goals.
Add details to board names
Don’t just name a board “Chocolate Desserts” or “Beaches” – they are too flat and boring. Get creative – think “Death By Chocolate” and “Exotic Beach Destinations.” You want to grab people’s attention so they’re eager to see more. Just be sure to keep the names short so people will remember them.
Pin clients – potential and current
You could create an entire board out of current clients and use their testimonials in the description – a very clever marketing idea. Or, you could make a board of clients you’d like to have, even huge companies. You never know who will see it and who can make an introduction.
Do you use Pinterest? What boards have been most popular?
Image courtesy of greenbuildermag.com
Google+Should Your Small Business Ditch Facebook for Pinterest?
December 11th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
If your small business makes and/or sells products, you might want to refocus your social media marketing energy on Pinterest rather than Facebook. Pinterest users, as it turns out, are shoppers.
In a recent Bizrate Insight survey, consumers were asked to list the reasons they use Facebook and Pinterest. As it turns out, Pinterest users are far more engaged than Facebook users – and way more likely to shop on the site.
Here are the most noteworthy results:
Pinterest users are shoppers
A whopping 69% of Pinterest users have purchased an item on the site, compared to only 40% on Facebook. That is a significant enough difference to make you rethink your social media strategy, isn’t it?
Pinterest users are looking for inspiration
Pinterest really takes the inspiration cake: 70% of users look for inspiration, 67% keep track of or collect the things they like, and 67% keep up with trends. Facebook came in at a paltry 17%, 21%, and 22% respectively, so take this as a directive to step up your content creation and product marketing on Pinterest.
Brands and offers do better on Pinterest
Shift your branding and exclusive offer efforts to Pinterest, since 43% of Pinterest users like to associate with retailers or brands (24% on Facebook) and 39% use it to get special offers (26% on Facebook).
Both sites are hang-outs
So, should you ditch Facebook completely? Probably not. People like to hang out and pass time on both sites – 73% on Pinterest and 61% on Facebook. If you have a pretty active community on Facebook, refocus your efforts on sharing fun stuff and creating conversations.
Have you had success selling on Pinterest? Share your tips in the comments below!
Image courtesy of in-this-economy.com
Google+3 Things You Need To Know About the New Pinterest Business Accounts
November 27th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
With the rapid growth of Pinterest, it was inevitable that they would create business accounts. Here’s what you need to know to make the most of your account:
1. Separate your personal and business account
If you’re using your current account for business, convert it into a business account at business.pinterest.com, or set up an entirely new account. While accounts will look the same, business accounts will have access to resources and tools developed specifically to help them grow.
2. Keep the Terms of Service in mind when you add original content
The cool thing about Pinterest is sharing all those beautiful photos and images. As you publish original photos and images of your business, employees, customers, products, services, etc., keep in mind that they can be modified, reproduced and distributed on Pinterest (and Pinterest only).
3. Take advantage of their resources and tools
Case studies – see how others are businesses are using Pinterest
What Works – read through a useful list of how to get the most out of Pinterest as a small business
Build a Community – learn best practices to building a following and creating a community
Analytics – see what’s working and not so you can improve your pinning
Pin It and Follow buttons – snag social share buttons for your website, blog, and email signature
Board widget – add their widget to your website, and invite people to follow your boards
Promotions and marketing – access tips on making a Pinterest contest fun, successful, and legal (per their Terms of Service)
Merchandising – get tips on how to promote Pinterest on your packaging (and, again, stay within their Terms of Service)
With the new business accounts, will you be doing anything differently on Pinterest?
Image courtesy of Pinterest
Google+5 Ways Smartphone Shopping and Social Media Are Changing Retail Marketing
November 14th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
With holiday shopping moving from in-person to desktop to smartphone and offline word of mouth moving to review sites and social sharing, retail marketing has entered a whole new era. HubSpot recently produced a fantastic (and very long) infographic called The Meaning of Like, which I went through and analyzed for insights all retailers should know.
There are my 5 favorite takeaways:
1. Shopping via smartphone is huge
If you don’t have a mobile site, you are missing out on the 64 percent of smartphone users who shop online with their devices. It is estimated that 167 million people will shop online this year and spend an average of $1,800 per person. You do the math.
2. Online shoppers are very social
Retailers who are active on social media have a distinct marketing advantage, as social media users are big shoppers: 40 percent of Twitter users search for products via Twitter, 51 percent of online shoppers conduct research on social sites, and 60 percent of Facebook users will discuss a product or service in exchange for a discount or deal.
3. Online shoppers check reviews
As I mentioned above, online shoppers do a lot of research, so it is worthwhile to ask customers for online reviews and spend time on Q&A sites like Quora to answer questions specific to your industry, product or service. Consider these numbers: 59 percent of online shoppers check customer reviews, 42 percent check question and answer tools, and 26 percent look up Internet forums.
4. Online shoppers do more than just shop on their smartphone
A third of online shoppers use their smartphones to look for sales and specials, check store info, look at product reviews and compare prices. Make sure all of that information is easily findable on your mobile site!
5. Online shoppers use Pinterest
Do you have a Pinterest account yet? Half of consumers check for coupons and deals on Pinterest, 43 percent look for product information (which strikes me as odd, since Pinterest is a visual platform), 36 percent read or post comments, and 34 percent look for event information.
In my next post, I’ll share all the ways retailers are changing to accommodate this new shopping and sharing behavior.
Image courtesy of bigfrey.com
Google+8 Ideas for Visual Content on Pinterest
October 30th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Unless you have a company that is hyper-creative and visual by nature, finding things to pin on Pinterest that are relevant to your business can be hard. In the second post of this three-part series on sharing visual content on social media, we’ll look at some fun ideas that are easy to implement. The inspiration for this series came from a Hubspot ebook, but most of the actual ideas are my own.
1. Think beyond your brand
Make a list of everything related to your brand and create a board for each category. For instance, since I am a copywriter, I could create boards on home office design, pens and pencils, couches (since I work from my living room couch), and cool logos.
2. Include fans and customers
If your fans and customers share photos of your product or service, add them to a board either specific to Customers or to one of your existing boards.
3. Use related content as a promotional tool
Hubspot used a really great example: Oreck, the vacuum cleaner company, has a board devoted to beautiful floors.
4. Create boards based on your blog’s categories and topics
By tying your boards and blog together, you can link one to the other. This also means coming up with content for your boards will be much easier. You could probably also blog about your boards – if they are interesting enough.
5. Weddings, anyone?
Pinterest first became popular with women planning weddings – and brides are still the largest demographic on the site – so if there is a way you can tie your product or service to weddings, do it.
6. Cute is big
Drake University’s mascot is a bulldog – and they have an entire board dedicated to bulldogs. If you can create a “cute” board that is relevant to your company, have fun with it!
7. Food is big too
People love “food porn!” Create a board of the meals you have during business meetings, travel and events.
8. Create hyper-niche boards
Target the niches within your client base with boards just for them. If you work with nonprofits, create a board specific to environmentally-focused nonprofits.
5 Common Misconceptions About Social Media – and Why They Are Not True
September 6th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Because using social media for marketing is still a relatively young practice, many misconceptions about it continue to float around out there. Here are 5 that I hear all the time, followed by the truth:
1. Social media cannot be used in my industry
Uh, really? Why not? Your customers are people, and chances are they are already using Facebook and LinkedIn – and maybe Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest too. Instead of making broad assumptions, get online and spend 30 minutes searching topics and keywords that are industry-specific. You might be surprised about who is talking about what.
2. My business is too boring to be good at using social media
Yes, it is much easier to come up with fun status updates, contest ideas, photos and videos if you are a salon and spa rather than an industrial metals manufacturer. So get creative! Ask, “What does my target audience care about? How can I engage them with photos, videos, contests and games?” For example: your employees could do a spoof on a song, changing the words so they are related to your company or industry.
3. Success is measured by quantity (of blog comments, Twitter followers – you name it)
Measuring the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts by tallying up the number of comments your blog gets, the number of Twitter followers you have, or the number of times a photo is shared is wrong in so many ways. What you need to be measuring is the number of leads you are generating, the quality of the leads, and how many are converting into customers. Customers, not popularity, are what pay the bills.
4. I must have a presence on every single social media network
This is only true if your target market is active – in large numbers – on every single social media network. They probably are not. Find the 2 or 3 networks with the most activity, and focus on those.
5. I don’t have time for social media
You probably do, actually, and that is because being active is not that time-consuming. Just as you devote time to checking email, answering customer queries and keeping up with industry news, you can carve out some time for social media. Set aside 30 minutes to plan out an editorial schedule and decide what you will post when. Once you do that, you will probably only spend 15 or 20 minutes total on your social media accounts every day.
What other misconceptions do you hear about social media? Share them below!
Image courtesy of brainwormproductions.com
Google+5 Ways to Create Shareable Photos for Pinterest
May 23rd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
As Pinterest continues to grow in popularity, marketers are discovering new ways to use the fun, social network to drive traffic to their sites. Since using the Pin It button automatically embeds an originating link, every image pinned on your site is an opportunity to introduce new customers and clients to your business.
Pin-worthy images tell a story and intrigue the viewer, making them the type of content people want to save and share. In other words, you need attention-grabbing, memorable images on your website to make it Pinterest-friendly. Here are five ways to help you select images that pack a punch on Pinterest:
1. Sum it up with an image: A picture is worth a thousand words, right? But, your blog posts and web copy have been carefully crafted with relevant information and targeted keywords. So, how can you use an image to convey the whole message you just wrote 500 words about?
Unless you can find a perfect image that does capture the essence of your writing, you may want to try applying text to your images. Adding easy-to-read, bold text to a photo can help it tell a story and invite Pinterest users to click through to your site. Try Pixlr or Gimp for modifying and creating custom graphics for your site.
2. Check your photos for formatting issues: Pinners may become frustrated if they love your content, try to pin it, then realize it is not pinnable. To root out pinning problems, use the following URL:
http://pinterest.com/source/YourWebsite.com/ (replace “YourWebsite.com” with your own address)
If you have the Pin It button installed, you can simply visit each page of your site and see what comes up as you click Pin It. Check each image to see how it will looked once a visitor finds and pins it. Keep in mind that Pinterest allows a maximum width of 554 pixels for all of its images – some resizing may be in order if your images go beyond that.
3. Discover your “Inner Pinner.” It’s easy to see how businesses in the fashion, home improvement, travel, and other visually-interesting industries can leverage Pinterest for marketing their products. But, what if you are an SEO company or a law firm?
It’s time to get creative and think outside the box. Social media is about people, and people have a wide range of interests. Just as you “listen” on other social networks, to learn what the community is discussing and finding interesting, spend some time browsing Pinterest to see what types of boards people are creating.
Consider what your customers do in their spare time, if they have families, or share common interests. And, don’t forget that infographics and how-to videos are also visually appealing, as well as pin-worthy.
4. Promote contests and giveaways on Pinterest. If your company uses contests and giveaways to increase traffic to your site, cast a wider net for these promotions by using Pinterest to spread the word. To see what other companies are promoting, search for “enter to win” or “giveaway” on Pinterest.
Incorporating Pinterest into your contest promotion is easy. You can share clear, compelling images of the event and the prize, so people can quickly see what they might win. Include the keywords, “contest,” “giveaway,” and “enter to win” in the description field. For added promotion, include a dollar amount for your prize, and Pinterest will automatically add a banner in the upper left-hand corner of the pin showing the amount.
5. Pin down the exact emotion you are trying to convey. No matter what your blog or website content is about, there is an emotion underlying the words. Whether it is power, simplicity, excitement, newness, affordability or lifesaving, pinning down the exact emotion to a single word or two will help you select an appropriate image.
For example, if you want to convey peaceful, relaxing emotions, you can use a photo of an adorable litter of puppies taking a nap. Cute animal pictures are very popular on Pinterest!
When you select images that evoke an emotional response, your images will be relatable to people, and therefore, share-worthy and pinnable.
Is your business using Pinterest yet? Do you have your own Pinterest page, or have you optimized your website for Pinterest? Share your pinnable ideas in the comments section below.
Image courtesy of digitaltrends.com
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