Pinterest Brand Pages – Should My Company Pin Up?

There’s been a lot of talk about Pinterest, the new social discovery network for visual content. So by now you might be wondering: What about Pinterest brand pages? Should my company pin up? Absolutely. Reaching almost 4.5 million unique visitors this month, Pinterest gives brands plenty of opportunity to grow their audiences and engage loyal customers by curating visually compelling “pinboards.”

Before we go any further, let’s quickly review the nitty-gritty. How does Pinterest work? Users can create online pinboards (like a bulletin board) for any number of categories—such as “DIY and crafts,” “food and drink,” “things to buy,” and more—and then “pin” items to them. You can pin content in three ways:

• By installing the Pin It button on your browser to grab an image from any website and add it to one of your pinboards
• By uploading directly to your pinboard from your computer or phone
• Or by repining other people’s pins

Easy enough, right? Well, businesses beware: Unlike broadcast channels Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is not a tool for self-promotion, according to its pin etiquette. Instead, it’s designed for you to curate and share things you love.

So how on earth can you make the platform work for your brand with that restriction? There are a handful of companies that have begun using Pinterest to support the ideas behind their products, which is what Pinterest Co-Founder Evan Sharp believes is crucial. “For most consumer brands, the idea behind your brand makes sense on Pinterest,” he said in an interview with Mashable. Pinterest encourages a more holistic approach to marketing, and, if done well, it can be more effective than traditional marketing because consumers can really see how your brand fits into their lives.

Here are a few examples of companies that are already using the new visual social network to support the ideas behind their products and some other strategies you might consider:

Chobani: The yogurt brand’s winning strategy is to engage their community through recipe boards for treats that substitute yogurt for ingredients like sour cream.

West Elm: The furniture brand posts images categorized by aesthetic themes like “modernist,” “naturalist,” and “globalist” to inspire the designer in you—without taking an overtly sales-y approach.

Rent the Runway: The fashion-rental site groups its boards by occasions to help you craft the perfect look for any event.

As we’ve learned from Facebook and Twitter, running contests is another strategy for capturing the attention of your fan base. Recently, Land’s End Canvas ran a successful contest on Pinterest called the “Pin It To Win It” campaign. Users’ official “entry” for the contest consisted of a curated pinboard with 10 to 20 images of Land’s End apparel. With around 200 boards created for the contest, roughly 4,000 images of Land’s End merchandise were injected into the Pinterest feed at no cost. Running contests like this is a great way to expose your brand to a large audience, given the viral nature of these images and the engaged Pinterest audience.

You might also consider using Pinterest like a focus group. Since your company’s followers will volunteer a lot of information—by pinning products they love, places they enjoy, foods they salivate over, and things that inspire them—you can track what they’re pinning, see who else they’re following, and use this information to glean insights about your target consumers.

The addictive, visually stimulating social network has taken the Web by storm. According to SeedWalker, Pinterest often drives more traffic than Facebook and has already exceeded Etsy, Picasa, and Flickr in visitor count. In 2012, all indications are that Pinterest will be the new darling.

Google Search plus Your World – Tiny Needles in Mass Confusion Haystacks

I’m not a crystal ball kinda guy and don’t take much stock in predictions, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how Google plus Your World is going to be useful.

The wife and I recently bought a house and we’ve been making various purchases.  She’s been looking into furniture, and I’ve been researching ping pong tables and fire pits, among other man cavish goods.

I should state that these are clearly “informational” searches, as opposed to transactional (searching with the intent to purchase online) or navigational (searching for a specific site) searches. They are items that are typically researched online but often purchased at a physical location, as the cost is generally too high to make a commitment without first touching and feeling.

Here’s the rub: for social search to influence my informational purchases, friends of mine would have had to +1 a search result, or share a “ping pong” related item through Blogger, Yelp, Google+, or whatever else Google is allowing in its results.

Nobody I know has +1′d a “ping pong table” product on the Internet.  And why would they?  If they researched online but went to the store to buy it, they’d then have to go back online and find the search result again to +1 it. That’s simply not going to happen 99% of the time.

The “personal results,” meanwhile, give me a post from a guy who shared that he was eating his lunch on a ping pong table (and I had to scroll down his Google+ page to find it), an article about Tiger Woods taking on gold-medalist Liu Xiang in ping pong, and an article about the aerodynamics of a ping pong ball.  There are many more, none of them relevant to the purpose of my search.

Again, I realize that this isn’t the only type of search regularly performed.  You could argue that there are several sub-sets of informational searches, like looking for movie reviews and finding recipes.  A quick “The Descendents” search, for which George Clooney just won a Golden Globe for best actor, yielded nothing in the personal results. “Recipes” revealed several Google+ posts from Google advocate Denis Labelle, including a post that says “Google+ is the future of social search.” Strangely, I couldn’t find the post with the word recipes in it. Again, no +1s by any of my social connections.

Navigational.  Well, if I want go to YouTube and don’t think to type in youtube.com, I could search “youtube” and get there that way. Or I could just search “video.” Wait a second, there are some useful results here!  Some videos shared by the three people I know who actually use Google+—excellent!

Yep, no Facebook results, no Twitter results (yet). Google is saying it’s Twitter and Facebook’s fault they aren’t in there, but they seem to be missing the crucial point that they would be more relevant with them included, considering all the additional and relevant content it could serve (isn’t the whole idea of a search engine to organize relevant web pages?). As of now, there are simply too many search queries, too many search results, too many people who don’t know anything about the +1 button, and too many people who don’t get Google+.

Google has a massive task of educating the world about how this works, and right now it’s not easy to find any kind of value or reward.

RoosterComm Accommodates Overwhelming Demand for Facebook Page

Due to tremendous demand and futile attempts to resist, we’re pleased to announce the release of our new RoosterComm Facebook page. It’s been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait—we promise. Now you can get groovy updates on social media, SEO, websites, and other online marketing related stuff by clicking that little blue Like button. Like us, yo! #youwontregretit

The New Twitter Brand Pages for Businesses

In early December, Twitter unveiled the new Twitter brand pages, which, according to Twitter, will “help marketers create an even more compelling destination on Twitter for their brands.” And, oh yeah—the new and enhanced Facebook-esque layout will give brands a more distinctive presence on Twitter, too. So when can your company expect to gain access to the exciting new brand page? Soon. The rollout is planned for the first quarter of 2012.

The first improvement is a new banner that will stretch across the page just below the profile information. There, brands can display their company logos, taglines, or other visuals. By allowing companies to showcase their branding more explicitly, Twitter is making steps toward positioning itself as an ideal platform for companies who want a brand-led social media presence.

What’s arguably the most exciting new feature, however, is pinned tweets. You now have the ability to control the tweet visitors see when they come to your brand page by semi-permanently featuring a tweet at the top of your brand’s stream. This is particularly effective for messages that contain rich media, such as an image or video, since the Promoted Tweet (so dubbed by Twitter) will appear auto-expanded. This helps brands customize their page, promote important news or contests, and drive traffic to a specific video, photo, or link.

Twitter is introducing additional features that will further enable tweeters to connect with brands more deeply. The new ‘discover’ button will help you find content relevant to your interests and offer big returns to brands. For instance, brands that tailor their content to the interests and likes of their target audiences will inevitably gain a bigger following and experience heightened engagement with their followers.

The overhaul positions Twitter alongside Facebook and Google+ by offering a brand-friendly environment. If you’re especially keen on gaining access to the new format, keep in the know about the rollout progress, and learn more about the new layout, on Twitter’s advertising blog.

Facebook Timeline for Businesses

When Facebook announced Timeline, the new, picture-heavy profile format in mid-September, users were excited about the opportunity to humanize and enhance their profiles by showcasing important life events. Meanwhile brand Page admins were left to speculate about the possible impact of Facebook Timeline for businesses: if Facebook enables Timeline for brand Pages, could businesses benefit from the new profile format in a similar way as regular users? You bet.

Improved brand authenticity. Timeline will allow businesses to tell a more authentic brand story through a better organized and more engaging way of displaying company information. In the new profile design, content from the current, rather boring “Info” tab will be relocated to the top of the Page in a clear navigation bar. In addition, a new infinite scroll will prolong the lifespan of information posted to the Page’s wall (In other words, posts will no longer disappear “below the fold” of the Facebook wall). This reorganization will not only shift the focus on content from quantity to quality, but also enable brands to strategically express what makes them unique today, as well as in the past.

More photos, more branding opportunities. We increasingly consume information through images on the web in the form of infographics, photos, and illustrations; Facebook understands the value of imagery and has made photos a central feature of Timeline’s design. Take the “Cover,” an image about 840 by 310 pixels at the top of the new Facebook profile. It’s the first thing a Page visitor will see and presents a huge opportunity for branding, raising awareness, and getting creative. Might it be the perfect space to display a shot of your new product or to make a promotional push?

Increased brand awareness. The benefits of Timeline for businesses would extend beyond brand Pages themselves. Most companies rely on recommendations, or “likes,” to increase their fan base, but those endorsements often get buried beneath more recent updates on a fan’s Facebook wall. This won’t happen with Timeline. If a fan “likes” or comments on a brand Page, it will be cemented on his or her timeline, giving businesses yet another opportunity to cash in on brand awareness.

Timeline’s release. When can we expect Facebook Timeline for businesses? The social media giant recently told Mashable that “Consistency in both functionality and appearance is really important to Facebook, so we hope to make Pages more consistent with the new Timeline in the future.” While Facebook has yet to confirm that brand Pages will employ Timeline, clearly there are many reasons why we hope they do.

The look. Are you curious about what brand pages might look like with the new Facebook Timeline? Check out these mock-ups created by Skinny.

Twitter Time Management Tools and Tips

Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need to spend all of your time on Twitter to make an impact in your social networks. The following Twitter time management tools and tips will help you make the most of your Twitter account and keep you from burning the midnight oil.

1. Create Lists

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the number of tweets in your main Twitter feed? When you’re following more than a few hundred Twitter accounts, your feed might seem more like babble than conversation. Finding the good stuff will take time, and you’re likely to miss what key influencers are tweeting about—especially if you only have time to check Twitter once or twice a day.

Organizing Twitter accounts into lists is one way to hone in on important tweets. You might create a list, for example, of industry leaders or media relevant to your company. But there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. It’s likely that someone in your industry has already created the list you need. So check out Listorious, a user-powered Twitter lists directory; it will help you find and follow lists created by other people.

2. Follow Hashtags and Keywords

You only want to read and share interesting content on Twitter, right? Right. Following hashtags and keywords can help you do just that. Consider using a Twitter search tool like monitter or Twitterfall to help you aggregate tweets by topic, find relevant information to retweet, and engage with likeminded tweeters. It’ll save you time, and help you expand your reach on Twitter, too.

3. Determine the best time to tweet

Here’s another time-saving tip: make tweets when the greatest number of followers will see them. Why? You’ll be able to make far fewer tweets and participate in many more conversations at the same time.

So when is the best time to tweet? Research suggests that users are more engaged with social media at the end of the week. That’s a good place to start, but a tool called TweetWhen will help you determine exactly what day and time your tweets gain the most traction. Another option is to use a social media management tool, such as SproutSocial, that uses consumer usage data to determine the times your messages are most likely to be seen.

Of course there are many other ways to save time and make an impact on Twitter–this is merely a list to help you get started. But if you learn how to use these tools effectively, you’ll become a much more efficient tweeter and have a better sense for which additional Twitter clients and time-saving tools will work well for you.

Plus One Plugin for WordPress

Google’s been making strong moves lately with the Plus One button and Google+.  It’s hard to say whether either of these will reach critical mass  – ahem, see Google Buzz.

That said, it’s probably not a good idea to wait to incorporate the Plus One button on your WordPress site, mostly because it takes two minutes to install.

Not surprisingly, there are at least three decent +1 plugin options already.  The one with the most unanimously positive reviews is called — wait for it — Plus One.

Search for Plus One in your WordPress account plugin page, install and activate, and you’re done.  It automatically gets added at the end of your posts. I may have exaggerated — it probably only takes 30 seconds.

Given that Google has decided to incorporate Plus One data into Webmaster Tools, it’s betting that it can build reliance on it. Unlike Buzz, which seemed to exist in a vacuum, Google has connected the Plus One button to search results and Tools, making it an extension of its current offerings instead of yet another new application or platform to adopt.

Let me be clear — I ain’t saying +1 is going to make it big time.  The Interwebs is a big place with lots of wires and tubes, and I’ve never once seen a result that someone in my network has plus one’d. In short, it’s never done for me what it aims to do, which is provide recommendations and leverage my network to facilitate decision making.

That said, it’s so easy to install in WordPress that you kinda hafta.  And if it does go large, you’ll be in good position.

Twitter Usage Stats – User Numbers, Trends, Tweets Per Week

Twitter usage is continuing to grow and the user numbers don’t lie. Over 200 million people use Twitter and there are over 1 billion tweets per week according to The Next Web.  Mobile usage has increased 182% the past year, signaling that Twitter is trending on two screens.  Lady Gaga herself has over 9 million users.

While Twitter is often knocked as a celebrity dominated medium, it can still be very important tool for brands for media outreach, driving contest and promotion participation, and winning customers through conversation.  Most importantly, perhaps, it is still the most real time media in the world and can be used by brands to broadcast from events or mobilize followers.

Social Media Contest Participation – Effort Versus Reward

The success of a social media contest, as measured by participation, comes down to two basic factors:  the effort required to participate and the value of the reward.

Seems simple enough, right? Yet when running a Facebook or Twitter contest it can be deceptively difficult to get this right.  Asking fans for user generated video or photos is enticing — who wouldn’t want their foot soldiers to become evangelists?  Without the proper reward, however, participation simply isn’t going to happen.

Here’s a simple chart to illustrate the point:

A Twitter contest that only requires someone to retweet or become a follower and offers the reward of an iPod, for example, is going to result in high participation and more followers.

A Facebook contest, on the other hand, that offers a free six pack of Coke to the winner of a finger painting contest who is first required to fill out a series of web forms to enter, will result in low participation.

It goes without saying that there are many types of rewards, including those intangible in nature, such as the pride a Wikipedia volunteer might experience in exchange for editing services.  A reward could be considered high from simply offering a finger painter the chance to have his/her creation posted on a Facebook page with 1 million fans. In this case, the recognition is the reward and should be evaluated as such.

In developing your social media contest strategy, don’t take for granted the effort required and make sure your contest has the adequate incentives.  Doing so will result in a high participation and will turn your contest winners into brand evangelists.

Internet Usage Statistics – Recent Quick Facts and Figures

Did a presentation last week for a group of mortgage loan officers. Many are reluctant to jump into online and social media marketing, so I presented some facts that are pretty hard to ignore.

Search

Facebook

LinkedIn

The fun part is that Search, Facebook, and LinkedIn are still on a skyrocket trajectory and aren’t slowing down a bit. Furthermore, it shows that online has truly reached critical mass and has become ingrained in our daily lives.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t include Twitter in there, well, I didn’t recommend it to the group of loan officers. The argument was that setting up their website bio pages, optimizing a LinkedIn account, and getting a Facebook page up and running would give them the best value for their time and a decent base of visibility. Plus, once those are set up, not a lot of updates and posts need to be made — unlike Twitter.

While LinkedIn doesn’t have the numbers of Facebook, it is more tightly focused, since mostly all of its members are there for business and networking reasons. It’s great for loan officers looking to stay in front of their community online, it’s free, and requires little maintenance and updating once it’s set up properly.

A Facebook Page is also free and doesn’t require a lot of time after set up. Nothing will get you blocked or unliked faster than chronic over-posting, so I recommended that the loan officers post only once every week or two.  If they can take the leap in their mind to post something they find interesting in the moment it happens, posting will feel like it takes even less time.

All told, lots of good nuggets to discuss when developing a presentation for a specific group of people.  More to come.