May 8, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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By now, we feel safe in saying that Pinterest is here to stay. If you’ve decided that Pinterest is the next step for your business, you may be confused about where to begin – after all, the site is still relatively new, especially for marketers. However, there are a few distinct dos and don’ts of the platform that you should be aware of before you sign up for an account.
Since Pinterest lets you make individual boards for various topics, it behooves you to take advantage of this functionality. Often, those new to the site forget about this very basic function, and instead pin all of their photos to the same board – which isn’t the biggest “don’t” on the Internet by a long shot, but is definitely a huge don’t when it comes to Pinterest.
For example, the Kate Spade New York Pinterest account makes use of this organization to differentiate their fashion pinboard from their travel pinboard, which are both distinct from a third miscellaneous board – all with names branded to match the company’s marketing.
As of January 2012, Pinterest’s user base was still roughly 75 percent female, mostly falling between the ages of 25 and 54. Most social media sites aren’t this heavily skewed to one gender, which means you’ll probably need to adjust your marketing messaging (unless you’re already targeting that particular demographic). That’s not to say that you can’t use Pinterest to reach men, as they do make up a quarter of the site’s user base – but you’re much more likely to see success if you adjust your messaging to match the overwhelming majority of the audience.
Just as your Twitter followers don’t want to see 15 Tweets from you in an hour, your Pinterest followers don’t want to deal with the clutter you create when you pin one photo a minute, every minute, for the entire day. Use your good judgment, and pin in such a way that you won’t completely overwhelm people into unfollowing your boards.
One of the unique features of Pinterest (well, aside from the entire pinboard concept), is the fact that it allows for pinboards with multiple contributors. Some brands have been taking advantage of this to involve influencers and fans in the content curation process. For example, Whole Foods uses multiple contributors on almost all of their boards.
The little icon next to the number of pins on each board indicates that these allow group contributors, as opposed to solely deriving from the Whole Foods account.
Crowdsourcing can also take the form of asking customers to pin photos of themselves using your product in creative ways — a tactic often used by Pinterest marketers in the food and beauty industries, occasionally integrated into contests and giveaways. However, you will want to proceed with caution if considering this tactic. The Pinterest Acceptable Use Policy draws a very precise line between marketing activities and spamming – you’ll want to familiarize yourself with these rules before launching any form of Pinterest marketing strategy.
Have you successfully integrated Pinterest into your marketing strategy? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!
May 4, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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If you expected signing up for Twitter to be the most difficult part of implementing a Twitter marketing campaign, you’re in for a rude awakening: it’s all uphill from there. Even if you have put in the effort, you still may find yourself wondering what’s going wrong – why isn’t Twitter the answer to all your online marketing problems? More often than not, it’s for one of four major reasons:
People don’t use Twitter because they want to sit by and idly receive marketing messages. People use Twitter for any of the following purposes: connecting with one another, being entertained, catching up on news, or asking questions. But unless you’re Disney or Microsoft (or another heavy-hitter), the average Twitter user won’t follow you to hear solely about your products.
Make jokes. Post relevant news stories and YouTube videos. Above all, make sure you actually have something to say before you start wildly tweeting here and there. If you’re going to try to compete with news, entertainment, and people’s friends, you’re going to have to put in some time and effort.
Now that you’re not boring, you need to offer your customers some sort of reason to follow you on Twitter. They know who you are and what you sell. But what do they get by following you on Twitter? Exclusive discounts? A direct connection to a customer service representative? Insight into what goes on behind the scenes at your company? If you’re not offering a tangible benefit to your target audience, they’ll quickly start to wonder why they started to follow you in the first place – and the unfollow with come soon after.
“But how could I be antisocial? I’m using social media!” you say. Well. No. There’s a difference between having a Twitter account and actively socializing with your target audience. Are people mentioning or retweeting you? If you’ve never even bothered to check, start there. Check. Start replying to people who are talking to you. This is the cornerstone of social media: having conversations. Most brands won’t get very far if they put out 140-character announcements, rather than 140-character conversation starters. If you are being social but it’s still not working, then perhaps…
Your loyal customer base: is it predominantly male or female? On average, how old are they? Most importantly: what time of day do they use Twitter? If your customers generally get on Twitter around 6 or 7 p.m. when they get home from work but you’re posting tweets during business hours, this could account for a large amount of what you’re saying falling on deaf ears. Your audience isn’t going to go out of their way to scroll back six hours through their tweets to see what you’ve been saying – you have to come to them.
Why do you think Twitter marketing campaigns fail? Leave us a comment to let us know!
April 20, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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We’re currently experiencing a start-up boom – you may have noticed that every time you get on the Internet, there’s another story about a new social media this or an up-and-coming mobile that – many with a focus on fashion, photography, or other forms of creative expression. There are only so many waking hours in the day, so how do you decide which sites and apps are worth checking out? Take a deep breath, and then read our list of four sites and apps we consider worth your time.
Even if you don’t personally use Instagram you’ve probably heard of the smartphone photo application, which Facebook recently bought for a mere $1 billion (yes, that’s “billion” with a B). The popular app was limited to the iPhone platform from its launch in late 2010 until earlier this month, when an Android version was introduced. Many brands, particularly in ecommerce and fashion, have embraced the platform as a way to visually communicate with their audiences. Remember: a picture’s worth 1000 words, which can come in handy when you’re trying to submit to Twitter’s character constraints.
You must know what Pinterest is by now – even we’ve extolled the virtues of the image-sharing site. Pinterest has quickly risen to success, and its clean and easily navigable site design has played a big hand in that.
It’s too bad your Facebook News Feed doesn’t look like this – instead, you’re stuck with endless scrolling and an overwhelming amount of information. Or what if your new Timeline profile could be organized into this format?
Well, it can. Above, you can see our CEO Shama Kabani’s last three Facebook updates arranged in a Pinterest format. If you quickly find yourself overwhelmed by the number of updates you see from your friends and subscriptions, this is a clean way to scan everything.
If you have an idea for a movie, book, video game, or another creative endeavor, but you don’t have the funding — that’s where Kickstarter comes in. Their model of fundraising has been called “crowd funding” and the concept is simple: ask a lot of people for a small amount of money. If you don’t reach your set goal by a specified date, the bank accounts of those who already pledged money aren’t charged. Some Kickstarter-funded projects have gone on to be wildly successful, including the Printrbot (a 3D printer), an iPod nano wristwatch, and films that have showed at major festivals, including Sundance and South by Southwest. So if you have a big idea but not such a big reserve of cash behind it, Kickstarter could be just what you need to – well – kick-start your project.
Ecommerce sites have made the latest trends available to basically anywhere the post office delivers. But certain retailers may fall behind: namely, the boutique owner. By nature, boutiques are local and often eclectic, but many haven’t adapted to online sales – which means the boutique owner misses all the potential business of the fashion-conscious shopper who lives hundreds of miles away and can’t just stop by. But with Shoptiques, your inventory is available to a whole new audience. Shoppers can browse by type of clothing, or by city and neighborhood instead.
Is there a site or app that you think has major potential? Leave us a comment to let us know!
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