Full Service Internet Marketing Company Blog - Internet marketing and SEO Advice

Jun 14

Are people “Pinterest-ed” in your business?

Posted by admin | Blog

Pinterest is a popular photo and content sharing site in which users “pin” images, videos and other media from all place on the internet to their personal boards. These pins can then be shared among other users, liked, and commented upon. Boards can range in topics from home and food to fashion and weddings to cars and science. But with most people using Pinterest as a personal outlet, how can it be changed to a business platform?

Pinterest can easily be used by businesses to promote products and engage with customers. It was found that buyers spend more money, more often, and on more items from Pinterest than any of the other top 5 social media sites. In order to get the best response and following for your business, check out these guidelines for starting and growing your Pinterest profile.

Your Pins:

Don’t pin all your products: On your boards, you should stay away from pinning too much. Followers of your brand want to see the personality and ideology behind your business not another storefront of your products. To avoid this, only choose a few of your favorite or best selling products to pin. It will bring in customers who want to see more of your products to view your actual site and not just skim through your pins. Another good idea is to use “teaser” pictures. Pin images and links to events and products that could directly relate to your product without being the exact item.

Information update: Pinterest recently did an update that now provides additional information on pins that are products, movies, or recipes. For products, it gives pricing, availability, and location for purchase by staying connected to the original website it was pinned from. This is a great feature for companies with unique products and direct links to pins. One factor to remember is to keep your company website up to date in order for Pinterest to keep their information current as well.

Vary your images: A great way to add interest to your boards is to pin images of things other than your products. Including a photo of your staff or workplace can show that your business prides itself on the work its employees are doing. Another idea is to pin videos of your products being used. It is a great way to allow your followers to see how the product is used in an easy way without being pressured to immediately buy it.

Pin often: Like any social media network, you have to be consistent in your efforts or else you don’t get noticed by potential customers. To keep your business in the forefront of your followers’ minds, pin as often as you can. The more pins you have, the more others can like, comment, and repin.

Think of the layout: It has been proven on Pinterest that images with vertical layouts attract more views. A way to go about this is to combine multiple photos into one grouped photo. A combined photo can be used as a how-to of a product or a collection of items with a certain genre.

Your Boards:

Don’t make only one board: Some businesses begin a profile with one board and one board only. Again, in order to help your business gain a following you have to give your company a personality. Pin different categories to allow your company to seem well rounded in its image. Users want to see a brand not just its products. One idea is to create boards on some of your own interests and also think of categories that can be indirectly related to your product or service. For example, a gym might have boards on healthy habits that include small exercises, healthy food recipes, and workout wear. Think of your company as its own person. What type of things would it be interested in?

Create boards for specific projects: A great part of Pinterest is that you can separate your ideas into endless categories and boards. For business, it is an easy way to organize your ideas and inspiration into particular projects and clients. It makes gathering your information easy and clean. Plus if your client is already on Pinterest, they can see for themselves what you are doing and if they approve.

Use secret boards: Pinterest has a unique feature that allows you to show certain boards to a certain group of people. This can also be handy for clients who want their project a little more private. It can be useful to coordinate with employees and other staff on ideas and company projects as well. An idea for a business directly based on products, you could have a secret board for VIP customers to show new products or special styling tips.

Your Followers:

Add buttons on home website: Get customers you already have to join your Pinterest followers by adding a direct link button to your site. It can also allow users to take images from your site to pin on their own boards. This makes it even easier for your company and its information to spread.

Get customer interaction: Create a direct connection with your following by repining, liking, following and commenting on their pins as well. It can help to gain a personal connect and can open the doorway for direct customer feedback. Taking it the step further, you can also allow followers to post directly to your boards. Another pin idea is to feature one of your followers that helps spread your brand by commenting, repining, or liking many of your posts. It’s a nice way to show that you are paying attention to what others are doing for your business and encourages others to increase their involvement.

Create a contest: Spread your company brand by creating a contest that consists of followers repining a specific picture to enter. This helps to get your business known by those outside of your following and encourage interaction by all.

Pinterest is a great asset for the visual-oriented business and can help to expand your company’s client base and customer interaction. Hopefully these tips can help you to start and succeed with your business’ new venture into social media.

Jun 03

#Twitterforbusiness?

Posted by admin | Blog

Twitter is a large and still growing social network that lets users send and read text-based messages that can be no more than 140 characters. They organize these billions of “tweets” into categories with the use of hashtags (#).

It may seem like a little thing but this symbol can help you connect to thousands of users with your business’ interests. Here are some hashtag uses to help spread your company’s name and brand.

Create A Hashtag:

Great for a promotion or event, you can create your own hashtag that helps to find those interested in the same information as your company. For example a candle store may start to do in home parties that sell to clients and their friends. They decide to use #AromaCandleParty in all their tweets explaining the set up and information of the party to any other interested customers and potential clientele. You can even encourage those hosting and attending the party to use it as well. The best part is that the more you use that hashtag, the more others will latch onto it and begin to use it as well.

Start A Contest:

A wonderful way to have a large number of people learn your hashtag quickly is to start a contest. In order to enter, they must tweet a specific hashtag to be eligible for the prize. This also lets those who follow your clients but not you see your brand, follow your business and have the opportunity to enter.

Find Followers:

Hashtags help to show the basic idea of the tweet in one single word or group of words. Those who use the same hashtags as you do have at least one interest in common with you and your business. Follow those with similar hashtags you use and any hashtags you would associate with your business to begin to gain followers and follow others.

Hold A Tweetchat:

A tweetchat is when a designated time and topic is set to allow users to share conversation and interest in a specific matter. A specific hashtag is used so that the entire panel is able to be seen in one place. Tweetchats can be a great idea for a business to host one about a topic related to your products or services. It can help to build a following around your brand and a certain hashtag.

Attend A Tweetchat:

What is better to learn about a tweetchat then to participate in one? Meet like minded individuals that you can follow and learn from others at the same time. You can also show others you have an expertise in the field to help gain more followers.

Get Educated:

Learn more about the news in your own industry without having to search and read multiple blogs or articles. Check out hashtags you associate with your industry to learn the latest news and get links to the most important stories.

Categorize, Organize, But Use Sparingly:

To help people find your tweets, multiple hashtags can be used so your information is found in multiple locations. Hashtags also help to organize your tweets but you should still keep it short and simple. 140 characters is always less that you think!

May 24

How to Organize a Social Media Content Strategy

Posted by admin | Blog

There is an art to social media followings. It is a trial and error type of art, but an art no less. With small businesses joining the social media scene, it is important to know that gaining a following and clientele is more than posting something and just hoping it works out. You need to make the most of every post and update. The process of growing a following is a constant and ongoing course. It takes time and effort to get the results you want, so continue being patient and stay on track.

The best ideas start with brainstorming. So get together your most passionate and dedicated employees for an idea session. It is fine if they are from different departments or sectors since it may actually help you in the end. Having people of varied expertise with bring information on all your subject matters and viewpoints. This results in a good overall view of what to share with interested followers.

Continue your strategy planning with a schedule of when you will share your content. If you wish for a number of people to post, many accounts allow multiple users to post content through one main account. A smart idea if you have multiple writers is to create a calendar to specify what exact days there should be posts. Regularity of posting helps to attract and keep readers coming back.

When deciding posts, the type of content is also important. Text-only updates bring less attention than photos and videos do. For example, people would rather see pictures with a short caption of an event than only a written account about what occurred there. A smart idea for using text is to change it into a graphic. The internet is full of beautiful images of written quotes and other text based information. Find one that includes your information or create your own. Even though photos and videos get more interest does not mean that you should only post pictures. The best thing would be to vary the technique and mix photo, text, and video to keep audience interest. Even if you want to stay in the same medium, vary your focus.

Once you have figured out what to post and when to post it, you can figure out how you are doing. Utilizing analytics and metrics is a great way to find how people are responding to your posts and accurately continue or change your strategy.

With these tips and a clear, concise strategy to social media, you can get potential customers to better engage with your company. It can even help the public better recognize your brand but remember, it is an ongoing process to see exceptional results. So stay strong and don’t lose heart, you can do it with a little endurance.