Friday, November 30, 2012

How to Set Up a Pinterest Business Page

How to Set Up a Pinterest Business Page

 

Following in the footsteps of Facebook, Twitter and Google+, social bookmarking site Pinterest has unveiled pages exclusively for businesses.
If your company is new to Pinterest, you can sign up for a business account. If your business has an existing account, you can convert it. Pinterest's new business accounts—which still look the same as personal pages—are free and display a verification badge, let you add buttons and widgets to your website, and include an updated set of terms of service.
Here's a look at how the new business pages work and how to convert your company's account so you can better tap the power of the popular visual bookmarking site.

How to Switch to or Sign Up for a Business Page

Changing your Pinterest page from a personal account to a business account is simple: Visit pinterest.com/business/convert to start. You'll need to be logged into your account.
Complete the fields in the form above, including selecting a custom URL for your page. Pinterest will denote whether the URL you've chosen is already in use.
If your company doesn't yet have a business presence on Pinterest, click the "Sign up" link in the top-right of the page. This will bring you to a similar form that also includes a space to upload a profile image.

How to Verify Your Account

Pinterest's verification feature lets you validate that you own the website listed on your Pinterest profile.
To verify your website, visit your Settings page and click on the Verify Website button. Pinterest supports only top-level domains, but you can send suggestions on alternative verification options using this Google Docs Spreadsheet.
Pinterest will ask you to download a HTML verification file and upload it to your Web server. Once Pinterest verifies your website, other Pinterest users will see a checkmark next to your domain in search results and the full website URL and checkmark on your profile.

Embedding Pinterest's Buttons and Widgets

To encourage engagement from pinners and to generate traffic back to your site, Pinterest offers a number buttons and widgets you can embed on your website.
The first two buttons, "Pin It" and "Follow," place buttons directly on your site to allow users to either pin a photo or piece of content to one of their boards, or follow your account directly.
The Profile widget places a collage of your pins and directs users to your Pinterest page to see more. The Board widget, similar to Profile widget, also displays a collage, but highlights one board.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday


Black Friday is gone.  Small Business Saturday is in the past.  Now we are facing,

Cyber Monday.

How many of you are going to be doing your shopping online this, "Cyber Monday"?

Hunting, seeking the online deals, visiting multiple sites, everyone looking for "The" deal of the year.

Shopping until your mouse breaks.

So, how many of you will be online tomorrow shopping Cyber Monday?




 









Social Media Marketing Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities. Why would a search marketer — or a site about search engines — care about social media? The two are very closely related. Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news stories, and “discovery” is a search activity. Social media can also help build links that in turn support into SEO efforts. Many people also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content

Monday, November 12, 2012

Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More

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So, what’s the best way to market your brand on Facebook? According to Peter Shankman, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with a hearty background of marketing and consulting under his belt, the answer is actually pretty easy: “Sharing for the sake of just hearing yourself talk is pointless.”
Yes, the key to doing more is doing it with less. With all of the changes that have been implemented among Facebook Brand Pages within the last year, from the end of Facebook Discussions and Reviews in October to the roll-out of Timeline for Brands this spring, it’s hard to keep track of what’s actually working for brands on Facebook. The most recent numbers actually indicate fan growth slowed with the Brand Timeline switch. But thinking smart transcends those changes — and never goes out of style.
“You want to engage your audience and make sure that they feel like they’re apart of something — not just being marketed to,” Shankman explains. “Then they will do your PR for you.”
Shankman’s experience with brands runs deep. The former journalist and founder of Help A Reporter Out has written two books on marketing and customer service in the social media world — Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World and Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work — and Why Your Company Needs Them. He’s also frequently globetrotting to consult and speak on PR and social media, and has worked with major companies, such as American Express and Disney. through his company, The Geek Factory.
Mashable spoke with Shankman about the inner workings of Facebook marketing and what users really want to see on your brand page.

Want to Lose Followers? Be Repetitive

It’s really true that in life, one size does not fit all. The same can be said about your social media networks, too. Shankman says that nothing bothers him more than seeing brands post repetitive content on every social platform available — including their Facebook Brand Timeline.
“If you’re pushing the same crap onto your Facebook, you deserve to get your ass kicked,” he says.
“If you’re pushing the same crap onto your Facebook, you deserve to get your ass kicked.”
Instead, Shankman advises to place special content onto your Timeline that can engage users in a unique way — not just spamming the same information over every platform available. That way, when fans know what kind of content to expect from your page, they will know to return to your brand site for specific engagement instead of clicking the back button.
“Let it be something your audience wants to see, that they’re excited about,” Shankman explains. “When you have those kinds of things, that’s when you want to share.”

Nothing Smart to Say? Don’t Say It at All

Shankman says that the best way to produce smart content is to engage in a conversation with your fans. Asking questions about the quality of the brand or polling users about what they want to see from a service are always more engaging than just pumping out promotional material.
“You have to engage and you have to respond,” Shankman says. “It can’t just be about posting ‘Hey! 10% off for the next five minutes!’”
But even a careful and thoughtful dialogue on a Brand Page won’t yield rainbows and sunshine all the time. Shankman admits that every brand will have its haters or vocal fans who have had a bad experience with a service or product. But, don’t just ignore and delete the complaints of your naysayers just because your Timeline is a finite medium. He says that mistakes are often best received by fans when they’re approached head-on — and with transparency.
“Work with them,” he advises. “Be honest and say, ‘Hey! We didn’t do this right and we’re trying to make it better.’”

Keep it Simple, Stupid

So what content actually works for brands? Shankman advises that content should be tailored to your audience, not just the things that you find interesting about your own brand. He adds that it’s also unwise to attempt to treat your Brand Page simply as a satellite to your company’s blog or website.
“Facebook is an entirely different animal,” he says. “You can’t just repopulate your entire website onto it.”
So if promotional material can fail and the copy you already have can fail, what do you have left? Shankman says that no two brands are alike, so there’s no panacea for every Brand Page on Facebook. In fact, the easiest way to find out what does work on your company’s Brand Page is to ask the fans that frequent it.
“The best way to give information to your audience is to find out how your audience wants it,” Shankman says. “You’ll never go wrong with that.”

Conclusion

Shankman says that, in short: It’s not about you, it’s about your audience. Shankman says the biggest mistake that brands make is self-absorption — if you make your content for yourself and not for your fans, you’re going to motivate them to click the back button and maybe remove you from their feed entirely. Instead, treating Facebook like the unique medium it is can help your brand’s social media reputation in the long run — and perhaps motivate your fans to evangelize your product and influence their own circles. As Shankman says, “Give them reasons to want to be there and to want to talk to other people.”

Series presented by Webtrends

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Image courtesy of iStockphoto, courtneyk

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Social Media - Just what is it?

Social Media - Just what is it?


Social media is a phrase being tossed around a lot these days, but it can sometimes be difficult to answer the question of what is social media. If Facebook is a social media site, and Mag.nolia is a social media site, and Wikipedia is a social media site, then just what is social media?
Is it social networking?
Is it social bookmarking?
Is it wiki?

What is Social Media?

The best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument on communication, like a newspaper or a radio, so social media would be a social instrument of communication.
In Web 2.0 terms, this would be a website that doesn't just give you information, but interacts with you while giving you that information. This interaction can be as simple as asking for your comments or letting you vote on an article, or it can be as complex as Flixster recommending movies to you based on the ratings of other people with similar interests.
Think of regular media as a one-way street where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, but you have very limited ability to give your thoughts on the matter.

Social media, on the other hand, is a two-way street that gives you the ability to communicate too.