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By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Nate Towne. Follow him on Twitter @Fancy_Lad.
So you’re considering Pinterest for your business are you? Well you’re not alone! As my last Pinterest post propounded, Pinterest has more than four million users and is growing each and every day. It’s the “hot new shiny toy” of the social media sites – which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for your brand. After all, thousands of people get their naughty bits pierced each year – that doesn’t mean you should, too (Or does it?). So if you are considering jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon for business, here are some insights to help you make an informed decision.
We can all agree Pinterest is pretty darn cool, but as responsible marketers, we must ask: is it right for your brand? If you’ve got some awesome visuals or products to share with the world, the answer is: yes. Whole Foods, Martha Stewart Living (R.I.P!), Better Homes & Gardens, Bergdorf Goodman – they all have Pinterest accounts, and more brands are joining each day. While the wedding , fashion and design industries appear to be leading the charge, there are many uses for any business – provided it sells something that is visually compelling, provided you want people to share your stuff online and provided you have the time to handle building and maintaining a Pinterest account (That’s a post for another time my dears.).
Pinterest is easy to use, which is yet another reason it’s great for businesses (Why, even my mother could figure it out, if she could put down her glass of wine.). It’s a website, it’s a search engine browser button, it’s an app – it’s everything you want it to be and everywhere your customers like to hang. You can login using Facebook or Twitter, you can take pictures and upload them to your pinboards – which can be customized according to your tastes. Yes Virginia, you can have a pinboard dedicated to burnt toast art. Whatever floats your boat!
So to make a long blog even longer, let’s cut to the chase. How can brands use Pinterest to boost the bottom line? Here are some thoughts to discuss amongst yourselves at the water cooler:
- Share Your Look for Less: Creating virtual “Look Books” or reference boards to share with other Pinheads. Launching a new line of toiletries? Create a board! Pitching a big landscaping project to your local bank? Show them exactly the types of plants and materials you’d use – paint them a picture, that’s what Pinterest is all about. And if they share your boards, all the better!
- Sell Product: While you can’t BUY anything on Pinterest, if you pin your products and link to the website within your Pin, your fellow Pinheads can easily jump to your ecommerce site. An added bonus: if you add a “$” to your Pins description, Pinterest will automatically add a price banner to the photo AND your Pin will appear in the Pinterest “Gifts” category. Sweeeet.
- Demonstrate Subject Matter Expertise: You’re SMART and creative, damn it, so showcase your awesome sauce with pinboards! If you’re a company that sells shoes – own it. Create a board for your products, but also create boards for other shoe-related visuals. Like great places to hike or jog if you’re in the sports apparel game. Or pictures of celebrities who wear your shoes – or who should wear your shoes. Best dressed? Worst dressed? World’s most unappealing cankles? Pin it and become a SME superstar!
Next up in this hopelessly-devoted-to-Pinterest series: how Pinterest can help your business get more business through caring and sharing. Because just like the Hokey Pokey, that’s what it’s all about!
February 7th, 2012
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Nate Towne. Follow him on Twitter @Fancy_Lad.
Pinterest, schminterest! What’s with all the buzz about this new social media channel? Is it worth your precious web surfing time? And how can you use it to build your business so you can feel less guilt about surfing boards on Pinterest on the company dime? Read on, fearless reader – you might just learn something (I swear it’s not my fault if you do.).
Our good pals at Mashable report Pinterest is currently enjoying the limelight as one of the top 10 social networks – and it’s still (technically) invite only. Though getting an invite is pretty easy if you’re on Twitter or Google+ – heck, just ask me and I’ll invite you. Or you can ask Pinterest for an invite –I’m betting dollars to donuts they’re not going to turn you down. I’m a sharing kinda guy. The premise behind Pinterest is pretty basic, it’s a cloud-based social media network that lets you organize and share all the cool discoveries you find on the web. Pinheads (yes, I’m coining that term) use pinboards to showcase their mad style, plan vacation shenanigans, organize their favorite recipes, share gifting ideas, and among other things, drive traffic to ecommerce sites – *gasp!*
What makes Pinterest a social network? It allows Pinheads (see? I’m running with it!) to browse pins and boards created by other Pinheads. Trust me, you could spend days browsing other Pinhead’s pinboards – they are a constant source of amusement, amazement and discovery. And if you’re an entrepreneurial kind of person, the two words that stand out here are “discover” and “share.” Who wouldn’t want Pinheads to discover and share your coolness on this hotter than hot internet destination?
Let’s face it – if you build it, and it’s cool, and it reaches MILLIONS of potential customers, businesses will come. But should your business jump on the bandwagon? According to ComScore’s recent data on Pinterest, the site has nearly five million users and shows no signs of stopping in its race to the top. Data from Google Ad Planner reports nearly 1.5 million unique users are visiting Pinterest daily, and spending more than 14 minutes on the site per visit (If you ask me, this number is a little low – Pinterest is *that* addictive!). If that data isn’t enough to get you thinking, digest this new insight from Shareaholic via GigaOM: Pinterest is now driving more web traffic referrals than Google+ (not surprising), on par with Twitter referrals (rather surprising!). But juicy and compelling data aside, is Pinterest right for your business?
That’s a question for another post – in fact, my next few posts will break down why brands should consider converting to Pinterest , or not as the case may be. I promise you dear reader, it will be worth the wait. And if not, I’ll gladly give you your money back…
February 2nd, 2012
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter at@MandyMayM.
Remember when they used to tell us in grade school that we could all help stop crime? Although we’re big kids now, that still holds true. However now authorities and victim’s of theft are taking to the streets of social media to hook crooks. While a very hyper-local story to Boston, Boloco’s use of social media to gain leads in making arrests for a robbery that occurred on January 28th at their 1084 Boylston Street location has made the headlines and speaks to the power of social networks in law enforcment.
Posted to their YouTube and Facebook pages, Boloco is hoping that citizens will view the security tape and recognize the culprits that broke into to the location in the early morning hours Saturday morning, making off with the establishment’s safe. Since Saturday, the original Facebook post has received over 60 comments and the YouTube video has been watched over 5,300 times. There is also a nice cash reward for watching and reporting. A $1,000 reward is up for the tipster that lands these criminals behind bars.
To me, this brings about an entirely new age of tipsters for crime. Although your identify isn’t completely hidden if you are making public comments on these pages, this avenue for soliciting ‘anonymous’ tips from the public is genius to me. It also has me wondering what other ways law enforcement could use this avenue for stopping crime. We all remember the glory days of America’s Most Wanted, featuring horrible criminal stories to homes via network TV, but I believe social media takes it beyond that as you’re delivering a message and providing an opportunity for tip submission in the same medium. You’re also driving on a social networking site – keyword being network. You’re likely to share with your networks and your networks will then share on. Crime can literally then go viral – in a good way.
What are your thoughts? Do you believe that this treads on anonymous tips and the safety of tipsters, or do you feel that this is the start of a new age of stopping crime via social networks?
January 31st, 2012
By Guest Author
The Super Bowl is six days away and recent history indicates the NFL Pro Bowl has painfully come, and thankfully gone. This is the same lack luster game between the AFC and NFC’s best, doubling as a glorified flag football game with pads. Two years ago the NFL gave the Pro Bowl a shake down, moved the game a week before the Super Bowl, and from Honolulu to Miami for the first time since 1980. Last night the game reverted back to its rightful spot in Hawaii, with twitter stations on each sideline.
Wait – what!? Yes, the league that has historically been strict on their social media policy. The NFL policy states players aren’t allowed to use their twitter account 90 minutes before a game, and only after their post-game media obligations have concluded. That being said, the league provided each sideline with twitter stations, so that players could “live tweet” during the game.
This flip-flopping on the policy wasn’t looked to highly upon by players; including Steelers’ linebacker and NFL’s notorious dirty hitter James Harrison. On his own twitter account Harrison wrote, “Why u think the NFL “wants us” to tweet during the Pro Bowl but wont “let us” til 90 min AFTER a real game? I won’t tweet during today’s game.” Harrison’s stance wasn’t reciprocated, as many players enjoyed the relaxed policy including the Pro Bowl MVP, and Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall. He went on to write, “Shout out to @MiamiDolphins & @Finsiders. Happy to be out here, but I can’t wait until next season!! Feb 13 & I’m back at it! #probowl,” said Marshall.
While I’ve been known to “live tweet” games, mostly for my beloved Syracuse Orange basketball team, I agree with Harrison. The NFL is the greatest professional sports league in the United States, but it’s also a business. Twitter is the social network, and the NFL tried to cash in. In a game that traditionally hasn’t held up to its end of the bargain, the tweeting stations were ways to create some excitement and bring people back, but it didn’t work. Last year’s Pro Bowl took in 12.04 million viewers, while last night’s game saw 10.52 million viewers according to The Futon Critic. Twitter undeniably brings fans closer to celebrities, athletes, and it’s a great tool, but my take away? Leave the “live tweeting” to fans, journalists, and the social savvy.
This is a guest post by Marcus LaRobardiere. Follow him on Twitter at@marcusdl
January 31st, 2012
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Emily Matthews, who is currently applying to masters degree programs across the U.S. She loves to read about new research into health care, gender issues, and literature, and lives and writes in Seattle, Washington.
The folks at Facebook seem to always be tinkering with their formula, and within the last couple weejs, Facebook introduced a new type of profile: Timeline. It’s quite a change from the old type of profile, with your picture in the left-hand corner and your wall covering the majority of the page. Now you can essentially chronicle your entire life, from birth to the present.
The first most obvious change is the cover photo that spans across the top of your profile. This seems to be a change that makes your profile more like a blog with a header image. Your cover is to “fill this wide, open space with a unique image that represents you best. It’s the first thing people see when they visit your timeline.” You can choose from photos you have already uploaded in your albums or upload a new image from your computer. For my cover photo, I decided to go with a Wordle image that I created from one of my pieces of fiction. Perhaps use an image from Flickr as your cover photo if you’d like something artistic. The cover allows you to customize your profile to a greater extent than Facebook has allowed before.
The next most obvious change is the wall. The wall has disappeared and been replaced by your stories, with staggered boxes on the left and right with your status updates, photos, friend activity, and everything else that was normally posted to your wall. It’s a little busy in its layout; your eyes bounce from one side to the other, trying to figure out what should be read or looked at first. Facebookers dislike change, and messy change is often the first to frustrate.
The third most obvious change is the timeline itself. Facebook has always fallen short in its ability for a user to go back to older posts. Now you can click on the year you want (right-hand side) and go back to posts from years ago. Enjoy déjà vu when yuo read status updates and friends’ posts from five years ago or more (depending on how long you’ve had a Facebook. I have had my Facebook since my senior year of high school, so reading posts about dinner reservations for prom brings back great memories. The timeline feature also allows you to post “life events” within the timeline, such as moving to new places, attending schools, getting married, having children, earning a degree, etc. You can post photos to accompany these events. Your timeline even includes a post of when you are born! Although I would, perhaps, stay away from posting an actual photo of your birth.
The new Timeline profile is available now if you would like to play with it, and it’s a rather fun new entry in Facebook’s incessant tinkering. Some days I rather wish for the old school profile and news feed (remember when the news feed didn’t even exist?), but the Timeline is interesting enough to play with that, hopefully, not too many people will complain once they are forced to switch over.
January 6th, 2012
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter at@MandyMayM.
For those that weren’t A+ students with your AP Stylebook, there’s new hope for you. The Associated Press just released AP StyleGuard software that helps edit your documents to ensure content meets style guidelines. While at face-value, this seems like the saving grace of a tired over-caffeinated reporter, PR professional or procrastinating college student, I’m a bit skeptical of the new technology.
Remember back in the day when you used to have to write out your spelling words on PAPER with a PENCIL? If you misspelled something, a red squiggly line didn’t pop up. The only red line on that paper was the grade your teacher wrote. In later years of English class, a green line didn’t suggest replacements for fragments. Today, I hear of students using computers to ‘write’ their spelling words. Must I go further on this “Back in my day…” spiel?
This somewhat ties back to my earlier post on if technology is eliminating jobs (Are Watson and His Tech Buds the Reason for High Unemployment). Are we innovating ourselves out of work? Of course we create new technologies with the intention of making workflow more efficient, but does this not clearly illustrate that technology is taking away our talent and moving us down a notch on the food chain of employment?
I’ve worked with some extremely talented copywriters in my short time span in the ‘big kid’ world, and I know for a fact they didn’t have any of these programs in the years they have been working. What do programs like this mean for the future? Of course they can catch funny typos, but will it come to the point where a copywriter position won’t even be needed? Will skills in AP style not even be appealing on resumes? What other technologies in other industries are eliminating the need for a human workforce?
December 16th, 2011
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter at@MandyMayM.
In case you haven’t heard, there are a few sex scandals going on in the world of collegiate sports lately. The national media first placed the spotlight on Penn State and later on Syracuse, not to mention others that likely popped up consequentially. Sad news continued with the recent shooting at Virginia Tech which wasn’t the first tragedy to strike the university in the past decade.
While the stories at hand are truly sad, it poses an interesting question of how university officials handle university image beyond a crisis situation. Does negative media drastically affect enrollment? After all, even though an academic environment, higher education is a business and has to meet a bottom line. Of course, a vast majority of income flows from the athletic department of universities and colleges, but there is also the thousands that pour in through tuition and fees. Given the challenge of ‘selling’ a school to student (and the likely paycheck parents), how can universities best position themselves as a safe and enriching environment following the close of a negative news cycle (or cycles for Penn State)?
It doesn’t take a degree to notice that the bad media and negative attachments of crisis situations sticks with a university for some time. Should staff ignore the negative image attachments in hopes of going away? Should they change their brand and position entirely?
It’s a tough spot to be in given that in cases of shootings or scandals, officials don’t want to ignore the issues at hand, making it seem that the community doesn’t care about the accusations or tragedies, but at the same time, it’s not exactly a bruise they want to flaunt to the public.
I believe it comes back to branding, however drastic or minimal it is. As much as many would like to quickly move on from these situations, it’s not a realistic goal to assume a quick turnaround with branding. Engagement is also key, especially in very delicate situations such as those listed above. This provides a prime spot for an organization to utilize social media, especially give the college population is so active and engaged on these channels. That being said, staff will likely want to evaluate the level of engagement, depending on the situation.
What are your thoughts? Is there a solve-all for these situations? Do you feel any of these universities or others in similar situations have handled their challenge in an ideal way?
December 12th, 2011
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyMayM.
I was listening to a NPR story on the recent challenge held at Harvard against the famous IBM Watson. As you may recall, Watson beat out the all-time Jeopardy champion, Ken Jennings earlier this year.
In the NPR segment, the reporter posed the question if technology is the reason for the elimination of many high-skill jobs. It got me thinking – have we out-invented ourselves? Are our technologies a reason for so few jobs today? What will my kids have to look forward to when entering the workforce? Will I even have a job in 20 or 40 years?
While we can laugh at the thought of the robotic future running our society, the thought isn’t that far from reality. When you consider how many assembly-line jobs were eliminated through new manufacturing technologies, who’s to say what else can’t be eliminated? Look at how many telephone systems are now automated for customer service, airlines systems have self check-ins and more efficient farming technologies we have to plant and harvest more and better yields. For auto repairs, so many cars are so electric that a mechanic can hook them up to a computer system for a quick diagnostic.
The story did note that healthcare would remain virtually untouched in terms of doctor-nurse and patient interaction. I’m not 100% in agreement with that. As you may also remember, shortly after Watson beat out Jennings, Nuance Communications and IBM announced a research collaboration to bring Watson to healthcare. From that announcement, many questioned how Watson would redefine healthcare, and, in some cases, especially for more dangerous military scenarios, eliminate the need for a human physician. Could it be with how automated our medical records are becoming that we could also be going to a computer (no, not WebMD) for a doctor visit?
I’m not convinced that our society will go sci-fi and we’ll have a robotic nation, but I do feel that we need to grasp the full scope of the lack of innovation in this country. Granted, you can’t go a day without seeing a story about how innovation has flat-lined. In a time where unemployment rates are at an all-time high and we face a double-dip recession, we really have to continue to address societal problems and create new industries. If we don’t, I really don’t feel we can keep up with technology. As corny as it sounds, as a human race, we need to keep up with the technology that we’re inventing. While technology makes our lives easier, we have to, in essence, be competitive with our own gadgets.
What are your thoughts? Are we so encompassed in the luxury of our own technologies that we are ignorant of our own (potential) demise? What is our solution?
November 14th, 2011
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Geri Butner. Follow her on Twitter at @geributner.
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend the Millennial Branding Speaker Spotlight Series at Back Bay Social Club, featuring Rue La La executives Stacey Santo and Colin Hynes. One glass of cabernet and a few business card exchanges into the event, I crowded to the center of the room to listen to Stacey and Colin address important questions about their invite-only marketing, social media and business strategy. In between eyeing all of the stylish outfits the ladies (who made up about 93% of attendees) were wearing, I managed to take away a few interesting points from their talk.
Invite-only Marketing
I really liked how Stacey and Colin framed the reasoning behind their invite-only marketing technique. Rue La La doesn’t require a paid membership, but you do have to be invited by a friend to shop their site, which has been interpreted by some as being too exclusive. The whole point of this strategy, however, isn’t to exclude anyone, but to provide free access in a way that mirrors the real world – through who you know.
One reason why Rue La La is so successful as a shopping destination is that they understand their consumers enough to be able to simplify their consumer decisions, and in order to do this well, it’s important to maintain a “friend-of-a-friend” network. Imagine you’re throwing an event that you really want the attendees to enjoy. Do you invite every one of your Facebook friends, or do you invite the people you know and ask them to bring a friend? It makes sense to choose the latter.
Social Media
Stacey and Colin pointed out that social media isn’t an add-on for their business, it is their business. While they use Twitter and Facebook, the company itself is social media by way of social shopping. They understand that in order to stay on top of their business, they have to engage and respond to customers as quickly as possible. After all, if a company isn’t being transparent and authentic in a timely manner, then someone else will be for them. “Social media is as authentic as it gets.”
One person from the audience asked about ROI for social media, and they responded that when you have clear, defined objectives, the measurement is easy to evaluate. Ultimately, though, you just have to have faith and experiment with what works for your business. It’s important not to turn social media into a popularity contest, because the quality of followers and fans is more important than the quantity.
Something that really resonated with me during Stacey and Colin’s speech was that their business is based on trust. Every day at 11 a.m., they tell hundreds of thousands of shoppers not that they need a little black dress, but exactly which little black dress to consider. Rue La La has the power to simplify our decisions and steer our choices. As long as Rue La La continues to build trust in people through social media and friend-of-a-friend networking, people will happily continue to allow it.
What are your thoughts on Rue La La’s business strategy?
October 27th, 2011
By Guest Author
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter @MandyMayM.
Sometimes I find out addiction to technology very repulsive. On that same note, I get uneasy when separated from most devices longer than 10 minutes. Although completely counterintuitive, many question the safety of being so connected. Some surveys have found that adults spend the most on TV at just over four hours a day – this obviously brings concerns of sedentary lifestyles and obesity. In close pursuit, we spend two and a half hours a day (beyond what we do at work) on the Internet – this also brings concerns of a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. When it comes to phones, Business Insider reported smartphone owners are using the ‘phone’ 15 percent of the time, while 56 percent of time is spent on mobile apps, followed by email and messaging at 19 percent. While the numbers aren’t a surprise, new research is suggesting we may not be at a high risk for this cell phone addiction as we once though.
Contrary to other studies evaluating the same topic, a new study in the British Medical Journal says that our excessive amount of time spent with cell phones won’t cause cancer in adults. The Danish study of more than 350,000 people showed that there was no difference in cancer rates between people who had used cell phones for more than a decade and people who hadn’t.
That’s not to say that our addiction to these pieces of electronics isn’t harmful. While not dished out in mass amounts, cell phones do emit radio waves, which are comprised of radio-frequency (RF) energy. This is a form of electromagnetic radiation. That’s somewhat unsettling for most consumers. It’s not like nuclear waste seen on The Simpsons oozing out of a barrel, but this radiation is just as phantom-like as cancer itself. What research suggests happens is this electromagnetic radiation is flowing into our brain tissue, possibly causing brain tumors.
While the study has received mixed reviews, one of the remaining questions is “How does this affect kids?” Naturally, as a child’s body is developing, his skull is naturally thinner and cannot block radiation as easily. Some suggest that children are still at a higher risk through being exposed to this radiation at a young age.
Regardless of what is reality and as much as we would like to say we could ‘quit,’ we can’t. There’s no patch for this addition. The fact is, there is radiation and there are some things you can do to limit your exposure to it. If anything, use the mass hysteria as an excuse to disconnect from your device.
1. Don’t sleep with your phone.
I think the majority of PR pros are guilty of this. I know I am. I leave my phone on my night stand. There, it jacks out plenty of radiation over night. Even if you use your phone as an alarm, you can turn your phone to ‘Airplane Mode.’ Not only will the phone not emit a signal, it will still wake you up, bright and early (yes, exciting). Plus, you’ll probably get better sleep because your phone isn’t going off every few minutes. Even if you are working with global teams, it’s a good idea to disconnect. For one, it’s call ‘eight hours of sleep’ for a reason. Sleep – don’t work!
2. Keep it from the kids.
It’s so cute they know how to work one better than you, isn’t it? Well, lay down the law and pull the plastic from their hands. As noted above, their cute craniums can’t ward off the radiation the way an adult skull can. Whether you’re a parent or have little kiddos running around, use the time to build their social skills and interact with them. They’ll have plenty of time to use cell phones in the future.
3. Text talk and email.
Very few cell phone plans come without a big texting or data package and as PR pros, we constantly have the connection to the internet. While it’s not the same as a voice conversation, texting and emailing can limit your exposure as the cell phone is further away from your body. The further the device is from your body, the better off you are. Even if you want to type quick emails, you can set your device to read something like “Sent from my phone – please excuse any typos.” The instant disclaimer helps out with that auto-correct or shorthand. This is also very beneficial if you’re breaking up with someone as you don’t have to talk to them – bonus!
4. Kick it old school or new age.
If you’re expecting a really long call (i.e. your family), try a different connection, quite literally. Although the age (and budget) of a landline is quickly closing, using a landline limits your exposure. Who knows, maybe you’ll get chosen to be in one of those annoying Vonage commercials! If that’s out of the question, try connecting up on Skype. Switch from one device to another and get the added experience of being able to see someone’s face while you talk. Many businesses use this for meetings as you can view your entire team while meeting.
5. Ditch it.
As much as it kills me for the first five minutes or so, it’s quite lovely to ditch the device all together, especially if your phone is connected to email. If you’re a gym addict like me, it’s a perfect time to turn off. Most gyms are cracking down on the use of cell phones while using machines, but take the time (and excuse) to disconnect. Obviously, a planned separation from your device also limits exposure to radiation.
In an age where it seems life and work is constantly connected to the internet, do you have any additional tips on ditching the electronics?
October 25th, 2011
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