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Marketing With Pinterest

 

 

The social media site Pinterest has over 11.7 million visitors a month now, and about 17.8 million registered users! It has become one of the most popular social media sites for a few main reasons.

The visually appealing aspect of the site draws in viewers and keeps their attention. The fact that users sign into the site using their Facebook or Twitter account allows them to be automatically integrated into their existing social network sites. So, sharing across social media sites is already built into Pinterest. The site has a clean and simple interface, so people are able to use it easily, with little confusion.

However, compared to other leading social media sites, Pinterest does not offer as many discovery methods. It can take a little effort to trace a pin to the user who initially pinned it, making it somewhat harder to directly engage with fellow users. Pinterest also does not yet have a way of recommending or directing pinners to other pinners or boards based on activity. This can be a little inconvenient for brands trying to build and grow an audience.

Another key aspect of Pinterest is that its demographics are quite unique compared to those of Twitter or Facebook. Half of all Pinterest users are parents, and 68.2% are women. Facebook and Twitter have a more evenly split gendered audience. This means that for brands with a predominately female target market, Pinterest might be the best sight to utilize to engage with fans.

For companies who have passionate followers across several platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, you can bet that those followers will also engage with your brand on Pinterest. Pinterest can be a great site to engage on a personal level with followers because you share your own, personal interests with your users. While the site clearly helps build relationships, it is not so efficient in “selling” products to followers. But, remember that engaging, not selling, is the ultimate goal of social media!

Pinterest is also a great platform in terms of sharing. You can easily post pictures from your own site, or pin images from other sites. A “Pin It” button can be installed on the Safari browser, making sharing images and information across the web easier than ever. You can also place a Pinterest button that links to your Pinterest account on your website or blog. Facebook even allows you to add a Pinterest tab onto your timeline.

The fact that fans can pin your images onto their own boards is another way that fans engage directly with your brand. You can use the “Pin It” button next to images on websites that you would like to share with your fans. This provides a chance to make viral connections, as followers of your fans will see their pins.

Additionally, there are a few apps available to help you to build a community on Pinterest. The app, Shareasimage, converts text found on the web into an image that can be shared on Pinterest. The app also works for Facebook and Twitter. Another app, Url2pin.it, lets users “screenshot” a picture of a website then share it on Pinterest. This could be a great way to share interesting sites with your fans, or it could be used as a promotional tool for your own site.

Pinterest is a site that truly models the purpose of social media: to be social! The site does not sell; it shares. Sharing with your consumers is how you must market with social media in order to gain brand loyalty and expand your fan base!

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Marketing With Pinterest

 

 

The social media site Pinterest has over 11.7 million visitors a month now, and about 17.8 million registered users! It has become one of the most popular social media sites for a few main reasons.

The visually appealing aspect of the site draws in viewers and keeps their attention. The fact that users sign into the site using their Facebook or Twitter account allows them to be automatically integrated into their existing social network sites. So, sharing across social media sites is already built into Pinterest. The site has a clean and simple interface, so people are able to use it easily, with little confusion.

However, compared to other leading social media sites, Pinterest does not offer as many discovery methods. It can take a little effort to trace a pin to the user who initially pinned it, making it somewhat harder to directly engage with fellow users. Pinterest also does not yet have a way of recommending or directing pinners to other pinners or boards based on activity. This can be a little inconvenient for brands trying to build and grow an audience.

Another key aspect of Pinterest is that its demographics are quite unique compared to those of Twitter or Facebook. Half of all Pinterest users are parents, and 68.2% are women. Facebook and Twitter have a more evenly split gendered audience. This means that for brands with a predominately female target market, Pinterest might be the best sight to utilize to engage with fans.

For companies who have passionate followers across several platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, you can bet that those followers will also engage with your brand on Pinterest. Pinterest can be a great site to engage on a personal level with followers because you share your own, personal interests with your users. While the site clearly helps build relationships, it is not so efficient in “selling” products to followers. But, remember that engaging, not selling, is the ultimate goal of social media!

Pinterest is also a great platform in terms of sharing. You can easily post pictures from your own site, or pin images from other sites. A “Pin It” button can be installed on the Safari browser, making sharing images and information across the web easier than ever. You can also place a Pinterest button that links to your Pinterest account on your website or blog. Facebook even allows you to add a Pinterest tab onto your timeline.

The fact that fans can pin your images onto their own boards is another way that fans engage directly with your brand. You can use the “Pin It” button next to images on websites that you would like to share with your fans. This provides a chance to make viral connections, as followers of your fans will see their pins.

Additionally, there are a few apps available to help you to build a community on Pinterest. The app, Shareasimage, converts text found on the web into an image that can be shared on Pinterest. The app also works for Facebook and Twitter. Another app, Url2pin.it, lets users “screenshot” a picture of a website then share it on Pinterest. This could be a great way to share interesting sites with your fans, or it could be used as a promotional tool for your own site.

Pinterest is a site that truly models the purpose of social media: to be social! The site does not sell; it shares. Sharing with your consumers is how you must market with social media in order to gain brand loyalty and expand your fan base!

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Hospitality Marketing With Social Media

social media marketing experts

 

 

 

 

With consumers spending more of their time on social media sites, companies everywhere are trying to reach them by social networking. There’s now a common expectation that a strong online marketing strategy is necessary for any company trying to see an increase in their marketing efforts. Lately, those companies in the hospitality market have been really utilizing social media to see an increase in sales.

 

Why hospitality? It’s an industry driven by recommendations and reviews. People make purchasing decisions with different criteria in mind, yet peer reviews and recommendations are among the most popular ways to persuade. With the popularity of social media and the growth of the Internet in recent years, consumers jump online to give their positive or negative reviews of brands.

 

Hospitality is an industry where customer service is crucial, so it makes sense that the industry would want to develop the greatest customer service experience possible. Social networking is being viewed as a new and improved customer service platform for a variety of companies. Social media provides online visibility and lets companies market their products and services online to people everywhere, increasing their reach and exposure to potential consumers.

 

If you’re in the hospitality industry, there are some things to keep in mind when developing a social media strategy.

 

Consider what your goals and objectives are with social media. This will assist you in choosing the perfect social media platform to start with. If your company is new to social media, start with setting up just a single platform. Once you get more comfortable using this platform, record how much time it takes you on a daily and weekly business to manage the site then consider making other presences on different social media sites.

 

Also, have a content strategy. Think about what you want to put out on your social media sites and how often you’ll put it out there. Keep your customers in mind at all times when choosing content. Think about if your consumers want to view constant promotional messages, or if they would prefer to view interesting articles you found and shared.

 

To make social media work for your business, you must use it regularly and be constantly engaging in conversations with your consumers!

 

Carefully choosing the right social media platform to start with is very important. In considering Twitter, know that it lets companies connect with consumers, and other companies on both a local and a global scale. If it is important for your company to have fast customer service, Twitter can be used to respond quickly to questions, comments or complaints consumers might have.

Immediate, real time customer service is marketing in itself. It should generate positive emotions from your fans and followers and lead to influential word of mouth recommendations for your company.

 

With Facebook, your brand’s page acts as the online “headquarters” of your company. It’s like a marketing hub for consumers to come and see what your brand has to offer. You should give your Facebook fans exclusive information about your latest specials and deals, as part of your online marketing strategy. Also, think about making Facebook check in deals to reward consumers for checking into your business by giving them coupons or discounts.

 

Blogging can also be used in your marketing strategy. You could set up a company blog on your website, and also find influential bloggers who can review your products and services then direct readers to your site. A business blog lets you position your company as an expert in the industry. Blogs are also good to use for sharing company milestones which consumers would be interested in knowing, like if your company has changed locations, or opened a new office.

 

YouTube is another great site to consider. It’s a great platform to show off important and fun events happening in your company. It gives consumers insights into your company and promotes curiosity, which can lead to an emotional connection with your brand. You can increase the effectiveness of your videos by posting them on any other social media platforms you might have.

 

There’s also Pinterest. It’s the latest trend in social media, allowing users to “pin” their interests onto boards that they create. For your marketing strategy, you could create a board to show off your products, or pictures from company events to catch the interest of users. A great benefit of Pinterest is providing consumers a visual appeal to your brand.

 

While there are many options available to develop your marketing strategy, remember to start small, then become comfortable with how your strategy is working, then build your social media presence gradually to provide quality customer service to all of your consumers!

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Hospitality Marketing With Social Media


With consumers spending more of their time on social media sites, companies everywhere are trying to reach them by social networking. There’s now a common expectation that a strong online marketing strategy is necessary for any company trying to see an increase in their marketing efforts. Lately, those companies in the hospitality market have been really utilizing social media to see an increase in sales.

Why hospitality? It’s an industry driven by recommendations and reviews. People make purchasing decisions with different criteria in mind, yet peer reviews and recommendations are among the most popular ways to persuade. With the popularity of social media and the growth of the Internet in recent years, consumers jump online to give their positive or negative reviews of brands.

Hospitality is an industry where customer service is crucial, so it makes sense that the industry would want to develop the greatest customer service experience possible. Social networking is being viewed as a new and improved customer service platform for a variety of companies. Social media provides online visibility and lets companies market their products and services online to people everywhere, increasing their reach and exposure to potential consumers.

If you’re in the hospitality industry, there are some things to keep in mind when developing a social media strategy.

Consider what your goals and objectives are with social media. This will assist you in choosing the perfect social media platform to start with. If your company is new to social media, start with setting up just a single platform. Once you get more comfortable using this platform, record how much time it takes you on a daily and weekly business to manage the site then consider making other presences on different social media sites.

Also, have a content strategy. Think about what you want to put out on your social media sites and how often you’ll put it out there. Keep your customers in mind at all times when choosing content. Think about if your consumers want to view constant promotional messages, or if they would prefer to view interesting articles you found and shared.

To make social media work for your business, you must use it regularly and be constantly engaging in conversations with your consumers!

Carefully choosing the right social media platform to start with is very important. In considering Twitter, know that it lets companies connect with consumers, and other companies on both a local and a global scale. If it is important for your company to have fast customer service, Twitter can be used to respond quickly to questions, comments or complaints consumers might have.
Immediate, real time customer service is marketing in itself. It should generate positive emotions from your fans and followers and lead to influential word of mouth recommendations for your company.

With Facebook, your brand’s page acts as the online “headquarters” of your company. It’s like a marketing hub for consumers to come and see what your brand has to offer. You should give your Facebook fans exclusive information about your latest specials and deals, as part of your online marketing strategy. Also, think about making Facebook check in deals to reward consumers for checking into your business by giving them coupons or discounts.

Blogging can also be used in your marketing strategy. You could set up a company blog on your website, and also find influential bloggers who can review your products and services then direct readers to your site. A business blog lets you position your company as an expert in the industry. Blogs are also good to use for sharing company milestones which consumers would be interested in knowing, like if your company has changed locations, or opened a new office.

YouTube is another great site to consider. It’s a great platform to show off important and fun events happening in your company. It gives consumers insights into your company and promotes curiosity, which can lead to an emotional connection with your brand. You can increase the effectiveness of your videos by posting them on any other social media platforms you might have.

There’s also Pinterest. It’s the latest trend in social media, allowing users to “pin” their interests onto boards that they create. For your marketing strategy, you could create a board to show off your products, or pictures from company events to catch the interest of users. A great benefit of Pinterest is providing consumers a visual appeal to your brand.

While there are many options available to develop your marketing strategy, remember to start small, then become comfortable with how your strategy is working, then build your social media presence gradually to provide quality customer service to all of your consumers!

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What Consumers Really Want With Companies’ Social Media Marketing


It’s no surprise that social media is here to stay, as the world has watched sites like Twitter and Facebook continually grow. Furthermore, new social media sites like Pinterest pop up constantly and consumers become immediately drawn to them.

With this increased consumer engagement in social media, there is now more pressure for companies to step there game up, differentiate themselves, and cater to their consumers’ needs with their social media marketing campaigns.

Based on these trends in social media, Wildfire Social Media Marketing developed an interesting report at the end of 2011, called, “2012 and Social Media: What’s Next?” This report gave major predictions about how companies would utilize social media in their marketing efforts this year.

The main claim of Wildfire’s report was that 2012 would be, “the year of understanding how to engage an audience and learning how to monetize it through better analytics and a focus on results.” Now, three months into the year, it is evident that the prediction was exactly right.

However, a more recent study done by the CMO Council and Lithium discovered that several companies’ social media marketing campaigns aren’t effectively addressing the needs and wants of consumers through their social media.

An article published by Steve Olenski, contributor to Forbes.com, analyzed this study and claimed that there is a clear, “divide between what marketers think consumers want vs. what consumers really want when it comes to social media.”

Olenski discovered that the most main issue involving what marketers think their consumers want and what their consumers actually want, involved the category of incentives. It was reported that about 65% of social media users connected with brands on their social platforms through the use of, “games, contests and promotions,” while just 33% of companies felt that consumers were really “looking for incentives or rewards for engaging with the brand.”

So, it seems that it’s not so much about how consumers are using social media sites to connect to brands, but it’s more about the fact that consumers want to engage with companies through social media because they are hoping for something in return.

The good news: social media marketing is a newer area that is still growing and changing, so marketers still have time to examine their social media marketing campaigns and modify them to really connect with consumers.

Ultimately, success in any companies’ social media marketing comes down to two main issues: first, clearly identifying and addressing the needs and wants of consumers, and then offering incentives to those target consumers, regardless of consumers’ social media habits.

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Tracking Pinterest With Google Analytics

 

 

 

 

Social media’s latest trending site, Pinterest, has grown exponentially this past year. The site quickly went from a lesser-known network, to a top 100 site.

But, does Pinterest really get referrals? Are visits on Pinterest valuable to companies? How engaged are consumers on the site?

Using Google Analytics, you can measure how Pinterest is working for you.

1. Customized Reports

You can use custom reports to get a good analysis of Pinterest. These reports allow you to view only the information you want to view. If you just want to see the “pins” on Pinterest that sent visits to your site, or whether visitors have been to your site before, etc. you can get a specific custom report. Furthermore, you can select “Landing Page” as your secondary dimension to figure out which pictures/products from your site are pulling visitors from Pinterest to your site.

2. Referral Reports

If you want a simple way to track the number of visits coming to your site from Pinterest, this is a great tool. In Analytics, go to “Traffic Sources” and click “Referrals Report.” Then, if pinterest.com does not show up in your top 10 referrals, search “pinterest” at the top of the table. Even simpler, you can make a more advanced segment that shows just the traffic from Pinterest. Then you can add to your report by selecting a “goal set” in Analytics. If you have goals set up in Analytics, this tells you how Pinterest visits compare to the site on average.

3. Multi-Channel Funnel Reports

To see if Pinterest visits are converting, it can be tricky. Standard Google Analytics reports use “last click attribution,” which means Pinterest will only show a conversion if it was the last source of the visit that converts. So, this means that if someone comes to your site after visiting Pinterest, then returns to your site after using an organic search for your product, then makes a purchase, that purchase will not be attributed to Pinterest. In order to get a better idea of exactly how many conversions come from Pinterest, use the Multi-Channel Funnels reports in Google Analytics. First look at the “Assisted Conversions” report, and choose “Source/Medium”, then filter for Pinterest.

4. Dashboards

Google Analytics Dashboards give great views of your site’s activities. By adding widgets to your dashboard, you can see whatever information you want to see regularly. In tracking Pinterest, monitor things like daily visits from Pinterest, how long users stay on the site, how many pages they look at, etc. Dashboards will also help show which products seem to be resonating with Pinterest users, so you can effectively strategize your future content.

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The Power of Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

The latest social media craze is Pinterest. Currently, Pinterest is not as big as Facebook and Twitter, but companies should look into adding Pinterest to their social media strategy to build up their brand.

Pinterest is an online “pinboard;” users can “pin” content and images they are interested in and can share it with users with similar interests, family and friends.

Just since last May, Pinterest’s audience has grown 76%! This shows just how relevant this site is becoming. In fact, it’s becoming one of the fastest developing social media site ever and is a great site to use to show off products and get noticed.

Right now, brands should develop their image on Pinterest before the site explodes and becomes even more popular. Become a brand already noticed on Pinterest right now before you become lost amongst even more brands in the future looking to join the site.

Build a strong presence on Pinterest now so you get used to the site and know exactly how to use it efficiently. The site is the newest way to visually show off what you have to offer in a new way that Facebook and Twitter cannot. Furthermore, it allows you to build strong relationships with consumers who share your same interests.

After finding these consumers who are passionate about your brand, they will share your content on the site, ultimately bringing you more consumers who fit into your target audience.

Make your boards fun, creative and exciting to get some attention and highlight what you have to offer. Pinterest is great for retailers showing off fashion trends, restaurants showing off their best dishes and brands that really target the youth culture-music, movies, celebrities, festivals, etc.

Give Pinterest a shot and give the world visually pleasing images of what your brand has to offer and watch your brand identity and loyalty grow!

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A Peak Into Pinterest

 

 

 

 

With social media marketing, there is always a new platform coming out to learn. Pinterest happens to be the latest social media channel, and it is quickly becoming a popular site among users. Pinterest lets users “pin” things they find on the web that they like onto an online pin board. This new platform has great potential for small businesses selling visually unique products in particular.

Another appealing element to Pinterest is its strong social factor. Users can share their pins with followers on Twitter and fans on Facebook. These pins can then be repined and shared. Furthermore, users are also able to make new pins from anything they find on the web, or other social media sites.

Marketers everywhere are starting to discover how much potential Pinterest has to offer. Here are a few things to expect if your company starts using Pinterest.

1. More traffic to your site

After importing a “pin” (an image) to Pinterest, the site then links that pin back to its original source. For example, if a restaurant posts a pin of one of their best dishes, users can click on the image and will be directed to that restaurant’s website. This element of Pinteret will certainly drive traffic to your main site and increase your company’s SEO.

2. More insights into followers’ interests

Companies are using Pinterest for market research. The site is a great way to connect with consumers knowing that anyone can create a pin board in the site. This means that a clothing boutique could use Pinterest to discover what trends users are sharing with others. Then, using this information, the retailer could use these trends and styles and post similar clothing onto their pin boards. Or, they could use this information to make their own board that users could pin clothing trends that they’d like to see in that boutique. This gives businesses great feedback and insight from their followers.

3. More relationships with customers

New companies will find great success using Pinterest to get their name out there and create lasting relationships with new customers. The pin boards are public, so anyone can see and share pins. With a strong brand community, businesses will ultimately expand, and sharing your product images on Pinterest is sure to spark interest around your brand.

With any social media channel, it’s important to have strong connections and be active and engaged with your followers. Simply sending out promotions is not the way to start to reach customers. With Pinterest, users will immediately follow businesses that provide them with valuable content that connects with them on a personal level. After gaining a solid base of followers, slowly engage more and more with promoting your brand, but first begin by joining Pinterest to connect with people. Repin things you’re interested in and create your own pin board to get your business rolling with Pinterest!

 

 

 

 

 

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