3 Things Your Brand Should Be Doing To Gain Pinterest Followers
Unlike many other social networks, businesses cannot yet advertise to a specific target market on Pinterest. With Pinterest exploding to nearly 11 million unique visits last month, I predict that eventually the site will follow the advertising strategies similar to Facebook and Twitter, but until then what can a business do to increase it’s followers?
When joining Pinterest as an individual, you are given the option to follow all of your current Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Unfortunately, businesses do not have the luxury to follow all of their fans, so it takes some more work to gain a large follower base on Pinterest.
Here are 3 things your brand should be doing right now to gain Pinterest followers:
1. Link to Other Platforms
The easiest way to quickly gain followers is to post links to Pinterest on your website, blog, and Facebook pages. Since Pinterest is still gaining in popularity, adding a Pinterest button will let your readers know that you are an early adopter of the new social media trend. Linking Pinterest to existing networks is a great way to gain followers, but it is important to remember not to flood your followers pages with a million pins.
Posting a pin to Facebook and Twitter once or twice a day (at most) is a great way to let them know you are on Pinterest. However, if your Facebook page and Twitter profile begins to look like an extension of your Pinterest page, it might be time to step away from Pinterest. When pinning an image to Pinterest, you are given an option to post on Facebook and Twitter, only choose this option for those amazing pins that everyone needs to see. Like these!
2. Utilize Searchable Captions
A great way to increase the strength of a pin is to add a searchable caption when re-pinning. This becomes a missed opportunity when an account does not change the caption to reflect their company’s relevant keywords to make it searchable to their target market. By using keywords often used by your target market, it is more likely that your Facebook fans and Twitter followers will come across your pins using the internal search feature. Not only can you add searchable keywords into captions on Pinterest, but you can also utilize the hashtag function in the same way that it is used on Twitter. Including hashtags into captions make your pins searchable for a wider audience, who may be unfamiliar with your brand.
3. Link to the Correct Page
One of the most frustrating things that I’ve encountered on Pinterest is when links do not follow back to the original source. There is absolutely nothing worse than looking for a recipe and not being able to find it because of a poorly placed pin or an inactive link. When pinning content (especially if it is from your own website) make sure that the pin links back to the page where someone can get more information. By pinning from your website, you are hoping to drive traffic to that specific page. Making sure that the pins go back to the correct page on your website will make it easier when others re-pin your content as well.
Looking for Pinterest tips? See my prior blog: How To Create A Unique Brand Image on Pinterest
Happy pinning!
Is your brand missing opportunities to capture followers on #pinterest? ow.ly/9c4qc#socialmedia
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) February 21, 2012
So They Like You on Facebook; Now What?
There was something very comfortable about writing a note to a girl in elementary asking if they liked me, and receiving the response in a similarly non-intimate fashion. In fact, the anxiety that I felt in the fledgling stages of a relationship was typically when I was forced to communicate with that individual in a meaningful manner.
Much to my dismay, receiving the initial confirmation that, “Yes!” they did indeed like me, was the easy part. What followed the confirmation was terrifying for the 10 year old me; I actually had to ask them questions, get to know them, listen intently, understand their wants and needs, all the while giving them my undivided attention.
GASP! Even the hazy memory that I just pulled up from that period of my life is giving me the chills.
The Elementary School Approach to Social Media
Apparently this is a common plague within our society, so it’s no surprise that some of us may become used to the distanced “please confirm that I’m good” tactic and apply it to their marketing dollars. I get the opportunity to be exposed to many companies’ interactions and activity on Facebook, and a common thread is what I will now deem The Elementary School Approach.
The Elementary School Approach revolves around assuming that “Likes” on Facebook mean that your customer base is growing and converting without any meaningful engagement or relationship building. As we discussed earlier in the week on the Intrapromote blog Facebook Ads Vs. Google Adwords – Part Four, the trick is not getting them in the door, the trick lies in what takes place afterwards.
“Likes” Aren’t Customers…Yet
Allow me to draw out the metaphor: Just because I got an enthusiastic “Yes!” back from my elementary school pursuit did not mean that we had a meaningful relationship to build upon. To that end: a “Like” from someone just getting acquainted with your brand doesn’t always equal a happy, paying customer. New customer relationships start with a “Like” and take time (and work) to mature and flourish.
So how do we take that initial attraction to your brand (the “Like”) and turn it into a relationship? Well—let’s refer back to the aforementioned list in this blog post:
“…I actually had to ask them questions, get to know them, listen intently, understand their wants and needs, all the while giving them my undivided attention…”
Ask questions! Get to know and understand your fans! Pay close attention to their responses and other interactions! This is what makes social media marketing tick, the meat and potatoes. For the first time in history you are able to glean all the necessary information from your constituents anytime you want, and deliver exactly what they need directly to their “doorstep”.
Treat your new fans like you would a first date—make them comfortable, ask them about themselves, and at least *act* like you’re giving them your undivided attention. These small steps will go far in the long run to create customers out of fans, and ultimately real brand advocates out of customers.
All things considered, Return On Investment (ROI) implies that you’ve made an investment.
We’d love to talk with you about how we help companies nurture budding relationships and grow them into happy customer families over social networks.
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Google Adwords Vs. Facebook Ads – Part Four
Part Four: What a Click Means for Your Brand
The last installment of this Google Adwords vs Facebook Ads series covered the eloquent moment when your user clicks through on your ad; or how to turn views into conversions on both platforms. This article aims to define what those clicks actually mean in both Google Adwords and Facebook Ads. Is one type of click more valuable than the other?
"I just can't look through another binder of numbers-- show me some Facebook Ads!"
Adwords:
With Adwords the goal is simple, getting the search to perform the desired action: usually either a sign up or a purchase. The main way to differentiate one click from another is by what Adgroup the clicks flows through. In theory at least each Adgroup is setup to attract a specific target. The problem quickly narrows down to trying to define which keywords and ads provide the lowest bounce rate, or the lowest rate at which people leave your site after clicking on your ad.
The key to this is analytics. It is the most accurate, fast, and reliable way to track your progress and make assessments. Google Analytics has some wonderful free tools for this and should be used if you do not have an analytics provider. Without analytics trying to determine success based on Cost Per Click or Click Through Rate alone will not give you your best chance at success.
Facebook Ads:
There are so many ways to interpret clicks within Facebook Advertising scenarios, mostly because the ad’s intention is dynamic enough to be able to be used for any goals that you have laid down for them. The following scenarios represent a good cross-section of how brands typically utilize Facebook Ads:
The Website Conversion
This is the simplest interpretation of a Facebook Ads click, and easily measureable. This particular campaign focuses solely on getting your targeted audience to click through to your website and purchase your product and services.
Although simple, this form of Facebook Advertising is one of the more volatile methods and can create a large budget covering many clicks-to-bounces. Check the bounce rate in Google Analytics for your landing page from this ad on an extremely frequent schedule to stay ahead of the budget for these campaigns.
Speaking of landing pages, just like with Google Adwords, this will be the most efficient way to segment your site traffic and delineate traffic from your ad campaign. URL trackers are well and good, but you want to ensure your users are seeing the exact content that you are advertising to manage the bounce rate.
When determining the overall value of these click-throughs, you have to take the bounce rate into consideration. If your bounce rate is above 25% of all traffic, you’re throwing your money away for a Facebook click.
The Facebook Page “Like”
This form of Facebook Advertising, when you are simply asking users to “Like” your Facebook Page, is complicated when evaluating each click’s worth. Obviously your brand is one that has resonated with the clicking user, but does the relationship end there? Does your Page’s updates stand dormant as an ignored entity within that user’s Facebook stream?
Or does that Fan go on to become not only a purchaser of your product and service, but also advocates for your brand on every negative Facebook Wall Post and conversation? Does that fan encourage their Facebook friends to “Like” your page and buy your product? Do they end up Retweeting your brand on Twitter to 15,000 followers of their own?
These are the inherent truths when attempting to valuate a “Like” on a Facebook Page, and we here at Intrapromote would argue that the responsibility lies within the brand’s activity, atmosphere, and engagement on the Page to take that initial “Like” to a conversion.
The good news is the results are self-evident within Facebook, and everything is tracked from start to finish. Without the extra step for the user (the “Like” is applied automatically without the user ever leaving the page they’re on) the CTR is remarkably higher for these campaigns over other campaigns.
So when we attempt to discern the value of these “Likes” via Facebook Ads, we must take into account our current level of engagement on Facebook. Do a good number of fans regularly contribute to the Facebook page? Does your brand regularly contribute to the Facebook Page? If you engagement percentage remains above 15%, then these Ads will go very far for the price.
The Facebook Promotion
So you’re giving away your gizmo to one lucky Facebook fan, but you want to leverage the giveaway to create more Facebook fans in the meanwhile? Well, Facebook Ads is the best solution for these goals. In this, your clicks can be valuated dollar-to-dollar (metaphorically speaking).
Your goals are concise, and the platform is concise. “Enter to win a foosball table by being the 100,000th “Like” on our Facebook Page!” will garner those clicks and those conversions.
The wrench in the gears here is the follow-up. Many brands will take a look at the data that they collect during a promotion like that and say, “My oh my, look how many folks “Like” us! Good job, marketing team!”. Where the real work should only just be beginning. This is social media marketing 101: what do you do once they’re in the door?
Much like the previously mentioned Facebook Page “Like” campaign, the burden of conversion then falls directly onto the shoulders of the brand. Facebook has filled your coffers with potential consumers, and now you must put them to work engaging and falling in love with your product or service.
The metric to pay attention to here, again, is your engagement percentage. Keep it above 15%, and you will continue to grow your social media channels for conversion.
The Product Release
This is my favorite ad campaign to produce and manage. The amount of marketing data alone that comes from product release ads is astounding. The entire gamut of Facebook Advertising options are open to you for this one, videos, questions, images, “Likes”, giveaways…everything!
If implemented appropriately, this campaign will blow the socks off of any other marketing initiative that is currently being approved by your Senior VP of Marketing. Without gaining the market input from your ads, you are still left with the most valuable metric you possibly can receive for a product launch from Facebook Advertising: impressions.
Every dollar spent within this campaign will be well worth it since you will be enabled to show your product to exactly who needs to see your product, exactly when they need to see it. Absolutely employ the impressions-based pricing model for advertising this one, as that is your ultimate goal, is it not? You will receive more impressions for less money spent when bidding low on impressions, and Facebook won’t decide to turn you off for low click-throughs because they aren’t losing any money there either!
The only caveat I would submit for this is when you are tying in a giveaway promotion or attempting to draw attention to a best-selling product via your new product (bait and switch tactics). You will want to follow the previous suggestions for campaigns in these scenarios to valuate your clicks.
Have you quantified your clicks from Facebook Ads lately? How about your conversions from Google Adwords? Post your findings in the comments below! Our next installment will dig into the logistics of the two platforms when it comes to actual exposure. Stay tuned!
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Optimizing For Google In 2012
At a recent client meeting, I was lucky enough to attend a presentation that was being given by a Google employee to the client’s team of local and regional marketers. The presentation was about How To Optimize For Google In 2012 and included some interesting info on some of the new features that are going to be rolled out later on in 2012.
According to the presentation, a successfully optimized website in 2012 will leverage four marketing pillars atop a foundationally sound website. I will go into each of these tactics separately below:
Organic + Paid Search: The basis for a successful website starts with an optimized site that is easily crawled and indexed. With right around 70% of clicks going to organic results, having optimized title tags, meta-descriptions, etc. is required and lays the foundation for your website’s representation on a results page. Within the organic space there are a myriad of new features that webmasters will be able to implement including everything from new social signals to rich micro-data thanks to schema.org. (See Caleb Dann’s recent post on that.) Now, Google is rolling out the display of schema.org content vertical by vertical (you can see that recipes and sports have been rolled out already). In any case, all of the search engines have agreed that this code will benefit your site by having the code on your site by the time they roll out the display to your vertical. So it definitely doesn’t hurt to have schema code up and ready to go.
Paid Search will also see some additions as well. Just as a disclaimer here: I was told that some of the new features I’m about to talk about are currently in the alpha or beta stage, so I make no guarantees these will be released at all. Even then the presenter confirmed that these features would be rolled out on a vertical-by-vertical basis as well (similar to how recipe searches are among the best examples of Schema.org-based rich markup). The two new cool features I saw included the ability to embed a video into your paid result, such as a commercial for your product or service. The next feature, much like the “Call” button you’ll see on your phone that allows you to call a business by simply clicking on the link, is a “Call Me” link. This link will create a pop-up that will allow you to anonymously submit your phone number to a business, allowing the next available customer service rep to call your already interested customer!
Google Places & Reputation Management: There has been steady growth in the amount of searches on Google containing “geo modifiers”, or the name of a city, town or street within the query string. I think it’s been well documented how a well run Places campaign can not only help your website, but your overall business as well. The most noteworthy item I found in this part was how much emphasis Google puts on “trust”. So say your Places page receives a horrible review from a customer. Google will find your site more “trustworthy” if the business responds kindly and respectfully to the negative review. “A successful response is more trustworthy than a good review.”
Speaking of negative reviews, reputation management was also a small part of the presentation. This part talked about 
how setting up a Google Alert for your company will help alert you as to when something regarding your company is added to Google. This way you can be proactive about addressing negative reviews/websites rather than being reactive.
YouTube: According to Google YouTube is now the second largest search engine, surpassing Bing and Yahoo. You’ll often notice when completing a search on Google that specific, long-tail queries will actually have the relevant YouTube video prominently displayed above any organic results. Having your own YouTube channel for your company with keyword-rich, unique content that solves someone’s problem is another great way to drive traffic to your site and build that “trust” Google is all about.
Social – Google+: This section discussed how, while Facebook and MySpace are social “networks”, Google is striving to create a social “web” through Google+. According to Google, social also matters when you’re searching. Google+’s ability to personalize results based on who Liked or +1’ed something is changing the way online marketers are approaching their work and it cannot be ignored. The big takeaway here: 71% of users are influenced by their family & friends. This applies not only to the way people buy but the way they surf the Internet as well.
Erik Dafforn has dissected the Google Plus Your World initiative in a recent blog post if you’re interested in learning more about how Google+ will affect your Google 2012 marketing efforts.
So does your website have its foundation and four pillars optimized for Google 2012? Better get going!
Learn what #Google says you need to know to optimize for search in 2012 – ow.ly/8ZDxM from @kyleSEO_IP
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) February 10, 2012
The Business of Social Media: Three Ways to Rethink Your Social Performance
Any business can throw up a Facebook page or create a Twitter handle and have a presence in the social media space, but the organizations that truly succeed are the ones that are actually present in the social media space. Being present means managing the community on a day-to-day basis and approaching the community with the understanding that their needs come first.
It used to be that businesses were asking, “What is a community manager and how do I find one?” Now, however, the question is more along the lines of, “What can make our good community great?” Here are three ways you can instantly elevate your social media presence:
1. Lose the 24/7 Marketing Messages
One of the easiest ways to turn-off community members is to abuse the marketing messages. We’ve all seen them – the brands that market more than they converse – and we’ve all chosen to hide them from our news feed or unfollow them. Remember that when you’re playing in the social media space, you are there by invitation only. This isn’t television, where a rabid fan of a show will sit through commercials to pass the time. This time around, companies are invited into personal space and it is important to be respectful of that, or they risk being shut out with a simple click of the mouse.
2. Take the Heat or Get Out of the Kitchen
I once worked for a large corporation that only allowed their community managers to respond to direct questions. Saying “thanks,” or even, “I am not sure, but I’ll get back to you,” was a no-no in their eyes. Fortunately for me, I had a boss who understood that this was the exact opposite of a best practice, and he let me use my best judgment. When I started responding within minutes of a post, or even just thanking a fan for a compliment, the engagement rates for that company shot up by double digits.
This same rule applies to negative comments. 95% of the time, a Negative Nancy just wants to be heard. Simply letting them know their feedback is valuable (and it is!), and was heard by a real person will stop the complaint from escalating, and in many cases can turn a potentially negative brand experience into a positive one. Ignoring negative feedback? That’s SO 2010. If you’re going to play in the social media sandbox, then you better be ready to interact, respond, listen, and learn. Social media is a space where you have to commit. You can’t just show up some of the time and expect results.
3. Be Fearless
If you think about all of the brands that make the news in social, you’ll soon realize that the one major thing they have in common is that they’re fearless. My favorite example is Domino’s Pizza. They’ve used social media to entirely reinvent themselves over the course of the last 18 months. Not many companies are willing to put their CEO in front of consumers to communicate a brand message. Domino’s did and it paid off both financially and from the perspective of credibility. They created an experience for their consumers that allowed for a two-way conversation, not just a one-way marketing push. By stepping outside the comfort zone of traditional media, businesses can make big things happen for them in social media.
The Business of Social Media: Three Ways to Rethink Your Social Performance by @annabelleblue bit.ly/IPSM3 #engage #social
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) February 2, 2012
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Managing Your Personal & Professional Social Profiles (Part 3)
Join our own @MaryLeeS as she discusses how Social Media Privacy is really now Search Privacy bit.ly/IPSocMed2 ^MLS #privacy
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) January 25, 2012
Part Three: Social Media Privacy has morphed into Search Privacy
This post is the third in a five part series addressing the management of one’s personal and professional social media profiles. (Did you miss Part 1 and/or Part 2?)
Most of us are quite familiar with Facebook and its ever changing Privacy Settings. We know that every time there is a Facebook update, we need to go in and deactivate whatever changes they made arbitrarily – we know the drill. But when is the last time you updated your Google Profile? Have you delved into your Google+ Privacy settings? What about your other Social Media profiles? Why does it matter?
Last week, Linda O’Neill discussed Intrapromote’s POV on Google Search Plus Your World with Erik Dafforn. In what Erik describes as “One of the most dramatic changes to search results in years”, Google has significantly increased the input of certain social signals for certain users. What does this have to do with Privacy? Depending upon how you have your privacy settings set up on your social media accounts, your profiles will be showing up more prominently in Google Search Results than ever.
Take this quick search for Intrapromote’s illustrious President, Erik Dafforn, as an example:
You will notice the following:
- Erik’s Google+ profile shows up in instant search results
- Erik’s LinkedIn & Twitter accounts are listed prominently
With Google having the largest market share (66.6% in December 2011) by far, it is important to take a closer look at your Google Profile Privacy settings.
First of all, if you want Personal Results to show up in your Search results on Google, you do have to opt in. You may do this in your Search Settings as seen below.
Now that you have Personal Results turned on for Search, what is the easiest way to manage all of your different profiles? Fortunately, Google has Google Dashboard to manage all of your profiles associated with Google products. From your Google Dashboard you may currently manage settings for your Google Profile, Google Analytics, Android Devices, Android Market, Blogger, Buzz (yes it’s still listed!), Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Docs, Friend Connect, Gmail, Google Music, Google+, iGoogle, Latitude, Picasa Web Albums, Reader, Google Talk, Google Chat, Google Voice, YouTube and any other Google product that you may have signed up for!
Check out this video about the Google Dashboard below:
Google Privacy also has a YouTube channel, which is a great resource for further information on the topic.
Although Google related profiles are very important, that is not all you need to look at. As we found with our search of Erik above, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles regularly rank high in search results.
Especially in regards to business, LinkedIn is a profile that most of us would WANT to show up in search results. LinkedIn has a newly re-designed settings page with privacy options prominently displayed as shown below:
When it comes to Twitter, it really depends upon what you are using Twitter for (personal vs. professional). Twitter does not have a lot of privacy features aside from protecting your tweets from public view. As a good rule of thumb, never Tweet anything that you would not want seen by the world (including employers and journalists). You never know when a national publication may pick up and quote your tweet on a subject and always assume potential employers are searching for your Twitter account to review. In Part 1 of this series, there’s a good example of how this can backfire on you — especially if potential employers or customers are using tools like Rapportive.
And don’t leave out your new Social Media accounts as well! It is generally a good practice to search out privacy settings in each network when you first set up your account. You may have caught Intrapromote’s Katie Hehn and her recent blog post about Creating a Unique Brand on Pinterest. Interestingly, Pinterest has just one Privacy Setting and it is all about Search!
How you have your privacy settings set on your social media profiles is now more important than ever. After all, you will probably prefer that a potential employer find your polished LinkedIn profile over your Milli Vanilli Fan Pinboard….”Girl you know it’s true!”
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