Pinterest: Pin it to Win it

by | Mar 29, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Social Media

Pinterest is the new and exciting kid on the social media block – and everyone wants to get to know it better. “What is it?” and “how do I use it?” has quickly become “I’m always on Pinterest!” so it’s no surprise that brands should be, and are, starting to pay attention in order to stay ahead of the social media game. Pinterest, for brands, has become the new place to be, so what should brands be aware of before capitalizing on Pinterest? 

How Pinterest works….
The social networking site allows users to share, curate, and discover new things by “pinning” images or videos to their own or others’ pinboards. Users use pinboards, which are collections of images or videos, to organize, plan and inspire everything from tonight’s dinner to grand events. Users are encouraged to pin their own content, uploaded or found online, or “repin” and “like” other users’ pins.

Who uses Pinterest…
If your planning a marketing campaign on Pinterest it’s important to know your audience. According to Mashable.com and January 2012 data from Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner, 87% of users are female and 80% of users are between the ages of 25-54, however Pinterest’s user-base is still growing.

If Pinterest is right for your brand…

  • Decide if your brand and Pinterest are a match. Pinterest is very visual; will this approach fit with your brand strategy? According to the their best practices, Pinterest recommends that brands create several pinboards with visuals that cover a broad range of interests and pin from various sites, not just a specific one.
  • Think about your followers, their interests and how, through Pinterest, you can create more of an experience around your brand.
  • Do some competitive research. See what other brands are doing on Pinterest and what makes their Pinterest campaigns so successful.

What kind of visual content to share Pinterest….
Think about sharing product shots, infographics, brand inspirations, how-to graphics, and maybe even images of your customers engaging with your brand. You can even share eBooks. Recently, 3H launched our “Marketing Understood: 33 Biz-isms you need for success” eBook. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing visuals from our eBook on our Pinterest profile.

You can also allow followers to pin images to your boards and encourage them to share stories about their experiences with your brand. You could also run fun contests on Pinterest to keep your followers engaged.

Pinterest

Promotion…
Make sure you let people know that your brand is on Pinterest. Add a button to your website and link your Pinterest account to your brand’s Facebook and Twitter as well.

What’s working and what’s not…
When pinning, leverage your traditional analytics tools to identify the content that really gets your followers excited about your brand and drives traffic to your sites. You can also gage interest levels by the amount of “Likes” and “Repins” you’ve received.
What do you think? As more and more brands get on board, will it change the way brands approach their social media marketing campaigns?

Follow 3H on Pinterest!

The Biz-isms of Power Marketing

by | Mar 20, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Miriamisms

You may not always be aware that you’re practicing them, but they become ingrained in the way you do things day to day. “Isms” for some, are an overarching, common sense way of doing things – approaches to keep in mind. These “isms” can apply to your everyday life or your career. In business and at 3H Communications, we like to use the term “biz-ism” as it is defined by our very own Canadian marketing veteran Miriam Hara.

So, what is a biz-ism and how does it apply to marketing? We’ve laid it all out for you in our first eBook “Marketing Understood 33 Biz-isms You Need for Success”. The first in a series of powerful eBooks, Marketing Understood will benefit anyone in business and marketing management today by giving you a collection of key marketing practices and philosophies to power marketing efforts. Whether you’re marketing a service, a product, a brand or whether you’re an entrepreneur, this eBook will give you a wealth of practical information presented in a very concise, no-nonsense way. It’s an easy, quick reference point on how to market and power marketing. Who doesn’t like the sound of that?

Among the 33 excellent biz-isms included in the eBook, the “Don’t be Surprised: Use Research” biz-ism caught my attention. I thought, well that seems like a no brainer, right? Although research is essential when making a good marketing decision, sometimes this crucial step in the marketing process doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Strong research helps identify, among other things, a target market and competitive approaches to make your campaign stand out above the rest. While researching, you might also find that you can take different routes and choose from several different options to effectively marketing your service or product.

The “Don’t be Surprised: Use Research” biz-ism, along with the 32 other great biz-isms in the Marketing Understood eBook, is a simple but important thing to keep in mind and add to your marketing mix.

You can download our “Marketing Understood: 33 Biz-isms You Need for Success” here to get more expert, seasoned insight on how to market powerfully and effectively.

Do you use any marketing biz-isms to effectively market your business? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear what they are!