by Belinda Lui | Jan 3, 2014 | Latest, Social Media
I remember when Pinterest was first getting popular and served as one of the biggest distractions when I was trying to study for exams. I liked the humorous posts and fashion boards. A few years later, my friends started getting married and Pinterest was an excellent way to brainstorm ideas for bridal showers and cute DIY projects. As the end user, I can definitely see how Pinterest marketing would be a good outlet to implement a campaign to leverage a product or service. As a business, you might want to know…
5 statistics on Pinterest Marketing to consider for your marketing strategy:
1) Conversion rates for Pinterest traffic are 50% higher than other social media sites:
In other words Pinterest drives more traffic. The click-through from Pinterest to your website and then ultimately purchasing your product or service, is ultimately what you want.
2) Pinterest buyers spend more money, more often, on more items than any of the other top 5 social media sites.
Which makes sense — you can appeal to the consumer visually, with a convenient link to your website.
3) 47% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from Pinterest.
What this means is that your content has the potential to make a major influence if it is repinned often. This is especially true because Pinterest networks are made up of friends — and people trust their friends.
4) Pinterest generates 4x more revenue (per click) than Twitter and 27% more per click than Facebook.
Pinterest has been referred to as a “top of the funnel channel” — this is because it sends more new and potential customers to your site than Twitter and Facebook. Being a strong lead generator, Pinterest has earned its name in the marketing arena for online sellers.
5) 80% of total pinterest pins are repins.
Which means, original content makes up 1/4 the amount of total content on Pinterest. Designing content that is relevant and shareable will increase the likelihood of it being repinned.
(Statistics from: Social Media Today)
What are some examples of excellent Pinterest marketing?
by Belinda Lui | Dec 24, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
If you’re a company that’s looking to hire for Social Media Consulting, there’s a lot to consider prior to engaging with a consultant. Understandably, without a clear understanding of how social media exactly works, hiring on outside source may seem daunting. For starters, and to facilitate proliferation, your consultant must learn how your company works… and what is is all about in terms of products, services and brands. More importantly a sound knowledge of company culture, voice and persona is integral in establishing a social media context. Only then, can one create and deliver a social media strategy to spread ‘social’ throughout your organization.
Social Media Consulting should begin with research, followed by a concise strategy, finally resulting in a transparent and easily understandable analytic report.
But in the meantime, here’s what you should be hearing from your consultant:
“What’s your goal?” Some social media gurus think the big prize is community. That’s a fine start, but for a business, it’s also a means to an end–which is whatever your company’s larger goals are, whether they be sales, brand awareness, or traffic. Your social strategy should not end with the creation of an online conversation.
“Here’s the ROI.” Consultants may tell you that social investments can’t be justified in a quantifiable way. Wrong. The data is out there. If they want you to spend $75,000 on a Foursquare badge, they should explain how that investment will help you reach your goals.
“I don’t care about follower counts.” Companies obsess over how many followers they have, and consultants play to that. But Facebook ads and “Like this page” contests often don’t boost consumer engagement. Rather, you should be courting influencers–trusted insiders with engaged followers (such as bloggers, niche celebrities, or active tweeters), who can help spread your message.
“Facebook and Twitter are only a start.” Consultants should know which platforms are best for your businesses. For example, if you are a fashion designer and your consultant isn’t talking about collage platform Polyvore, they’re doing something wrong.
“Let’s look at data.” Your consultant should find smart ways to interpret data that platforms provide, and track down new data sources as well. They should also identify the best social measurement, management, and listening tools for your company’s needs, so you can look up those data yourself after they’re gone.
“Your website should be social.” Don’t just rely on other platforms. Your consultant should optimize your own site for sharing and data collection. To start, connect to Facebook’s Open Graph and measure social activity–including “likes”–within your domain, in addition to measuring that activity within Facebook itself.
(Information from: Fast Company)
What are some of the success/horror stories of when you’ve worked with social media consulting companies?
by Belinda Lui | Dec 4, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
Designing a Facebook marketing campaign can be tricky: you need to start with research and analysis, implement riveting creative, and post engaging content. It may seem overwhelming, but there is a way to kick-start your Facebook strategy: knowing these 7 important statistics will help you increase your following and engagement.
For optimized engagement: more than knowing when to post, it’s important to know what to post:
1. Photo posts get 39% more interaction
Posting photos are more engaging than posting videos, links, and text-based updates: so much so, that it accounts for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook.
2. Shorter posts get 23% more interaction
Writing shorter posts isn’t just handy on Twitter. Keeping your posts below 250 characters can get you 60% more engagement than you might otherwise see. You can even get up to 66% more engagement if you cut it down to less than 80 characters.
3. Using emoticons increases comments by 33%
If you thought emoticons were only for teens, you might want to rethink that idea. According to AMEX OPEN Forum infographic, emoticons can make a big difference to your engagement rates. Not only do posts with emoticons get 33% more comments, they also get shared 33% more often. Even better: they get liked 57% more often than posts without emoticons.
4. Engagement rates on Thursday and Friday are 18% higher
This is generally speaking – depending on the demographic of your following, the days with the most activity may vary. Fortunately, Facebook provides the information on which days get the most activity from your followers, so be sure to establish that before you create your Facebook marketing calendar.
5. Question posts get 100% more comments
If comments are the kind of interaction you’re after, questions might be the way to go. According to an infographic by Kissmetrics, they get 100% more comments than standard text-based posts. HubSpot shares a similar finding, although this data points out that question posts often get fewer likes and shares than other types of posts.
6. 35% of Facebook fans like a page so they can participate in contests
If you’re chasing down new fans, a contest seems like a fairly good way to encourage likes. A report from earlier this year showed that 35% of Facebook fans liked Facebook pages specifically to compete in contests. Contests obviously solicit interaction by asking for people to enter. It turns out this can work, as “caption this photo”-style contests actually bring in 5.5 times more comments than regular posts.
7. 42% of fans like a page to get a coupon or discount
According to Socially Stacked, 42% of Facebook fans like a page in order to get a discount or coupon. A study by Wildfire Interactive showed that coupon-based campaigns received the highest engagement rates. Giveaways and sweepstakes came in just behind coupons as highly engaging post types.
What are some of the ways that you have increased engagement in your Facebook strategy?
(Information taken from: Fast Company)
by Belinda Lui | Nov 22, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
In light of all the Rob Ford news that has gone viral (making international headlines), I thought it would be a good opportunity to shed light on some videos/stories that have also gained international traction on today’s post. Viral Marketing campaigns usually involve a story or cause that has the effect of evoking emotion or that the mass community can relate to. This can be beneficial to your business if the emotion evoked is a positive one – consequently reflecting well on your brand.
Here are a few examples of videos that spread a great message:
1. Dove:
Dove’s Beauty Campaign is one of my favourites. They started their campaign with using real women to model for their advertisements, suggesting that beauty can come in all shapes and sizes. This year, they launched a video called “Beauty Sketches” that spoke to women and the, often misguided, way we see ourselves.
2. Pharell Williams: “Happy”
The U.S. musician/producer/fashion icon released a 24-hour music video that promotes being happy and has gained close to 1M views. Now, that’s something to be cheerful of.
3. The Right To Love:
In March, the Human Rights Campaign had a redesign of their logo and encouraged users on Facebook to change their profile picture to support it. It is a red square box with two thick pink horizontal lines and was used among the online community as a way to support the right to same-sex marriage.
These are just a few ways that companies and people have used viral marketing to increase awareness of a cause or their brand. In some ways, viral marketing campaigns are an excellent tool in comparison to traditional forms of advertising. This method is measurable with social metrics, regardless of which platform you choose to use.
What are some of the viral marketing campaigns that you liked most this year?
by Belinda Lui | Nov 12, 2013 | Latest, Marketing
In the saturated world of retail marketing, how can you ensure that you will be seen and heard?
There has been a noticeable shift in Retail space over the past five years: a face-lift, if you will, on mass retailers such as Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Holt Renfrew, and several other major brands. Along with the refresh in storefront appeal, a lot of these brands have also created Smartphone applications and social media fan pages to reinforce their image and sales strategies.
For these retailers, what does it mean to have new competition enter the arena? With emerging brand re-designs, it just takes that much more to stand out. This is where a succinct and detailed brand strategy and an effective social media plan can ensure a more fruitful ROI. Design an effective retail marketing strategy today:
Bonnie Brooks, President and CEO of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), has completely turned the department store into one that deserves an honorable mention. Adopting big name designers, gaining exclusivity to having Top Shop in a couple of HBC locations has already put them ahead of the game. In 5 short years, Brooks has managed to re-position the department store and make it a must-go destination when shopping.
Retail Marketing and more specifically, promotion doesn’t stop at POP banners and weekly flyers, however.
The Hudson’s Bay has a 6.5k following on Instagram. Holt Renfrew has 38k followers on Instagram.Retailers know that to expand their reach, they must turn to the Internet and create an online community to reinforce the offline one.
For a retail company, it’s arguably easier to gain a following on social media sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook – and a little more difficult for those who are marketing services (in some cases) to gain traction amongst followers. But in tandem with my previous post (communication in the social age), knowing your audience and understanding their interests and behaviour will give you a vantage point in marketing to them.
Even in social media, there must be consistency and a call-out to one’s brand image. It isn’t ever just posting for the sake of posting. Remember: everything that is viewed in the social media will lead to conclusions being drawn and will either reflect positively or negatively on your brand. Make sure you understand this before posting.
So how do smaller, specialty stores make an impact on the social community? Arguably, social media has afforded smaller brands to make a big impact simply by designing an effective communications strategy that reinforces their brand. I’m convinced that successful social media plans have less to do with the product/service they’re selling and more to do with the impression they leave with the community.
Consider for a moment Canadian fashionista Jaclyn Genovese (Owner, JacFlash, 1036 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H7, jacflash.net). With a knack for all things fashion and trendy, she has managed to run a flagship store in Toronto as well as a successful e-commerce site. To reinforce her business, she has a substantial 7.2K following on Instagram (@jaclyngenovese) where she doesn’t only promote product but she also promotes herself as the face of JacFlash – and rightfully so, she’s gorgeous.
Running campaigns with hashtags: #fallcontest #HBCrewards, for example are effective ways to trend on sites like Twitter and Instagram. This has proven effective for more than just marketing campaigns; hashtags have been used to organize guest photos at events like weddings.
Although a lot of brands have caught on to this trend and manage excellent social media plans, there are still a lot of companies that need to get on board.
What are some of your favourite brands to follow?
