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Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram are revolutionizing online marketing. Find out why a picture really is worth a thousand words when it comes to these popular tools.
You’re a Facebook ninja, a Twitter master and a LinkedIn maven. But do you know about the new breed of social media sites focused on sharing photos and images? Here’s a closer look at three of the hottest and how you can use them to grow your business.
What it is: Pinterest users “pin” images to virtual bulletin boards, follow other users and repin their pins.
Why it matters: Pinterest’s exponential growth is making waves. The site currently drives more referral traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube or Google Plus. In February, Pinterest attracted 17.8 million unique visitors, comScore reports. According to VentureBeat, Experian’s 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report shows Pinterest has moved past more established sites like Tumblr, LinkedIn and Google Plus, and now boasts the third-highest number of social media site visits in February and March. The primarily female users average 89 minutes a month on the site.
Who it’s for: “You use Pinterest to curate images, so there has to be a visual element to what your business does,” says Monika Jansen, who is founder of marketing communications firm Jansen Communications and blogs about social media at Network Solutions’ GrowSmartBiz blog. “That doesn’t mean you have to produce a product. Service businesses could pin photos or videos from events, or photos of what inspires them when they’re creating — anything you might pin on an actual inspiration board in your office.”
What to do: Pinterest is still invitation-only, so get a user to invite you, grab your business name as a Pinterest account and describe your business in your account settings. “Add the Pinterest bookmarklet to your browser, so you can quickly pin things as you surf the Web,” says Jansen. Link your Pinterest account to Facebook and Twitter so fans and followers can see you’re on Pinterest.
Next, create pinboards in categories related to your business, and optimize what you pin by using keywords and hashtags in descriptions. Look at “Popular” boards in categories relevant to your business to see what types of images attract users.
The possibilities are endless. Think of Pinterest as a virtual catalog. Hair salons can pin popular hairstyles or recommended products, restaurants can highlight favorite dishes, house specials or recipes. Travel planners should pin destination pictures; architects, decorators and designers should show off their designs.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Using Visual Social Networks to Grow Your Business Business on Main #SoulcialMe
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