Pinterest: Why Women Love It, (Most) Men Don’t Get It and (All) Businesses Need To Pay Attention To It
My Pinterest Dashboard
If you are on Pinterest- leave your user name in the comments so we can check out your boards. If this leaves you scratching your head and wondering if it even makes sense for your business, give me a hollar, I’d love to help.
My Pinterest boards (including the Bacon Bandaids) can be found here!
PINNER-Extraordinaire
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
Magnum P.I. Would Have Been A GREAT Social Media Community Manager
Magnum, Social Community Manager
People are always asking, “What skills should we look for when hiring a social community manager?” Businesses wonder if they can just find a college intern who knows their way around a Facebook page, so they can launch their social marketing campaign. You might have the marketing manager who was hired ten or fifteen years ago that can write a press release or design a brochure like no one else, but who did not keep up with technology and feels that Facebook and Twitter are platforms for blathering teens and that no serious business would be conducted there.
Sure, the ideal community manager has technical savviness and an insatiable curiosity to discover new and ever changing features on social sites without fear or intimidation and they can also write smart and witty copy in byte-sized posts and tweets that draw community members in and start the dialog. But more than this, I feel that this rare and treasured community manager has a secret desire to be a private investigator (think Magnum P.I. without the ‘stache), a crime scene investigator or a member of Charlie’s Angels.
Social media marketing is so much more than just throwing some promotional content on a Facebook page each day. After posting the witty, well-crafted status update or tweet that will certainly invite people to take action, the ideal community manager will do the following:
- Scan Google Alerts and other listening tools for people discussing your industry, products or services.
- Find names of influencers to connect with on Twitter and partner businesses to LIKE on Facebook
- Find where these influencers work and hang out to connect with others in the same circles
- Listen to what influencers and community members are talking about on social sites to learn what they like and need so you can offer suggestions, helpful tips and be a resource.
- Invite these people and businesses to join your business community for more helpful and interesting content.
- Watch other community manager success stories and pick up tips and tools to try within your community–promotions, contests, discussion formats, photos and videos that get people talking and sharing.
- Analyze what is working, what is not, and then wash, rinse, repeat!
Okay, so it may sound like this person is a mythical superhero that is as rare as the perfectly groomed mustache of Magnum PI, but I know they exist….I have several of them on our team!
What have you seen a great community manager (or management team) do? Is there a company or brand that you feel does a fabulous job of keeping the community engaged and growing? Do tell– lets learn together how to go beyond the post. Mustache not even required!
Gina Schreck is the “Charlie” to the Synapse Community Angels! Be sure to check out her rantings on Twitter and see the great social media nuggets that are left on our Gettin’ Geeky Facebook Page for you and your community managers!
Gina SchreckPresident & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
So You’re An Expert In Your Industry–Who Do Others Say You Are?
I Am An Expert At Everything
I spoke with a woman today who said she was frustrated with her social media marketing progress. She said she posted content every day on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Her frustration is not uncommon. She said no one had hired her off of one of these social sites and as a matter of fact, she said few people even comment on her posts, but she commented on everyone else’s posts. When I asked her about a strategy, she said her strategy was to be on the sites daily, trying to connect with people, which she was.
- Scan your website with a objective eye, or better yet find someone who doesn’t know what you do and ask them to do this. Based on the content you SEE, what are you an expert in?
- Go to your Twitter account. On the PROFILE page, look for the link in the upper right of the page that reads LISTED. See how others have categorized you. Who do THEY say you are?
- What TOPICS have you earned Klout in? Head over to Klout to discover your score and see how others categorize you. Some will argue the accuracy of Klout, but it is still another form of social credibility.
- If you are a LinkedIn user, look over the discussions and posts on your LinkedIn profile and ask yourself if you need more focus there as well. When you do a search on LinkedIn for your area of expertise (not your name), does your name come up on one of the first two pages? Be sure your keywords are being used in your profile information as well as your posts.
Chief Social Strategist
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
SOCIAL STRATEGY: 6 Questions To Get You Started
Many companies created their Facebook and Twitter accounts because…well, because everyone else was creating a Facebook and Twitter account. Now they sit and wonder what they are supposed to post on the pages and profiles and, more importantly, what the point is for keeping it going. Is there anyone listening to them, and even if they are, what do they do with these social consumers of the content so they will give them money?
If we compare social media to television, radio or other traditional print media, the questions and the approaches are similar. You start with a strategy…a game plan! To build more business, you have to identify the audience or buyer. Where are they and what are the different ways you will reach them? Your next step is to design a plan for each of the avenues.
Placing a single ad in a local paper is not a strategy. It is one piece of an overall strategy. And even before placing an ad in your local newspaper, you would have had a meeting with the ad sales person to find out who reads this paper, what will the ad accomplish, what will the ad look like, what do you want the reader to do after reading it, and how often must you run the ad before seeing results. You would want to know how much the whole campaign would cost BEFORE signing off on the first ad.
Posting on Facebook is not a strategy. Auto-feeding all of your tweets or blog posts to your LinkedIn account or Facebookmprofile is not only NOT a strategy, but it is ineffective and irritating. Facebook, Twitter and any other site, are just tools or pieces of your overall marketing strategy.
Marketing is about raising your brand awareness, building a relationship with people who do not yet buy your product or service, informing those potential consumers on how and why they should work with you and give you those dollars. So to decide which tools you will need and then know what to do with each tool, you need a plan.
Here are 6 questions to help you create a social marketing strategy:
- Who is my ideal buyer or target? Be specific. You will most likely NOT reach “the world”. Are you trying to reach business travelers, women executives, sales people, disorganized and busy moms, etc.
- Where are these people hanging out or how are they receiving information to make buying decisions. While it’s true that most people are now social consumers, reading review sites and asking their Twitter community for their recommendations for products and services, there are still those that read magazines, listen to drive-time radio or search in the yellow pages…..okay, scratch that last one! The only thing people are using the yellow pages for is a door stop or to boost short dinner guests!
- What content will I provide on each platform identified above? Will some platforms tollerate more promotional content than others? What will each audience find interesting enough to engage further with you? (travel tips, discounts, informational video snippets, news, humorous viral videos or photos, photos/ videos of customers engaged with your brand, etc)
- What do I want people to do from each platform? Do I just want their likes and comments or am I wanting to drive them to buy something or give me their email address for additional sales/ marketing opportunities? Do I want them to connect with me on additional sites, and if so, how is that site’s content different so there’s a reason to do so?
- How often will I drop content on each, and more importantly, who will lead the charge on each platform?
- How will I promote each platform and drive the right people to connect with us? How will our inside staff play a role in informing current customers about these platforms? What should they be saying? Do I have the information on signature lines, websites, business cards, etc?
It’s a lot more work than just throwing a promotion up on Facebook, but you may be able to finally see some results for your efforts! Which is really step number 7…measuring your results, but that is another post all together! What are your thoughts or questions? I’d love to hear from you.
And of course, if you are overwhelmed by all of this and want someone to help you, contact me via email or Twitter. Stay connected on our Facebook page for tips and tools for building your business and managing your brand!
Chief Social Strategist
Social Business: Serving the New, Social Consumer
Everyone On the Social Band Wagon!
For the past few years we have seen the steady growth of companies jumping on the social wagon. From creating Facebook and Twitter accounts that just pump out company information and promotions, to campaigns allowing customers to suggest new product and service offerings and rewarding the fans who share stories and videos on the social networks.
Some organizations do nothing but post one or two updates per month while others have jumped into the drivers seat, leading the pack with customer service representatives answering tweets 24/7 and customers getting replies back to a Foursquare check in or cross-pollinating by letting Facebook fans know they will find clues on Twitter that end up having them “pin” something using the new social darling, Pinterst for a chance to win big prizes.
In 2011 we saw the adoption of social media by just about every business sector, from hotels, restaurants, and car dealers, to clothing stores, heating and air conditioning contractors, and even funeral homes. If a business serves people, then you probably saw them creating Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts and then trying to build and engage a community. Smart businesses see social media, not as a replacement to traditional sales, marketing or customer service, but as an extension to their overall customer experience. They see it as another avenue to be out where the consumer is, building relationships, allowing people to get to know, like and trust them.
This meant businesses started sharing content. They shared tips, tools and helpful content to attract the savvy smart phone wielding consumer who was looking to connect. Towards the end of 2011 we started seeing the shift from just pumping content out to the consumer, to getting the customer to engage on and off line. Getting a consumer to participate more by loading videos of their “haul” or “pinning” items they find on a website to Pinterest which then shares to Facebook and Twitter. Well pollinated!
PIN your INTERESTS!
What many businesses still have not figured into the equation is how the consumer has moved into the marketing seat. With hundreds of social review sites like Yelp, Open Table, Trip Advisor, Oink, on top of Facebook, Twitter and more, consumers are marketing, for or against your business on these sites. Typically the front line staff member of an organization doesn’t realize the level of service they provide will end up written in a post on one of these review sites. So how do you influence your social community members to post kindly? Can you influence them at all?
Companies like Walmart engaged some of their influential customers, mommy bloggers, to write reviews of products and “influence” their communities. This third-party (kind of) recommendation of products can greatly influence a community, if that community has grown to know, like and trust the blogger. Mercedes ran contests on Twitter where they selected 3 teams of influencers to drive their car to the Super Bowl and tweet along the way building their teams of online voters in hopes of winning a new ride. The drivers became the marketers, or influencers, drawing others into the Mercedes community. Recently Samuel Gordon’s Jewelers ran a promotion using Facebook, Twitter, their website and that omni-present, Pinterest, to get their fans to share pictures of their jewels with their social communities.
If you have nurtured your fan base, providing them with valuable content and promotions they really like, they will be listening when you ask them to pull their friends into your circle.
So where are YOUR customers talking about you and your brand? How do you plan on influencing those influencers out there? Perhaps this should be added to your next marketing meeting. What do you think?
Do you need help getting your social business ready to serve the new social consumer? We would LOVE to help you! Connect with Gina on Twitter or join the Geeky Fun on our Facebook page where we post helpful tips and tools for using social media to build your business!
The Biggest Social Consumer
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