TingallsDzyn

A “GOLD NUGGET“ from the WWE Panel Discussion on “Marketing Your Message Through Social Media“.  Thank you to the Panelists:

Cathy Yerges, PEAK PROFITS, LLC; Rena Ripp, Hummingbird Social Media LLC, & Barbara Samuel, ALL WRITE, LLC

1)  If you are going to be on social networks, be consistent on them at least once a week with a message.

2)  Have a goal in mind before you start your social media presence. Identify your target audience and what you want to share with them. It will help you choose the best social media platform to use and allow you to strategically craft your message.

3)  Be a giver. Be present and helpful to your network. Think about what you can do for them. This will avoid you being thought of as pushy, spammy, or only in it for yourself. Through the laws of the universe, business will come to you naturally if you keep the focus on helping others.

4)  Participate in the online discussions. It’s a great way to build the “know, like and trust” factor with your audience.

5)  The power of social media is in the 2nd degree. It’s not in who you know, but who your connections know. Social media helps spread your influence and knowledge to the 2nd degree.

6) If you don’t have the time to learn how to build your brand online or maintain your social media presence, seek help from someone in the industry. He/she will be able to get you up and running in no time so you can concentrate on your core business.

7)  Watch your competitors…learn what they do well and what they do poorly.

 Why is good writing important to you and your business?  You only have one chance to make a first impression, and that could be in writing

9)  Whether you are preparing and email, a blog post, a Web page, or a brochure, if your material is not clearly and cleanly communicated, the opportunity to capture your potential clients will be lost.

10)  Before you hit “send” or “publish”, review and edit your work.  Read it aloud, or ask a trusted friend to review it for you.  Better yet, write on one day and review the next.

Tingalls Blog - Social Media Mistakes

Social media is becoming a huge part of company strategy and marketing, but it’s still a fairly novel invention, which means there are social media mistakes abound. So, just for fun, let’s take a look at some of the biggest social media mistakes companies have made.

Kenneth Cole

Using current events in your social media posts can be a great and clever way to promote your business or get people talking. But, as Kenneth Cole learned last year, good taste and common sense must come into play as well. During great unrest (and much violence) in Egypt, Cole decided to promote his clothing line with the following tweet.

“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online.”

His taste level with clothing may be spot on, but when it comes to marketing, it’s more than a shade off.

HabitatUK

Hashtags (#) have become an important element of Twitter as they let people subscribe to a topic they’re interested in, such as iPhone, and get related tweets. HabitatUK realized that some topics are extremely popular, like iPhone. So, they decided to hashtag their posts with #iPhone and other popular tags and then proceeded to tweet about completely unrelated topics. This does nothing but alienate that subscribed audience and give your company a bad reputation.

Burger King

All we can say about this particular gaff is – WHAT?!? Burger King decided to drum up some business by launching a Facebook Contest. This is typically a great idea and can create some buzz, bring in new customers and boost your social media presence. But when your contest rewards people for “de-friending” their Facebook friends, you have to wonder what they were thinking. BUT it gets worse!!! When you defriend someone on Facebook, it’s sort of a secret and that person never knows unless they notice it or check their friend list. Burger King notified people that they were defriended so someone could win a free burger, creating hurt feelings and anger everywhere and prompting Facebook to shut them down.

Charlie Sheen

Celebrities often commit social media sins; complaining about having to perform in a certain city, personally attacking their romantic partners, and letting intimate videos and pictures go viral. We could bring up a bunch of names but let’s focus on Charlie Sheen since he’s such an easy target. Apparently, Sheen forgot that Twitter isn’t private and sent a tweet to Justin Bieber that included his personal phone number. The result – 5 million people got Sheen’s private phone number (now disconnected).  #Winning!

The lesson to take away from all of these social media blunders is that you’re dealing with a VERY public medium and every movement must be carefully considered, especially when a company name, brand or image is at stake.

Sign up to the Tingalls blog for new information on social media, SEO, graphic design and small business tips.

Marketing with Pinterest

Pinterest is quite possibly the hottest thing to come along in social networking since Twitter, or perhaps even Facebook. As with any new social media venture, marketers are looking at it to see if it can help their company gain new customers.

Think of Pinterest as an old-fashioned bulletin board where you pin your ideas, recipes, notes and other information. Pinterest is a very visual medium, which makes it particularly useful to companies that are selling products that are visually appealing and even some services like landscaping or hair styling. But the visual element doesn’t mean that content driven “pins” aren’t successful, quite the contrary.

Currently, Pinterest is an invitation only website, but you can go to www.pinterest.com and request and invite and you should get one in a few days. Or, as a friend to invite you and you’ll almost immediately receive the invitation. Make sure you register your business account with a business email and Twitter account, this way you can instantly share information from Pinterest. At this point in time, Pinterest does not offer a direct connection with a Facebook business page, but it does for individual pages.

When you’ve signed up on Pinterest, take the time to complete your profile, using solid keywords that identify your business. Take particular note of the “Hide your Pinterest Profile” question and switch it to off. If you’re hidden you will not be listed on search engines, and you definitely want to be searchable.

Because Pinterest is a social media outlet it should be treated as such. Just like Facebook and Twitter, you want to encourage social interaction, not blatantly sell your products. Users of social media are turned off by salesmen and they’re savvy enough to see through thin smokescreens.

If you want an excellent example of a company using Pinterest correctly, check out Oreck. People absolutely love pet pictures and videos and Ha! Vacuums are a great way to clean up pet messes! But Oreck doesn’t have to make that connection for you, they let you do it yourself, they simply show you the cutest little critters around. Their pins are so cute that you feel compelled to follow them so you can see the next installment of their furry friends.

Another way Pinterest is similar to other social media is that you will get the most out of it by interacting with others. Follow other companies and people and repin their posts. Establish a company identity and find pins that would appeal to that type of person.

One way to take advantage of the social aspect is to let the personalities behind your company shine through. Take some fun pictures of the office in team building activities or working hard on a project. Invite them to share a favorite vacation photo or one of them pursuing an outside activity. This opens you up to an even wider group of potential followers.

The real key to developing a Pinterest following that may turn into leads is to think about your ideal consumer’s lifestyle and how your products fit into it. Highlight the lifestyle elements, not your products. The more social you are as a company, the greater success you’ll have with social media.

Contact Tingalls Dzyn to have a Pinterest button added to your webpage so your friends and customers can easily pin your products to their bulletin boards.