The key to obtaining attention on Facebook

Create highly visual, relevant posts. Photos and graphics will grab the attention of users scrolling through their often-cluttered news feeds. Relevancy is important as well; photos shared should relate back to the page’s overall theme in some way.

Stories that highlight cuteness and are “awe-inspiring” drive user engagement. Why? Because almost everyone on the Internet loves a cute cat meme and stories that focus on the good in humanity brighten people’s days.

Users enjoy the opportunity to see their content featured on brand pages. Posting fans’ photos or asking users to generate captions for funny and interesting photos allow users to feel as if they are personally engaging in conversations with brands.

In a crowded social landscape like Facebook, it is always important to give thought to each post. Be sure to post content that clearly transmits your brand or company’s message while optimizing that message for user engagement.

Sources:

http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57498531-93/facebook-processes-more-than-500-tb-of-data-daily/

http://www.prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/13265.aspx

Technically, before Pinterest’s formal announcement, the site did not permit profiles for commercial use.  Now, you can feel free to pin like crazy.

On Nov. 14, Pinterest rolled out a brand new type of profile: Boards for Businesses.  You ask, why is this important? I used Pinterest for my business before this day, so what is the difference now?

Technically, before Pinterest’s formal announcement, the site did not permit profiles for commercial use.  Now, you can feel free to pin like crazy.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is an online pin board where users can “pin” photos from anywhere on the web to organizational boards.

Popular boards on the site include boards for wedding ideas, inspirational quotes and travel destinations. Users often pin their favorite products to their boards as well.

What Is Different About Pinterest Business Accounts?

The business boards update is relatively simple at this early stage. Businesses with existing accounts may convert their pages by visiting http://business.pinterest.com/ and clicking “Convert Your Existing Account.”

Businesses not on the website already may sign up on the same page.

At this time, the business boards profiles do not look much different from those of regular users. One unique feature is the verification of a business’ website at the top of the business’ profile page. The verification gives a slightly more official look to a business profile versus a personal one.

Another change for businesses that use Pinterest is increased accessibility to tools that help integrate Pinterest follow buttons and board widgets to the company website.

Although the switch to business boards currently yields only small adjustments, it is suspected that the company made the change for more than just legal reasons.

Prediction: more changes and features for Pinterest’s business boards in the near future.

Sources:

http://business.pinterest.com/

http://blog.pinterest.com/post/35710687813/new-tools-for-businesses-in-the-pinterest-community

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/13184.aspx

Image: Fast Co.

Tumblr recently reported that it receives 20 billion page views each month. With that amount of traffic, the microblogging website is becoming harder to ignore. As with all social media, it is important to consider the pros and cons before deciding if Tumblr is right for your company.

Tumblr recently reported that it receives 20 billion page views each month. With that amount of traffic, the microblogging website is becoming harder to ignore. As with all social media, it is important to consider the pros and cons before deciding if Tumblr is right for your company.

Reasons a Company Should Use Tumblr

• To target a young audience. Many of Tumblr’s 80+ million blogs belong to young females. The term “Tumblr girl” is becoming a popular way to describe the most reblogged users.
• Your brand or product is highly visual. Images and GIFs reign supreme on Tumblr.  Tumblr users love sharing images of the beautiful and often funny. Some of the more popular posts on Tumblr are of infamous Internet memes.
• User interaction is important to your company. Users are able to reblog and like posts, sharing them with their followers and extending your company’s reach.

Why to be wary of taking the Tumbl

Tumblr, while customizable, is limiting. Widgets and HTML modifications can be added to existing themes, but the site offers a limited number of free themes available.

Quality images and video are a key element to Tumblr success. If those are not easily attainable for your company it is better to consider using other social sharing options.

Text posts of longer length tend to go unnoticed on Tumblr. If your message relies heavily on text explanation, other blogging websites such as Blogger and WordPress may offer a better platform.

Sources

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11533.aspx

http://www.tumblr.com/press

http://mashable.com/2012/11/05/tumblr-20-billion-pageviews/?WT.mc_id=en_social-media&utm_campaign=Social%2BMedia&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

Current Client

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About

When Jeff Pink founded ORLY in 1975, he was motivated by a simple idea: to innovate natural nail care. By creating leading-edge products and tools designed not only to beautify, but to respond to the needs of salon professionals, Jeff Pink redefined nail care and nail fashion.

For over 33 years, in over 66 countries, ORLY nail care products have been the manicurist’s choice for nail strength, adhesion, wearability, dry time and shine.

I’m passionate about the field I work in. I love talking about social media, and can do it for hours on end. It is an endlessly vast universe of conversations, opinions, questions, and stories. So as one could imagine, I have a lot to say when a business owner thinks they don’t need to have any kind of social media strategy. As any web geek would, I pull up statistics, case studies, even my own personal stories to explain how and why an effective social media strategy can make or break you in today’s business climate. When I saw this brand new (and gorgeous) infographic on Wix, I knew that I had to share it.

As someone who holds a degree in public relations, I LOVE the graphic titled: “With Or Without You, Your Customers Will Discuss Their Experience Online.” If there is ANY reason why you need to be online, it’s this: your customers are! Think about it this way: you own a restaurant and one of your patrons had a bad experience. They have immediately taken to their Twitter and Facebook profiles to express their discontent in hopes of warning their friends and followers not to make the same mistake. As anyone who as ever worked in the food industry knows, everyone has off nights and unsatisfied customers are inevitable.

The trick is how you handle the outcome of those situations. Without a social media monitoring plan, this person’s tweet can get RT’ed and discussed into oblivion, something you really would prefer not to happen! However, if you are monitoring your mentions online, you can quickly approach this person via your own social media channels and do a little damage control. A discount, a free entree, even just apologizing for the bad experience goes a long way in terms of damage control. It puts to a halt the “trash talk” and may even result in some positive chatter for your brand from the same person who was previously, shall we say, unsettled.

While I always thought that ESPN’s “Numbers Never Lie” segment was flawed, since upsets happen daily in sports, I don’t think that’s the case here. Without further ado, here are the straight STATS on why your business MUST go social.

(Source: Wix.)

All small business owners should read this:

Social Media Helps Small Business Boost Sales, Keep Customers

Props to Lee Odden for writing this great article for Top Rank Marketing. He’s 100% right. This is a tried and tested formula, and it is drastically important that businesses realize it. You MUST adapt to technology, as strange and silly as it may seem. A small business owner once griped to me that Facebook was full of high school kids with no money, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. 24.6% of US Facebook members are 18-24, 23.5% are 25-35, and 16.5% are 36-44.* That means that the vast majority of users are people 18-44. Young adults, adults with social lives, adults who strive to be on top of new trends. The PERFECT target audience.

*Source: http://www.checkfacebook.com/

Feeling inspired, she took to Cyber Sytes’ blog:

Why Following Up is Key in Social Media

Typically personal anecdotes aren’t appropriate for company blogs and communications, however; when it comes to social media- personal stories are what make and break you.  To illustrate this point, I’m (Kacyn, the Social Media Strategist) going to share a story about the follow-up I received from Red Brick Pizza recently.

On Tuesday I ate lunch at Red Brick Pizza, but while I was there, I used my phone to “check-in” on Foursquare.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Wednesday, something that shouldn’t be out of the ordinary, but is happened… I saw a Tweet mentioning my personal account from @RedBrickPizza asking about my experience yesterday.  WOW!  My Foursquare is linked to my personal Twitter account, and Red Brick saw that I mentioned being at a Red Brick Pizza… so they asked how it was.  I’ll be honest, it was good pizza, but it wasn’t the pizza that made me floored by Red Brick- it was that they take the time and effort to ask about customers experiences using social media.

Here is a quick rundown of what they did and what they will get from it:

• They saw my mention (takes maybe 5 minutes, depending on the amount of mentions)
• Typed a few words to ask me about my experience (approximately 30 seconds)
• Read my reply to their Tweet (30 more seconds)
• Reply to my Tweet (30 seconds again)
• I tweeted about this customer-focus and concern for quality control on two Twitter accounts, Facebook, and Google+ (Their name was seen in a positive light by approximately 3,000 people)
• I’m writing this blog about them now, which will also be posted to Facebook and Twitter (Their name will be seen by all viewers on both)
• They made me a customer for life (The revenue from a pizza every time I want to eat pizza near a Red Brick Pizza, plus the fact that I typically bring friends to eat with me- which is more revenue)
• They also made me a brand advocate (Every time I’m asked about pizza or Red Brick, they will get a positive reference and recommendation from me)

I might not be a million dollar client who eats pizza at every meal, but it took them less than 10 minutes to build a relationship with me which will positively affect their business in the future.  They showed me they are focused on quality control, customer satisfaction, engaging their fans, and so many other attributes.  Imagine what happens after they do this to 10 customers?  50? 100? 500? 1,000?  All of these customers, when impressed like I am, will act as a word of mouth army for Red Brick Pizza- that is power advertising.  It only takes a few minutes, but it can be the difference between staying open or shutting down.

Take a lesson from Red Brick Pizza, and pay attention to what is going on around your business online.  You might win a consumer or client over, and that could lead to more and more!  (Who doesn’t need more clients?)

I’m extremely grateful that my work had such an impact on Kacyn. It only solidified my belief that a simple but effective engagement strategy can make all the difference in the world when communicating with your customers. It’s important to be friendly, prompt, and sincere, because you never know when you could be creating a brand evangelist!

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About

Organic Authority is your trusted friend and the web‘s leading resource for all things (what else?) organic! Food, drink, entertaining, health and more: come chill in our kitchen as we test drive the best recipes and chat about foodie culture and healthy living. On Organic Authority you‘ll find out how to grow your first apartment herb garden, how to host a summer BBQ your friends will rave about for seasons to come, which natural deodorants actually work, and much more. Organic Authority has all the tips and expert advice you need for delicious living good.

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About

Our RedBrick oven sears your pizza at more than 1000º in just 3 minutes* directly on our “RedBrick” stone. The result is a delicate golden crust, delicious thin crisp center with fascinating flavors that are healthier and better for you. Buono!

Gluten Free and Dairy Free options available!