Pinterest for Business

Pinterest, once classed as the third most popular social network in the US, is a visual social network for 'pinning' images and videos to users' own or other pin boards (which are collections of 'pins' usually with a common theme).  The social network encourages it's users to download a "pin it" button on their computers, so that they can share/pin any images/videos they find on the web, that they want to share. The pinners/users distribute your content for you, by repinning, liking and sharing.

Find out more about the social network over at our: Introduction to Pinterest Blog published in February 2012 and our Utilising Pinterest for Brands and Business Blog published in March 2012. 

In November 2012 Pinterest launched brand pages for businesses. After being active on Pinterest, the social network will allow you to advertise your website address (top level domains only), so that the users of Pinterest can find out more about you.  Once verified, you will receive a 'tick of authority' next to the website name.  

Via a business's landing page Pinterest are helping businesses get the most out of their network by providing advice on how businesses can use the network to:

• Tell their story
• Build a community
• Send traffic to the website
• Identify what is working well and how to develop further.

Find a useful 'pin board' of Brands and Businesses using Pinterest here:

http://pinterest.com/mshahab/brands-businesses-blogs-on-pinterest/

The above image is from a recent Pinterest Christmas campaign from Joules Clothing.  They invited Joules Clothing fans to Pin 5 items that they would love to get to Christmas, on their boards and email notify them via email of their Pinterest Board URL.  The campaign was integrated with Facebook, with a custom Pinterest tab.

The benefits of the Pinterest campaign to the brand include:

• Organic sharing of their products around Xmas time.
• Profiling the brand to a creative community which suits their target market
• Increased traffic to the website on product pages.  
• Gain increased followers on company Pinterest board and Facebook for further campaigns.

The Flashlight Search Marketing team are briefing a number of clients on how to use this social network for business growth, with focus on campaign integration.  

If you require any assistance learning how this social network can benefit your business, visit the links listed above and should you require further assistance talk to our sales team.

Author: Sarah Griffiths (AKA Pinterest Addict)

Questions, Questions, Questions ???

Our raison d’etre is to design & build bespoke websites and tailor effective online marketing campaigns in line with our clients business needs.

To meet client expectations we often ask quite a few blunt questions; the overall objective being to give our clients a site or/and a marketing campaign that is tailored to their goals and directly measured by real results.

The questions we ask

Off the top of my head, some of the questions we ask our clients are listed below:

Q: What is the purpose of your site?

Q: How are you going to use your site to overcome your overall business objectives?

Q: Are you developing on your website based on feedback on a usability study? If so how will you measure performance and the ROI of your investment?

Q: Does your website exist to lower your operating costs, if so how will you measure this?

Q: Will your website have a landing page to link into traditional media, if so what is the target market and how will you measure uptake?

Q: Does your website exist to help build your brand image? How will your personality be presented in text, are you talking in your copy on a one to one level?

All in all the above questions indicate measurement is key.

The Web Consultancy Approach

During web consultancy we also invite clients to consider the separate customer stages when designing or enhancing their websites.

Stage’s such as:

• Awareness - How will visitors be aware of your website?
  
• Interest - What will motivate the visitor to choose you over competitors?
  
• Call to Actions - What will encourage the visitor to book with you, buy from you, call you etc?
  
• Retention - Is it likely that customers will re-visit the site? If so is this to use the site; buy upgrades; replenish their products??? etc. How will you retain your customers? Are you separating those who visit versus those who regularly buy?

Online Marketing Campaigns Questions

When considering clients online marketing campaigns, to help our clients brief the Flashlight team and begin to get a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve we suggest they complete our Campaign Objectives Sheet.

We have linked our campaign objectives worksheet into our Return on Investment Sales Funnel Calculator ; a useful tool to determine the return of your online marketing spend.

If you are considering increasing awareness of your company, thinking of ways in which to make your website more engaging to visitors, eager to understand more about how people use your site and what motivates them (esp: Calls to Actions) please get in touch with our Sales team on 01202 678777 or via our contact us form. So we can share our ideas too.

First step: You may want to help yourself by viewing and completing the Rocktime Campaign Objectives Sheet here.

Alternatively why not bounce the link to the campaign sheet around your team and ask them for their onsite innovations and campaign ideas you may be surprised at the response.

Happy Planning ;)

Author: Sarah Griffiths