Photo Credit: http://paddedcellconfessions.blogspot.com

Okay, just in case you haven’t heard of Pinterest, let me explain it. This social media site allows users to “pin” a picture from a website to a “board” (think pictures on a corkboard). The picture is still linked to the original website it was pinned from, allowing the user and followers of that user to explore the original article or blog.  The website has completely exploded in the last year, with more than 9 million users joining in 2011 alone. Small businesses have gained incredible sales due to Pinterest, and businesses are starting to jump on the bandwagon to get a piece of the pie.

Is Pinterest right for your business, though? Here are some key points to keep in mind:

97 percent of Pinterest users are women.
If your target market is mainly men, I would stake a claim in a username for your business but wouldn’t waste time pinning articles and blogs until Pinterest spreads the male population (and I’m confident it will!).

80 percent of pins are actually repins.
Repins occur when Sally, who follows Tina, sees something interesting Tina has pinned, and Sally pins it on one of her own boards. What this means is that items go viral quickly on Pinterest. Very quickly. If your content isn’t interesting, it will go nowhere. You want to post pictures that users will repin and show off to their own followers.

User engagement is incredibly high.
Women get on Pinterest, pin for hours (I speak from experience) and peruse pictures, blogs and videos, often commenting. If you jump on Pinterest, you have to be dedicated to checking your account at least once a day to make sure you’re not missing out on connecting with a potential client of customer.

Still have some questions? Contact the Marketicity team, and we’d be happy to show you how to effectively use Pinterest to gain business. In the meantime, check out our Pinterest account to get some ideas.

1. Focus on only a few important keywords.

If you’re stuffing your website with too many keywords, you’re not focusing on the most important ones. Start with 5-7 keywords and focus on those. If your site grows, you can then add keywords.

2. Update and add content as often as possible.

This is where the importance of a blog comes in. As you add additional content regularly, search engines give your website more importance. Blogging also gives you more opportunities to place keywords on your website. So, what are you waiting for? Start writing!

3. Write short but descriptive page titles with at least three keywords.

Your web page titles tell everyone – search engine robots, consumers, competitors – what that specific page is all about. Page titles have a higher importance than headers or web content, so take advantage of them.

4. Utilize headers correctly

Header tags are categorized by Header 1 (H1), H2, H3, etc. Most content management systems clearly differentiate these by making them a larger, more bold font than the rest of your web page’s content. Your page should not have five H1 tags. Nor should it have three H2 tags. Stick to one or two of each, and use them to organize your content, not to cram your page with keywords. Oh, but don’t forget to use keywords!

5. Avoid these tactics that attempt to cheat the system.

Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engine companies are smarter than you think. We’ve heard stories of websites utilizing weird tacts and are almost always penalized with a much lower rank on a search result. Watch out for invisible keywords, keyword stuffing and other illegal approaches. Instead, stick to a good strategy, and your website will improve and gain traffic.

To see your progress and evaluate what’s working and what’s not, use a free analytics tool, such as Google Analytics. With this, you can see which pages are bringing in the most traffic and which still need some work.

Not sure which keywords you need? Try Google’s keyword tool, which takes your keyword ideas and finds similar keywords. Then it shows you how often those terms are searched.

Need help? It’s a lot of work, and we’d love to help you out. Contact the Marketicity team today for a complimentary look at your company’s website. We’re great at gaining results through SEO. Want proof? Check out how we increased web sales by 400 percent for Waltco Tools.

When Waltco Tools Inc., a national retailer of automotive and industrial tools, approached our team in December about search engine optimization (SEO) for their website, their goals were to increase overall site traffic and online sales. The company has always had a successful retail presence and was looking to kick start what had been a somewhat nondescript e-commerce operation.   

SEO Plan of Action

After taking a look at the Waltco website, we determined we could quickly and efficiently increase online visits from consumers, automotive technicians and construction professionals by optimizing the site’s home page and four main category pages. We also recommended changes to the website’s SSL certificate to make online buyers feel more comfortable about buying online.

Success

After only six weeks, Chuck Sanderson, Waltco Tools president, reported that the company’s online sales have skyrocketed. “In just one month after making our SEO changes, we’ve had a 400 percent increase in online sales. We’re excited about our ability to better compete with online retailers and build our e-commerce operation.”

“We’ve had a 400 percent increase in online sales”

Are you interested in gaining more business through your website? Do you need help increasing web traffic for your company? Contact the Marketicity team today. We’d be more than happy to take a complimentary look at your website.

Our Social Media for Business Seminar includes the following information:

1. How to get started – building a successful plan of action
2. Social media etiquette – including tone, frequency, content essentials and more
3. Facebook and LinkedIn tutorials
4. Utilizing Twitter to its full potential

Are you a chamber of commerce, BNI or other networking group that would like us to speak at your next event? Contact us today.

Are you interested in learning more about how to use social media for your business and want to talk to us one-on-one? We’d love to have coffee and talk about how to help you grow your business through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. Give us a call.

1 .Scott’s Favorite: TaxAct.com

2.Casara’s Favorite: The Voice with Betty White

3. Allison’s Favorite: Budweiser’s Official Big Game

4. Jen’s Favorite: Chrysler’s Clint Eastwood

5. Hannah’s Favorite: Bud Light’s “Here We Go” Rescue Dog

We’d love to hear about your favorite Super Bowl 2012 commercials in the comments below!

An estimated 100 million people will tune in to Super Bowl XXVJBIWU (which one is it these days?). This year, a 30-second commercial slot is going for a hearty $3.5 million. Yes, you read that correctly. Ad prices are going up because these advertisers are no longer only reaching the folks sitting in front of their TVs. Instead, they’re riding the coat tails of the viewers who will comment, critique and most importantly, share the commercial throughout social media sites.

The metrics of measuring how many saw a particular Super Bowl commercial has changed. The number of people actually watching doesn’t determine how many actually see or comment on the commercial. With social media as a player in the game, advertisers can now measure the effect it has by your behavior and response. Statistics will be gathered on brand mentions, the most common words included in the mentions, how many views and visits to YouTube, how many decide to share, retweet, re-post – you name it. So these days, advertisers have much more valuable information to explore and dissect.

Far more data is analyzed as digital media continues to advance. As a marketer, I find this quite intriguing. Maybe it’s one step closer to know, “So…what did they think?” Gone are the days of just knowing reach, because now we can discover the feelings and reaction that go along with it. And in turn, we can be better with what we deliver to our customers and clients.

I’ll have my Twitter feed streaming as I watch the game this Sunday, @ signs, hashtags and all. Will you be tweeting, posting and sharing your thoughts with me? After all, I am interested. 

Feel free to browse the slides by clicking or dragging the corners like a book.

Want to learn more?  Shoot us an email and we can answer any questions!

“The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 percent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company.”

Alright, let’s take a moment to dissect this particular sentence and their response as a whole.

I must first say this, it’s difficult to wrangle and deliver the truth when a situation of this caliber occurs. I do believe Costa Cruises did a fine job with prompt delivery of information. Posts to their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts were punctual and as thorough as possible. They delivered facts and didn’t (and couldn’t) allow themselves to get emotional.  So strategically, their online response was effective, and I assume, well thought out before any of this occurred. But here is where things go awry.

1. They have laid blame on the cruise ship Captain, Mr. Schettino, who steered the boat off course, on to rocks and then bailed. Ok, let’s be honest, you hired the guy. Whether or not he is to “blame” (which yes, for the accident, of course), the company needs to take responsibility for what happens. After all, people don’t buy vacations from Captain Schettino himself.

2. Then they have been reaching out to passengers by phone to ask if they’ve had nightmares, sleepless nights or need counseling. I’m sure the intentions aren’t malicious, but those passengers are mad at you, Costa Cruises. The last thing they want is any advice from you on how to handle their recovery.

3. And then we take a look back at the quote above from the Costa Cruise spokesman. The refund should be a given – no pats on the back there. These folks probably spent a significant amount of money on a product/service that clearly wasn’t delivered. But then we have to stumble across the future 30 percent discount. Seriously? Many of these people may never board a fishing boat ever again, let alone a cruise ship. And they couldn’t care less about staying loyal to the company. Loyalty went out the window when everything else on the ship did.

My point is that Costa Cruises only had part of their crisis response plan in place. What is enough of an I’m Sorry, if anything? What would be too much or insensitive? How will you build your reputation back up? How will you regain trust? These are all questions we ask when we sitting down with clients to put together a crisis communication plan. What do you think Costa Concordia should’ve done?

One thing is for certain; loyalty to your customer builds your brand up, but can also tear it right down.  So have a plan and take care of your customers. Always.

As our country and world population grows, our nation’s family farmers and the agribusiness industry continue to meet the demands of safe, affordable and abundant food production. Do they do this through dumb luck? No. Do they do this because they can farm the same way their dad or grandfather farmed? No. As with any profession, they’ve made this progress because they are educated.

The American farmer is a tremendous business person. He and his family play a high-stakes game of poker every year – betting that the weather and prices will make it worth their while to plant crops and raise animals. Yet, as our nation’s overall population gets generationally farther away from a first-hand knowledge of ag, they begin to assume they know about farming and agribusiness. They don’t. Articles such as those on Yahoo illustrate this ignorance.

Food product promotions continue to personify the American farmer as a hayseed in coveralls and a straw hat, driving a 1950’s era pickup truck and a 40-horsepower tractor. I get why … it’s a comfort factor for the American consumer. But it also feeds a stereotype that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Today’s farmers have GPS guidance systems in their equipment to maximize fuel efficiency and ensure that they are environmentally conscious in fertilizing only areas of a field that truly need it. They trade commodities and hedge their assets to protect their farm’s future. They know biotech, what makes animals happy and healthy, and what they need to do to protect the environment.

Technology, finance and science have never played a larger role in farming and agribusiness. So don’t let the pseudo-experts like the one at Yahoo fool you, young America. There are thousands (yes, thousands) of companies and ag-based operations out there waiting to hire the best and the brightest in agriculture. Get your ag-related degree, further the field, and grin while others talk over the dinner you’ve helped produce about what they assume they know about ag.

Although it’s not something we’ve historically practiced in our speech, it is similar to the way Canadians often end sentences with, “eh?” Apparently, using “right” at the end of a sentence and adding the tone of a question is very popular. It’s also perplexing.

It reminds me of the use of the word “like” that began with the Valley Girls of the 1980s. Although I’ve been guilty of using “like” in sentences at times, it’s the equivalent of nails on the chalkboard for me.

Recently, I was listening to one of my daughter’s friends describe their evening together. The young lady proceeded to use “like” 14 times in one extended breath of hyperventilated sentences. Yes, I was counting. Again, I’m weird. But you cannot deny that the word “like” has become a curse for all English teachers in the U.S.

A website I found discussing the “right” trend defines it as a speech virus — something that spreads from person to person over time. That seems to be an apt description, although I doubt the bulk of the American public will do anything to cure this so-called affliction. Which is fine.

I mean, we may, like, be able to turn this new figure of speech into an ad campaign, right?