Social Media Chemistry

Pinterest. It’s been a hot topic among social users. Have you found yourself asking, “What is Pinterest,” “Can I use it for my business,” and, “Is it a marketing tool?”

We’ve got all of those answers and more!

Pinterest is a social media site businesses can use to market themselves. It can be described as an online showcase and its name kind of describes what it does – it pins your interests That’s right, we’ve moved on from cork boards and push pins, my friends, to “pinning” online. Pinterest allows us to “pin” our favorite designs, images and ideas to an online bulletin board. You can think about a “re-pin” equivalent to a “like” on Facebook. It allows consumers to give their thumbs up on a product or place.

There are different ways you can use Pinterest:

1. The most obvious way to use Pinterest is to “Showcase your Products.” To best optimize this usage you shouldn’t categorize all of your products on a “product” board. You’ll want to separate them into more specific categories such as: Arts and crafts for kids, craft ideas for moms, Family fun ideas, etc. By doing this, it will be easier for your products to show up in different category searches and will showcase your most popular products.
2. Another way to use Pinterest is to “Highlight your Services.” Not every business has products to sell, but they have a service they can offer. If this is your type of business you too can “Pin” away! Say you are a website designer, you could “pin” a screen shot of some of your best work; or say you own a landscaping company, you can “pin” pictures taken at some of your best sites-gardens, patios, outdoor lounge areas. Doing these things will be sure to grow your business and its image.
3. And last but not least, like any other social media site you want to use it in order to “Engage with your Users.” You want to take time and form relationships with other users and not just get caught up in making sales. The best way to do this is to go out and follow Pinners who share your same interests, competitors or people who have taken their time to re-pin one of your products or service. If you make the first step to follow them, they will most likely follow you back. Another great way to gain interaction is if someone re-pins one of your posts, be sure to go comment and say thank you and immediately engage in conversation by asking them for feedback. When consumers are asked for their opinion, they feel needed.

These are just three ways you can use Pinterest to boost your business within marketing, social media and even sales! Pinterest has grown drastically in the last four months to about 7 million users—so don’t miss out!

Tell us below, do you have and interest for Pinterest? How have you used it creatively?

Have you ever seen a term on Facebook, Twitter, or another social site that you don’t understand? What about a new feature you don’t know how to use?  The social sphere changes at the speed of light, and it has  many of us running to keep up. No need to worry, HubSpot and I are here to help!

As technology and social media changes rapidly, it’s hard to be on the up-and-up 24/7. There are constantly new applications and features, and we’re left wondering how they work and what they mean exactly. Some of us even give up!

Because social media is significant to your business you cannot afford to give up when you don’t understand something new. Some of us may never log on again or wait a couple weeks to log back on to see if things are back to “normal.” Well, there is no “normal” when it comes to social media – right now it’s the Wild, Wild West. My suggestion is to jump on your trusty steed and tackle the changes the moment they occur.

The easiest way around the learning curve is to research the changes and know the terms you are working with; just like any other manual, you need to read it to be able to work the product. The link below gives you the latest 120 words and their definitions, from A to Z, which will help you understand the different social media terms and applications used today.

Happy researching, reading and conquering!

CLICK HERE to read Hubspot’s glossary of 120 social media terms.

Somewhere out there my math teacher is smirking at me. Yes, Mr. Johnson, you’re right; math really does matter in “real life.” And as of late, it seems math matters in social space too!

The algorithm you see in the picture to the left is a portion of the Facebook algorithm named EdgeRank. This complicated math equation is the deciding factor for publishing your posts.

Granted, this is only part of the equation (three variables to be exact) – but I think we should be happy that uber private Facebook allowed us to see any of it!

I’ve taken three classes on the variables Facebook decided to share, and would like to give you more insight on what they mean – and hopefully help your posts get published more often!

This is a new algorithm for Facebook, so if you’re adhering to the old methods take note:

1. Affinity: Grades your relationships and engagement. How many conversations are happening on your page? How many of those conversations are being had by some of the same users (i.e.: Super/Loyal users)? It’s important to set up some sort of KPI that is conversation based so you can start to measure what your conversation metrics are.
2. Weight: Grades the types of posts going out; text, text with link, text with photo and text with video. What types of posts are you putting out?Try to mix it up and put out all different types of posts each week. Photo and video posts have more weight. Using Facebook’s “Questions” will help with your grade/weight.
3. Recency: Grades how often you put posts out. Research says that most “Pages” on Facebook can handle two posts per day. Note that Wednesdays are some of the highest click days – so important posts or question posts should go out on these days. Many clicks and engagement-type responses are recorded after 7pm during the week, so that’s something to consider as well.
4. Another changed variable in the new algorithm is schedulers. If you use a third-party application like HootSuite schedule your posts, you are no loner penalized for doing so. It used to be that if you used one of these sights you’d get “dinged” for using a scheduler and not posting in “real time.”

Essentially Facebook is now requiring companies and brand pages to learn and implement the science behind the social. It’s not enough to put three, text-only posts out a week and engage in zero conversation. And when it comes to Affinity, don’t assume “likes” will help you. “Likes” help weight; they don’t account for relationship building or count as a metric for conversation.

Want to know more about the new EdgeRank algorithm? Shoot me a message, give me a call, or comment below in the comments section!

My name is Judy and I am currently a senior at Penn State University, studying corporate communications. I am working part time as a Social Media Coordinator and I’ll be telling you more specifics on how to use Twitter for your business and how it can help you succeed!

Before we get started I hope you are now using Twitter and have found it to be super easy from our Twitter tutorial from part 1. It is important to remember what we said Twitter can do for your business and who to follow on your business twitter account.

Twitter for business can help in the following areas:

• Marketing
• Lead generation
• Public relations
• Customer service

How to use Twitter for Marketing:

1. Utilize Twitter to bring people to your website. If you tweet about and interesting topic that has recently been placed on your website, you simply mention it and link it back to the website so they can find more information. Twitter is used as, what you might want to call, a “teaser”.
2. Use the “Favorites” feature to provide a list of testimonials. The best way to do this, is if someone tweets/mentions you in a positive light you can choose the “favorite” option and save it—that way when people look at your Twitter profile they can click “Favorites” and see all of the good things people are saying about your company.
3. Use Twitter to promote your company events, blogs and webinars. This is the easiest way to send out an e-vite. If you are hosting a free webinar, you can blast the link out in a tweet and have people sign up. If you use the hashtag that we told you about—for example #socialmediachemistry—it will allow you to spread the word about it and allow people to live tweet about your event as it is happening.

How to use Twitter for Lead Generation:

1. Tweet links to your landing pages. It’s important to always link back to your company’s website when sending out messages. Your landing page is not necessarily your website but a link off of your website focusing on your social media initiatives (i.e. Twitter). Your landing page is important and should be creative to draw in people’s attention.
2. Monitor what others are saying about your industry by using Twitter Search. You want to use Twitter search not only to look up your own company but to see what people are inquiring about your industry; this is a good way to see what customers want and are looking for, a great way for you to move forward and simply give them that.
3. Participate in Twitter chats. By participating in different chats related to your industry, you are getting your company’s name out there and building a good repore with prospective clients, this is crucial to building your lead generation.

How to use Twitter for Public Relations:

1. Develop relationships with reporters and bloggers who write about your industry. A way to do this is to use a blog search and find out who are some of the major bloggers for your specific industry and begin following them on twitter to see what they have to say. Always remember to try and build a relationship with these people before hard-selling your product. Talk about articles that caught your eye or a blog that you appreciated, this will allow you to introduce yourself and start a relationship.
2. Look for tweets about perspective opportunities. Because Twitter is on a constant update of information—it makes a great place to find information for media to add to their stories last minute. It is a good idea if you find something to send the lead to a reporter or blogger, especially if it is about your company.

How to use Twitter for Customer Service:

1. Respond to concerns people tweet about related to your company or products. It is important to keep an open communication line between your business and its customers, and more importantly to do so in a timely manner to when the concern or question is posted. It is important to keep negative and try to work something out with your customer.
2. Use your company Twitter to update customers with temporary issues. Make your customers aware of an online glitch with your website or with your payment options. By being upfront with your customers they will be less likely to be annoyed or frustrated and will stand by while things are trying to be fixed.
3. Be sure to follow everyone back who follows your company. You want to show that you care about your customers and appreciate them following you, and to do so is to follow them back. Briefly look at their description if one is available and see if they are real or a spam—most of the time they will deserve a follow back from you.

Since you’re through the introduction of Twitter, take these steps to expand your social media campaign!

Let us know how your Twitter account is working for you!

I’ve gotten so many mixed reviews about Twitter that I felt it was necessary to lay it all out. No, Twitter is not dead (as famously said by an unnamed traditional marketer who knows not about modern-day marketing). However, Twitter may or may not be for you.

If your demographics support Twitter, then you may seriously want to consider using it. Twitter is like micro-blogging, or mini advertisements – why miss out on an opportunity just because it’s new? You may not know if your center’s demographics support Twitter – I always tell people to try Twitter for 30 days and see how it fits. After 30 days or so, you’ll get a feel for how it may (or may not) work for you.

If you find yourself feeling like our little Twitter friend (see picture to the left) when it comes to getting started, then fear not, this is the blog for you!

First, the basics: Twitter is merely an avenue for your business to send free messages. GASP! Not so scary, huh? You can send these short messages (140 characters or less) out to the masses publicly, to one specific person publicly, specifically or to one specific person privately.

Second, the language:

• Your Twitter username = Your Twitter “handle”
• Following someone (click the “Follow” button) is to subscribe to their updates
• A Follower is someone who follows you back or may just start following you on their own (for instance, a loyal client of yours)
• Your status update = A “Tweet” (this goes in the text box under “What’s Happening”)
• To reply to someone’s tweet, you hit reply, or you can put their handle (@username) as the first thing in your tweet
• Direct Message (DM) is privately sent to the person’s Twitter handle
• Retweet (RT or R/T) means you’re sharing the information that someone else put out – it’s like giving them credit, or citing a source
• Hashtag (#) = is a topic name or label for something (for instance you read about Twitter on #socialmediachemistry)

As for business, Twitter can be used to do the following:

• Promote your business or brand
• Interact with your current customers
• Generate leads for new customers
• Share publicity, PR, or articles pertaining to your brand or brand’s industry
• Create interest in upcoming events

Who you should follow:

• Industry partners
• Vendors
• Companies or Individuals you have done business with
• Community staples; Local Chamber, schools, groups, organizations, associations
• Any other person or company you’ve done business with or WANT to do business with

Hopefully now that you know a little more about Twitter, you’ll feel a little more comfortable signing up for an account. You’re not going to hurt anything by signing up and taking a look around. See what’s going on, who’s out there –and more importantly– who’s out there from your community. You don’t have to post any tweets; this is the exploratory phase.

Take a deep breath and go see what’s out there before you make any snap judgements. In Part Two we’ll get into more specifics about companies on Twitter and their success stories.

GOOD LUCK!

Google+ has been running through the rumor mill more often than a hamster on a wheel. Will it work? Who’s using it? Will it beat out the fan favorite Facebook? Early reports had the Giant G going in for the kill, with more people signing up to use it than Facebook could boast in the beginning.

But the bigger they are, the harder they fall. A few short weeks ago another report came out saying nearly 60% of Google+ users had already deserted the site in favor of the old-time flames, like Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps social site users are getting tired of all of the new and sticking with what they know?

Another criticism Google+ has always faced was not offering up business or brand pages for companies to use. In a twist (and more than likely to answer their falling numbers) Google has announced that pseudonyms will be coming … soon.  When exactly? Google hasn’t been specific.

Alternatively, Facebook has been doing a few updates of their own. Google+ once boasted about not being keen on “over sharing” and suddenly Facebook has features like “subscribe” and lets you choose who sees your posts. Sounds similar to Google+’s Circles – but we knew Zuckerberg wouldn’t allow intruders in kindly. We’ll continue to see changes with Facebook to keep Fans engaged, to keep relevant, and to keep the competition at bay.

So what does all of this mean, you ask? Should we all start beefing up on our Google+ skills? In my humble opinion, the answer is no. I’m going to sit here on the fence, where I’ve been all along, and wait this one out. Sure, I have a Google+ account, and yes, I read every article that comes about about the newest social media platforms. But, like everyone else, my time is limited and valuable. In my mind, it’s better to sit on the fence and save your energy (unlike the hamster on the wheel).

I know many of you disagree with me – and that’s more than okay! I’d love to hear your agreements AND disagreements in the comments section below.