Posts Tagged ‘pinterest’

5 More Online Advertising Predictions for 2013

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

online advertising predictionsWe may have already made a few predictions for online advertising in 2013, focusing on larger trends that we’ll see this year. We’ve also tried to use our crystal ball on mobile marketing and shared Imforza’s SEO predictions. But this is going to be a big year for online marketing, so it’s not unreasonable to expect that we have a few more hypotheses for the industry this year. So, here are five more predictions for the future of online advertising:

1. Product Listing Ads (PLA’s) will gain popularity

In 2013, e-commerce will rise exponentially and be utilized by all demographics. Therefore, companies need to break through the clutter and rise above their competitors to draw consumers directly to their products/services. At this point, lots of retailers are using PPC, but less are using PLA’s.

Product Listing Ads (PLA’s) are similar to pay per click advertising (PPC). Instead of featuring a text-based ad for your product on a search results page, a picture linking to a product page will be listed on search engines. Once a consumer searches your product or select keywords, the product will appear with the name, photo, price, store name, and most importantly a landing page. PLA’s will get more expensive and competitive, so get in there while you can!

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How to Optimize Your Website for Pinterest

Friday, January 4th, 2013

Let me start out this post by presenting you with a few facts: Pinterest is one of, if not the, fastest growing social network ever. Shareholic found that it’s the 4th largest traffic driver worldwide, even beating out Yahoo organic traffic. It also drives more revenue per click than any other social network.

Now that I’ve gotten your attention, are you thinking about how you can harness the power of this giant social network? You should be.

Some marketers and internet users once wrote Pinterest off as a place for crafters, bakers, and brides-to-be, but that’s no longer true. All sorts of brands, from The Weather Channel to Major League Baseball, are on Pinterest now, reaping the benefits.

Any retail or e-commerce brand, especially, has no excuse not to be working Pinterest into their marketing strategy. But having a Pinterest account is only one element of a strong Pinterest presence.

Businesses also need to make sure that their websites are optimized for pinning. Users can pin images themselves from any URL, either through the Pinterest website itself, or any of the network’s apps, bookmarklets, or plugins. If you have interesting pictures on your website (which you should), you need to recognize that some visitors may want to share them. Make it easy for them to do so.

To get started with optimizing your website for Pinterest, make sure that images are able to be pinned, add “Pin It” buttons to your most “pinnable” pictures, and add prices to product pins. These steps are the first ones to a more “Pinteresting” website.

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Content Curation as a Social Media Filter

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

As soon as a wake up in the morning I unlock my iPhone to find 4 Facebook notifications, 7 emails from LivingSocial, 2 LinkedIn updates, 10 Foursquare notifications and 3 Twitter mentions. This doesn’t even include regular text messages.

The amount of information delivered to us from social media is growing rapidly and it’s becoming difficult to distinguish what’s a Facebook comment from an old friend and what’s a meaningless advertisement on LinkedIn.

With the ever-expanding presence of social media, smart consumers are finding ways to filter out information that’s worthless to them, and creating tools to organize the information that matters. These filters make it more important for businesses to assert their brands in a way that consumers won’t tune them out.

Content curation is one way thought leaders are emerging as a critical filter. Curation is the act of individuals with a passion for a content area to find, contextualize, and organize information. Curators provide a consistent update regarding what’s interesting, happening, and cool in their focus.

When brands find a way to act as content curators for their consumers, adding meaning or value to their daily lives, they are truly engaging brand loyalty. For example, “Eat This Not That”  shares exercise and eating habit tips on its Facebook page daily, engaging thousands of consumers.

It is important for brands to recognize the “to-do” list for their audience. For example, clothing brand Free People found that the music festival Coachella was an important event for their customers, so they made a how-to video on DIY body paint for the trendy festival decoration. This shows how closely Free People was listening to its customers. A key aspect of content curation is listening to the web and pulling out breaking news, trends, wisdom and inspiration related to your audience.

Pinterest, the fastest growing web service, creates tools to organize information, which can work well for brands also. Whole Foods Market’s Pinterest profile has over 11 thousand followers. It frequently re-pins other users’ pins, reflecting the interests of its followers and embracing the social-sharing aspect of Pinterest. A less obvious brand on Pinterest is General Electric, which features inspirational pins, “badass machines” and other boards that bring GE to life.

Some important questions to ask yourself when utilizing social media are:

  • Is this content worthy of a share?
  • Will this content add value to my consumer’s life?
  • Is this content unique from the other million posts out there?
By Stephanie Wight

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3 Ways to Interact on Pinterest

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

A social media revolution seems to be happening all around us. But as companies are rushing to embrace social media, they frequently lose focus. Everyone says that your business needs to utilize social media more, but how many people tell you how? This post is part of a series on different ways you can use social media to interact with your customers.

Pinterest is a social network of virtual bulletin boards where users can organize images and videos from across the web into collections, called pin boards. While some still believe it to be a place for DIY-ers and brides-to-be, brands are finally showing up and doing a lot with it.

1. Show who you are. – Show your followers who they are following and could possibly do business with sometime. There are endless ways to do this. One idea is to pin pictures of your team, as we have done. This is a great idea for businesses that may not always interact with their customers face-to-face, as it matches a face to a name and/or voice.

You can also pin pictures of your work environment, especially if it’s unique! Lastly, pin pictures and videos that convey the mood or atmosphere of your company. For example, pranks are a big part of the eZanga culture. We have created a board to pin pictures and videos of pranks we have played in the office as well as “prankspiration” for the future.

2. Pin what you do. – While obviously you should be pinning focused content related to your niche, don’t stop there. You are a part of an entire industry, and both you and your followers need to be informed about it. Pinterest is great for learning since so many of us are visual learners. You’ll be surprised at how much information you can learn from the infographicsthat are pinned.

You can also post pictures and videos of your own products as long as you balance out the self-promotion with other content.  Pinterest even has a price feature, where if you type a currency symbol with an amount into the pin’s description, and it will add a price “flag” to the image (click for example) as well as list it in the “Gifts” section of the site. Supplement promotional pins with pins of related products, useful tips for your product, etc.

3. Involve your followers. – As always, people need a reason to follow you, so give them one. The reason can be anything from exclusive discounts and coupons to witty comments. Different ways to involve your followers include offering discounts and holding contests, crowdsourcing boards to allow followers to contribute pins, and offering commentary on what your followers pin, either through repinning or commenting.

For more ideas and inspiration, follow eZanga on Pinterest!

Other posts in this series:

By Brittany Berger

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