Not familiar with Pinterest? Start here with the Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest: http://on.mash.to/xOIp1Y
HGTV curates multiple boards to inspire, engage and interact with their fans. Read about 6 ways that brands can rock Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ynmQ0R
Still need convincing that you need to be monitoring Pinterest’s growth? Site visits to Pinterest increased over 4000% in last six months: http://tnw.co/AnJYwc
Pinterest’s designer and co-founder shares his secrets on designing such an addictive platform: http://on.mash.to/AA1vhQ
Optimize your pins! Pinterest link building and SEO strategies: http://bit.ly/xZcGv8
Know your audience- Hear what these power-users had to say about why they use Pinterest. More than 55% of Pinterest users are women, so it’s not surprising that the power-users interviewed here are all women: http://bit.ly/xsjbsz
Guys feeling left out? Here’s a guide just for you- Guy’s Guide to Pinterest: http://rww.to/x8Aesb
In this four-part series I will share real business challenges we encounter in the organizations we work with and suggest how you might look at your business, staff and marketing endeavors differently with the goal of creating a more realistic and effective 2012.
REALITY 2 – Invest in Human Resources
It sounds so trite, so simple, but sadly education for our staff is often overlooked or the first thing cut in the jockeying for budget dollars. But let me ask you this: How many of your people are now expected to manage projects and have never attended a project management course? How many of your stellar producers were promoted to management positions without also receiving management courses or even a mentor? Producing and managing are two very different skill sets and require a combination of both education and hands-on experience. The critical mistake we see when we go into organizations is that the powers that be assume “on-the-job training” is the same as education. It is not.
TIP: Consider offering to pay for a project management course at the local community college for anybody in a management position. Really, what do you have to lose? About $20/per person.
If you are monitoring various social media to catch conversations relevant to your brand, clients or hobby, you have probably set up some standing searches that deliver results to you via RSS or email (e.g. Google Alerts). You may also think that once these searches are set up and running, your hard work is done.
However, given the rapid rate at which the social media landscape is changing, how quickly privacy policies evolve at various properties and the rise and fall of the fortunes of any given social media outlet, I advise you to revisit your search sources regularly to make sure they continue to function as you expect.
Here at Mambo Media, we found that listening at some of our favorite properties changed dramatically last year. For example, Bloglines was acquired by MerchantCircle and significantly changed the methods by which searches of their blog index are conducted and output; Google rate-limited its search outputs, requiring some fancy workarounds to collect results into an external database; and Technorati set up an account login hurdle. Had I not visited the native search pages and manually checked for good output, I would not have realized how much we were missing in our listening.
Some of these changes are easy to overcome with a small reconfiguration of the search but some are insurmountable unless you buy expensive API access. Most are somewhere in between, requiring creating an account or funneling your search through some clean-up app.
The fundamental lesson though is to consistently monitor your sources to be sure they are still delivering quality output. Otherwise, you may be missing an important piece of the social media conversation.
If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, I hesitate to send you there because it’s visually addictive eye candy for the soul. Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that allows users to organize and share images, and Pinterest’s mission is to connect people all over the world based on their shared tastes and interests.
The reason I describe Pinterest as “for the soul” is because being able to easily share visual experiences we find online is a form of self-expression, and that means its users are keenly engaged (and often obsessed).
TIP 1: Do you belong on Pinterest?
Does Pinterest make sense as a social channel to promote your products? Here are a few questions to help you decide:
- Is your product (or service) visually appealing?
- If not, could you create some infographics related to your industry?
- Are there groups of people who are enthusiastic about your category or product?
TIP 2: What to include on your Pinterest brand page
Pinterest is not just about promoting your product. In fact, “Pin Etiquette” specifically asks that you not use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion. So, what should you include?
- Images that link to your website or blog
- Whether they’re images of your product or not, people who click on them will increase traffic to your property and improve your search engine ranking
- Be sure to use your SEO keywords in your product description, including location keywords when relevant
- Also add the product price in the description, so users can sort gifts by price
- Include images of what can be done with your products. If you sell food, add recipes made with your products. If you sell shoes, show them in action!
- If you offer coupons, add them to your Pinterest page
- Add the “Pin It” button to product pages on your website
- Other visually thrilling (yet relevant) images
- Do you think your audience would be interested in an image? Pin it!
- Liking and commenting on other images in your category builds your thought leadership and shows that you’re not only interested in self-promotion
- Follow Pinterest social influencers in your category; as on Twitter, they just may follow you back!
- I would define social influencers as people whose images are being pinned and receiving comments. They’re also active in pinning and commenting on other images.
TIP 3: Trend-watching
It’s no longer enough to know what’s hot; we need to know what the next hot trends will be.
- Which images in your category are being pinned or liked? Are there comments that might spark new ideas in your mind?
- Click the “Popular” button and learn which top images people are pinning
- Pinterest can also be used for crowdsourcing. On your other social channels, such as Facebook or Twitter, invite your fans to pin their favorite product (or better, ask them to help name a new product in the comments).
Pinterest is about enjoying creativity. But it also holds opportunity for creative businesses, from SEO to trend-watching. Give Pinterest a spin, but don’t blame me if you get no work done today!
Now in its fourth year, PSU’s Digital Marketing Conference on December 11-12 will connect marketing professionals, students and businesses with new ideas, technologies and business opportunities. Get inspired and learn how large and small businesses alike are driving success with top level digital marketing and social media strategies.
Here’s what we’ll be able to do at this year’s DMC:
- Gain valuable digital marketing tips from the pros, and dive into their case studies
- Hear from over 35 award-winning digital strategists, authors, online content designers, and social media experts, including nationally recognized keynotes
- Gain a 360 degree perspective of digital marketing, and try it out at the interactive boot camp sessions
- Network with top innovators in digital marketing and hang with Portland’s top creative agencies at the Sunday kick-off event
- Stop fussing over all of the tools and learn how to use what is right for your company
- Get great statistics to help you explain why digital marketing is important to your boss!
- Hear about big impacts to local companies who have implemented digital marketing strategies in their traditional businesses
- Learn about the winning strategies and best practices that will modernize planning and immediately impact the execution of marketing programs in the future
- Learn how to incorporate high level digital marketing tactics in 2012 and dramatically increase ROI
- Enjoy another killer Ignite lineup at the DMC! Topics will include:
- leadership and careers
- building engagement
- how to deal with a crisis
- fundraising
- being authentic in a transparent world
- outreach
- finding your audience
- how to curb costs with online tools
- healthcare
- organizing social media for large institutions
- education
- animal care
- staff training made easy
- the power of story to help your brand
- overcoming technology barriers
- food
- finding the ROI in digital marketing
- consumer behavior
- how to get noticed
- best practices in mobile
- and more!
If you haven’t registered for the DMC yet, use the code groupdmc11 through tomorrow (12/9) for a discounted rate. We hope to see you there!
 We’d like to thank Tom Bennett for his guest blog post! Tom will be a keynote speaker at the Portland State University Digital Marketing Conference on December 11th and 12th.
The Connected Company – from Culture to Marketing Success
Customers are connected and they are communicating. A connected consumer has a greater number of choices (what and where to buy, from whom) and has a greater voice in the marketing conversation (what’s great, what’s not, what sucks, who’s evil) than ever before. This trend is continuing and customer power will only increase from where it is today.
Companies will need to be able to
- Respond to more complex and escalating customer desires (and demands)
- Adapt quickly to changes in customer choices and preferences
- Find ways to align customers, partners and communities with the company (or vice versa)
The only way to address a connected customer base is with a connected company, because connected customers move and change too fast for traditional companies to keep up. A traditional hierarchical company can’t operate at the pace of conversation.
Customers and employees need to be able to navigate a company from within too. To find what they need when they need it, and also to find things they didn’t know they were looking for.
Consider this in a fractal manner: every person and every team needs to understand the company’s business as a whole, and maybe even operate as an independent business or service within that company, in order to provide maximum value in this new economy.
Any company that needs to market in the social space needs to also understand these basic tenets
Are you:____?
- Able to express your collective culture internally and publicly?
- Adaptable/Flexible (able to make the best of emergent opportunities)?
- Focused on making connections, both internally and externally, as a natural aspect of its culture?
- Able to articulate business value, both as a function of what it sells, and its people within?
- Able to respect connection and collaboration as much as traditional ‘output’ that can be sold?
Social Activity at DMC-PDX
Come to the DMC-PDX this Sunday Dec 11, where I will lead the audience through an engaging interactive social exercise from our core methodology- Gamestorming, in which everyone will participate in building a rapid social network within the room. This will help illustrate some of the tenets presented, and provide a gathering, collaborative social experience to kick off a highly interactive learning opportunity at the conference. This is analog, human and energetic. We hope to see you there.
Tom Bennett
Tom is a Consultant at Dachis Group | XPLANE, leading client adoption and utilization of social and collaborative technologies. As part of Dachis Group’s Thought Leadership Council, he publishes and speaks regularly on the ‘Connected Company’ at Fortune 500 enterprise events. He is also spearheading social enterprise initiatives for priority accounts nationally.
For two days the city of Portland, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and country music listeners will join together to help support young Doernbecher patients and their families. Each year The Wolf 99.5 Country radio lends its airwaves to a two-day radio-thon on December 8 and 9 showcasing the amazing work performed by Doernbecher’s pediatric experts – and featuring live broadcasts from the hospital.
In the spirit of the season, please consider a donation to our campaign. Your contribution will help bring hope and healing to sick children and their families during a very challenging time.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
To donate, visit: http://bit.ly/s2gN11. Your tax-deductible contribution will give the “gift of Doernbecher” to those who need it most. 
Mambo is proud to assist both OHSU and Wolf 99.5 in this charitable undertaking with a multi-channel social media program. Here are the many ways you can get involved:
INTERNET RADIO
Please tune in, or stream at: http://www.thewolfonline.com/
FACEBOOK
During the live broadcast 99.5 The Wolf and the Doernbecher team will be posting live on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/wolfportland or http://www.facebook.com/doernbecher
TWITTER
If you prefer Twitter, follow Doernbecher at @OHSUDoernbecher or the hashtag #huntforacure to get real-time updates of how your donation can improve the health and well being of Oregon’s children.
Strategy
There is an astonishing array of tools available for businesses of all sizes, with prices ranging from free to thousands of dollars per month. It is essential to have a listening strategy in place before throwing resources towards an expensive system which, without proper optimization, could potentially produce a deluge of data and result in analysis paralysis. Strategic objectives need to be evaluated and clarified to guide your business through the process of selecting a listening system that will meet your business needs and goals.
 Channels
Many listening systems limit their monitoring solutions to specific channels. Almost all listening systems monitor Facebook and Twitter, but as niche networks such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram increase in popularity[1], marketers will have to make sure their tools are listening to the channels where customer conversations are taking place. As the digital landscape continues to shift and evolve, it is essential to have a tool that is capable of dynamically adapting to these changes.
 Number of Results
Certain listening systems limit the number of returns for keywords or phrases. Depending on the strategic goals for your listening strategy this may not be an issue, but large organizations and brands will need to consider whether or not they will exceed this limit as well as whether the manpower is available to effectively monitor, analyze, and respond.
 Reporting/User Interface
Listening systems range from complex, sophisticated front-end systems that will require in-depth training to setup, optimize and evaluate to graphically informative and intuitive decision-making dashboards. It is important to balance usability with high-quality results. While some of the systems produce stunning reports, it’s all just bells and whistles if the information is not actionable. [1] http://mashable.com/2011/11/27/niche-social-marketing/
Will Design for Mobile Soon Be More Important than Design for Desktop Environments?
In 2010, Mary Meeker of Morgan-Stanley predicted that mobile web would outpace desktop web in five years[1]. Gartner’s recent prediction takes it a step further, stating that it will happen by 2013[2]. Currently, mobile design is an afterthought: design a fancy desktop experience, eliminate a few elements that interfere with mobile experiences and voila! This approach doesn’t take into account mobile users’ real need: a mainline to topical, useful information so they can put their phone back in their pocket and get on with their day. Mobile users are transaction-driven. They aren’t typically interested in browsing or searching too long for their answers. In other words, what your mobile site needs to contain is contextual and topical content tailored to the user’s specific location, patterns and connections.
 Consider the typical Wells Fargo bank user, freshly in San Francisco and in need of an ATM. Wells Fargo’s desktop experience would be a nightmare on a smartPhone. Long columns of tightly-packed links, the ATM search box buried near the bottom, and a landscaped format that causes all content to wrap all combine to create a frustrating experience for someone standing on a street corner relying on their spotty 3G or 4G connection.
 The iPhone version, however, has text-based links (quick load time) with the information most relevant to a mobile user (grouped by a hierarchy that was probably established through extensive user-testing). Clicking the ‘find ATMs’ button takes you to a page that searches by current location or by specific ZIP. Even on a 3G connection it takes seconds to connect.
What does this mean for design?
Web designers will have to adapt to this new shift in focus with appropriate changes in their design. The following are the top aesthetic changes the mobile revolution will bring about:
- More minimalist designs with an emphasis on content hierarchy
As I told a class I taught on web typography in 2009, content is king. It is our job as designers to present that content in an approachable and pleasing way, but we should never forget we are there to make the content pleasing. I have always attributed it more to apparel design than graphic design: you don’t try to make the dress look good on every woman, you try to make every woman look good wearing the dress!
- More variable (vs. fixed-width) design
Variable CSS styles (ems and percentages) calculate the size relative to the browser. Because of this, they are superior to fixed-width styles that are born from pixel-perfect design comps in many ways. They can be leveraged for a variety of desktop resolutions as well as work as a stand-in until your client gets around to revisioning their mobile experience.
- Full embrace of HTML, CSS3, and jQuery over Flash
Well before Steve Jobs admitted it out loud, Flash was getting slowly shoved out of the limelight. As I’ve stated before, it was great for what it was made for, but current technologies have come into their own and provide the same experience to a broader audience for a fraction of the development time.
- The illusion of depth created with CSS3 and parallax scrolling
As CSS developers begin to play with the tools that CSS3 has to offer they will create new and more sophisticated uses of such features as rounded corners and dropshadows, the canvas feature, @font-face and parallax scrolling (a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol.[1][2] )
Mobile users are all-too-happy to hand out personal information in exchange for convenience. Mobile sites provide a perfect way to make the exchange of their almost-certain leads for your content, but you have to understand how to tailor content to your audience.
Yes, we take exceptional and well-endowed clients who are willing to change if change will be productive.
Yes, we can do that if you can pay for it.
Yes, we can crack that exceptionally tough market if you’re willing to fund our research and efforts.
Yes, we have principles that will not bend.
Yes, I can probably arrange lunch with you sometime in 2013.
Yes, we will hold you to the highest standard, just as you should hold us to that standard.
Yes, we are super-focused and we’ll expect you to maintain your focus too.
Click here to read Seth Godin’s “No.”
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