secret sauce #227: it's ok to be wrong, it's rare anyone gets it right all the time.
Posted: January 11th, 2012 | Filed under: just tips, marketing, social media | |
The latest talk-of-the-town social networking site is Pinterest (latest stats is 31 million visitors per month). Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. It is very visual and simple to use. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. Social discovery just got a lot funner.
People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes. More importantly, I’m hearing from bloggers that Pinterest is driving more traffic to their blogs than Twitter and Facebook.
Here are three tips on getting started with Pinterest for your business:
1. Organization is key. After you create your Pinterest account, you can start creating your own board(s). Divide your boards into topics that are relevant to your brand, rather than just pinning your products onto a board. Curate pins that tell the story of your brand. Equally important is to categorize your board (e.g. Design, Women’s apparel etc) so users can discover it. Some of the brands that are doing great job on these two fronts are Kate Spade New York and West Elm. There are brands that are even leveraging Pinterest for contests, such as Lands’ End Canvas Holiday Pin It To Win It Contest.
2. Making the sale. When you are pinning your own products, you can specify the product URL so it takes the users straight to your site. Also, use the $ sign in description to list the product price. When you do that, Pinterest will automatically put that pin into the Gifts category, which will further promote your pin/product.
3. Connecting your site. You can add your site, Twitter and Facebook account to your Pinterest profile. Back at your own site, you can either add the Pinterest follow button so users can follow your Pinterest account, or add the “Pin it” Button(s) next to your product(s) to allow your cusomters to “Pin” your products onto Pinterest. To get the buttons for your site, head to Pinterest’s goodies section.
Have fun pinning!
Posted: October 26th, 2009 | Filed under: just tips, social media | Tags: KnowEm, social media presence management tool, tip |
For business owners, the days are filled with endless to-dos. There’s barely enough time to eat. It’s nice to have simple ways to get things done, especially when it comes to managing your online social media presence.
I recommend checking out a new online tool called KnowEm. KnowEm lets you check your brand/product name on 340 social media sites to see if anyone has claimed the name. This is helpful because:
1. it’s time-consuming (and painful!) to go to 340 sites
2. you can register your brand name straight from the site
Your customers know you by your brand name. That is why it’s important to have your business identity be consistent across the different social media sites you focus on. It’s also a bit like website domain name grabbing where early birds get the worm. If you think your brand name may be popular, please check this site out soon, you wouldn’t want someone else taking your brand identity and misbehaving on social media channels.
KnowEm also has a few other fee-based services that can further simplify things:
Individual Plan ($99)
Signup initiation only (not full profiles) on 150 social media websites.
Business Plan ($349)
Complete Signup of all profile info: photos, bio, URL and description on 150 social media websites.
Enterprise Plan ($649)
Complete Signup of all profile info: photos, bio, URL and description on 300 social media websites. Same as above, but for 300 sites!
Brand Protection Program ($49)
Continue to protect your brand or username on up to 30 new and emerging social media networks every month.
If you are just starting your social media journey for your business, KnowEm is definitely worth a visit.
Posted: October 5th, 2009 | Filed under: fail, just tips, marketing | Tags: email campaigns, emails, fail, opt-in lists |
Economy is shaky, people are spending less, businesses are turning up a notch on their marketing efforts to drive sales. Makes sense. Some of the brands I purchased from before (most noticeably Victoria’s Secret and Endless – I’m looking at you) thought a daily email with different deals is one way of driving sales. Send me enough deals and surely I will take the bait eventually, right? Wrong.
The daily email deals are annoying after one week, then feels like spam after a few weeks, then it becomes unbearable – I went and unsubscribed from the brands. Now I won’t be notified of future deals, which is opportunities lost for these brands.
Just because email is free doesn’t mean you should contact your opt-in subscribers list every day (unless your business model IS about daily deals like Groupon). Bombarding your list constantly with emails will come off as spammy, downgrade your brand experience for your customers and could cost you your businesses.
Posted: September 26th, 2009 | Filed under: just tips | Tags: names, networking, tips |
You try to remember peoples names, even made a conscious effort to do it. And sometimes, you can’t help it, in a moment of need, you draw a blank. Here is what Gretchen Rubin suggests:
1. The “I know your name, but I’m blocked” dodge:
“I keep wanting to call you “David,” but I know that’s not right.”
2. The “Of course I know you — in fact, I want all your information” dodge:
“Hey, I’d love to get your card.”
3. The “The tip of my tongue” dodge:
“I know I know your name, but I’m blanking right now.”
4. The “You’re brilliant!” dodge:
“Wow, you have a terrific memory. I can’t believe you remember my name from that meeting six months ago. I can’t remember the names of people I met yesterday! So of course I have to ask you your name.”
5. The “Sure, I remember you” dodge:
“Remind me – what’s your last name?” If you ask a person for his last name, he’s likely to repeat both names. “Doe, John Doe.”
6. The “One-sided introduction” dodge:
“Hey,” you say to the person whose name you can’t remember, “let me introduce you to Pat Smith.” You introduce the two and say the name of the person whose name you remember. Almost always, the nameless person will volunteer his or her name.
Very useful tips, any other suggestions?
