Tag Archive for: Facebook

Newport Interactive Marketing

Spend Wisely: Big-Brand Insights to Move YOUR Needle

June 2019

As we enter the 2020s, it is now undeniable that digital marketing and social media are going to be at the forefront of business. Actually, that’s already the case, and if you’re not already optimizing your digital marketing strategies, then that means you are getting left behind.

 

But it’s not too late!

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NIM’s panel of marketing experts are here to demystify the social media age and help you understand how to take advantage of digital marketing and SEO to make your business more successful.

 At this NIMRI event, you will learn about:

  • Current successful digital and social strategies, and what to focus on going into 2020
  • How big brands apply the fundamentals – which affordable tools can inform personas and solve customer problems
  • Affordable tools and achievable tactics
  • Overlooked opportunities
  • The power of Facebook and ads and local SEO
  • Utilizing influencers – what lessons can we learn about connection and messaging?
  • And, of course, get your answers!

Top experts are here to answer your questions and provide New Media insights – and since it is always evolving, there is always more to learn! Join #NIMRI at Spend Wisely: Big-Brand Insights to Move YOUR Needle on June 20th from 6-8 PM at Innovate Newport, the former Sheffield School on Broadway is open!

 

 

Meet Ronni Kenoian

Ronni Kenoian is the marketing manager for leading travel insurance comparison site InsureMyTrip. She oversees the digital marketing of the InsureMyTrip brand, including consumer insights, content strategy, paid search/social advertising, social outreach, and earned media strategy. She also has been intimately involved in a number of new product ideas and development efforts and has been closely aligned with customer needs. Given the demonstrated power of big data, Ronni also leverages the company’s current capabilities to help reinforce the brand. Ronni believes merging creative and technology into cross-functional teams and roles is essential to better executing a winning marketing strategy with long-lasting results.

 

Meet Kevin Vine

Kevin Vine is a digital marketing strategist and he is currently Director of Marketing for Level Ex, a start-up that creates mobile, AR and VR games for physician training using state-of-the-art video game technology and cognitive neuroscience. Previously, he was head of Customer Experience at Collette Tours, and prior to that he led the web, social and mobile teams at Dunkin’ Brands. His experience also extends to consumer insights, content strategy, communications development and, of course, he is always keeping his fingers on the pulse of new and emerging trends and platforms. 

 

 

 

Meet Ana Raynes

Ana Raynes is a thought-leader in the fields of social media and content marketing. Her creative mind led her to study at the London College of Fashion, after which she co-founded the Internet fashion startup Smart is Cool. Raynes has been a motivational speaker as well as an expert in e-marketing, including social media, content marketing, and information technology. She is currently the Vice President of Content Marketing at Didit. She oversees the content marketing needs of agencies and clients across multiple platforms. Raynes also does strategic planning, business development, and strategic growth for social media and SEO. She maintains relationships with bloggers and influencers to keep up with current trends, and to help with her own campaigns.

 

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Newport Interactive Marketing

Web marketing specialists welcome traditional marketers, small businesses, and beyond for quality education and great networking … right here in Newport!

 Newport Interactive Marketing is

sponsored by Angles & Insights & Designated Editor

Eric Covino, CEO at boutique digital marketing, brings his experience to help others understand the advantages of Facebook advertising.

Facebook Advertising Secrets: From Start to Success

Advertising on Facebook is crucial and affordable for even the smallest of brands. Why?

  1. Extreme targeting lets you narrow down to only the folks who are most likely to buy: think parents of tweens in 25 miles of you with incomes of $100K or more with an interest in sailing.
  2. Your regular (organic) posts are simply a waste of time.
  3. The average cost of a Facebook ad click is $.64 while Google AdWords costs $1-$2 per click on average.
  4. Even if you have NO budget at all, you can use Facebook’s ad platform for audience research.

So don’t miss out on Eric Covino’s in-depth know-how. Whether you’re new to Facebook ads or looking to improve your game, you won’t want to miss this Newport Interactive Marketers exclusive.

This in-depth talk is designed to break down Facebook ads to its most fundamental level to help maximize your use of the platform and ensure your success:

  • Targeting mistakes to avoid
  • How to get started with tracking leads and conversions
  • Split testing pitfalls
  • Much more!

Whether you already have a Facebook page and are looking to enhance it, or you’re completely new to Facebook, Eric Covino is sure to have the answers to your questions!

Meet Eric Covino

Eric Covino, CEO at boutique digital marketing, brings his experience to help others understand the advantages of Facebook advertising.
Entrepreneur and CEO at boutique digital marketing agency Creative Signals, Eric brings nearly a decade of digital marketing experience, working with some of the biggest names in travel, education, and e-commerce. When Eric isn’t working on super-secret internal projects, he enjoys spending time with his family.

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

 

Travel Bloggers’ Secrets You Can Use: Part 2

 

As promised here is Part 2 of our “Travel Blogger’s Secrets You Can Use” blog post! If you missed Part 1 be sure to click here and check out all the amazing blogging tips we covered in last week’s post. This week we’re talking about the best marketing, monetizing, and travel tips our lovely panelists, Tamara Gruber of We3Travel, Lillie Marshall of Around the World “L”, and Priscilla Pilon of The Weekend in Paris, shared at our August #NIMRI event. So let’s get started!

Top 8 Marketing/Monetizing Tips

1. Soliciting Sponsors: The emphasis should always be on the content you’re creating. “Write it, and they will come,” said Priscilla sagely, “Produce high-quality content, and they will come.”

The Work With Me Section of the We3Travel Website

The Official “Work with Me” section of We3Travel’s About Page

2. Doing Business With Brands: There are a few ways a blogger can work with a brand: being contacted by people to place ads, contacting people to place ads, sponsored posts, or, if you’re lucky, a sponsored trip.“If I work with a brand or do a sponsored post, it has to be something I believe in. Once your audience doesn’t believe you, you’re done,” Priscilla warned.

“Native Advertising, which is when you have content that is already successful and then work with advertisers who would complement that content, can work very well,” said Lillie.

3. Navigating Negativity: It can be very difficult to figure out what to do when you have a bad experience as a blogger, particularly if the trip is a sponsored one. It is especially tricky because, depending on the country’s laws, you could potentially be sued for a negative review. “Contact the PR people and be sure to start with the positive things and then talk about the disappointments,” advised Priscilla, “I always give them a chance to fix it. If they do, I won’t write a bad review. If they don’t, I will offer to not write about it.”

“Steer away from negative content, even though it can be very effective. Everyone gets fired up over a bad review and they like to share it, but it doesn’t reflect very well on you and can get you into trouble,” offered Lillie.

4. Create a Community: “Facebook has become a pay-to-play platform. You can pay $5 to promote a post (and I do that sometimes), but you won’t see a big difference in your analytics. What’s really powerful is to form alliances and private Facebook groups, not just with other travel bloggers. People who like wine, food, lifestyle, even interior design share readers. The cross-pollenization that happens helps everyone grow,” Priscilla said.

5. Know Your Worth: “It depends on your reach and your demographic,” reasoned Tamara, “I have a group of travel blogger friends, and we share that information.”

“This is why you need the group mentality!” proclaimed Priscilla, “Building your blogging network is key. Whatever you do, don’t write a post for someone for free – it brings the rate for everyone down to $0. You’re time is worth something.

“I would argue that there is a value in giving content to high-traffic sites, so it can be OK to do something like that for free as long as there is some ROI. It’s a value to your resume,” Lillie said.

One of We3Travel's Pinterest boards

We3Travel on Pinterest © Photos by Tamara Gruber

6. A Photo’s Worth a Thousand Shares (nope, still not right): “For me, Pinterest is very important. It drives traffic to my site, often more than google,” Tamara shared.

“Be sure to link all of your photos: photos on Google and Pinterest should link to your website and have descriptions,” Priscilla said.

“Selling your photos can also be another source of income,” Lillie pointed out.

The Newport Interactive Marketers' Hootsuite dashboard

Here’s a look at the Newport Interactive Marketers’ Hootsuite dashboard

7. Tally Your Toolbox:  “Don’t be afraid to automate! Hootsuite can schedule your posts at the best time for your demographic. You could write the best blog post ever, but if no one ever reads it, it won’t matter,” explained Lillie. To find out when the ideal time for your demographic is, be sure to check out Tweepi. 

“The Tail Wind app is great for automating Pinterest,” shared Tamara, “Paying a little for the right tools can be worth it.”

Google trends is an invaluable SEO tool,” said Priscilla, “In WordPress there is a feature where you can try a bunch of different options and put them in Google Trends to see where you are in searches.”

Snapchat logo

Snapchat! If you want to learn more about using Snapchat as a blogger, check out AdventurousKate

8. Socialize, Socialize, Socialize (your media, that is):  “Learn and get busy on all social media sites and thank everyone who follows (NOT by direct message),” Priscilla advised.

“The biggest mistake people make is to just stop for an extended period of time on social media,” Lille said, “Be consistent and don’t be afraid to self promote!

“Snapchat is the newest thing people must be on, although it does appeal to a younger demographic,” said Tamara, “Its important to know who your audience is and where to find them.”

 

Top 3 Travel Tips

“Use Trivago or another trip-cost comparison site to look for the lowest fare. Then, take a screenshot and call the hotel. They will always match it, and it’s always better to book through the hotel because they tend to have a better cancellation policy and you also will be eligible for upgrades,” advised Priscilla.

“Tuesday is the best day to book airlines usually,” shared Tamara.

“People would pay a lot of money to stay in your home in beautiful Newport so rent it out on Airbnb to get money for travel and also find places to stay in yourself!” Lillie suggested.

All-Time Favorite Hotel

The Phoenix Resort in Belize

Balcony view from the Phoenix Resort in Belize © Photo by Lillie Marshall

Lillie’s Pick: The Phoenix in Belize “No better place for a babymoon!” 

 Kona Village Resort in Hawaii at Sunrise

The now closed Kona Village Resort in Hawaii © Photo by Tamara Grub

Tamara’s Pick: Kona Village Resort in Hawaii “Unfortunately, after 45 years, this resort was forced to permanently close their doors after the March 2011 tsunami.”

A hammock overlooking the ocean at The Bitter End Resort in BVI

The gorgeous Bitter End Resort in BVI © Photo by Priscilla Pilon

Priscilla’s Pick: The Bitter End in the British Virgin Islands “I’ve never been sponsored to stay at this hotel, but I visit every year!”  

And, of course, we had to ask about their favorite place in Newport! 

Castle Hill Inn from the sea

Castle Hill Inn from the sea © Photo by Priscilla Pilon

Priscilla’s Pick: Castle Hill Inn “They have the best lunch and the best views!” 

hotel viking

The beautiful Hotel Viking (#NIMRI venue sponsor for our annual networking event!) © Photo by Lillie Marshall

Lillie’s Pick: Hotel Viking “This is the place to go to feel like royalty!” 

Here’s what #NIMRI members were saying on Instagram and Twitter: 

 

Great turnout at #NIMRI! A photo posted by Suzanne McDonald (@newportinteract) on

 

 

Learning about travel blogging at #NIMRI at @ParlorNewport. #NewportRI A photo posted by The Newport Blast (@thenewportblast) on

Many thanks to our venue sponsor Parlor Kitchen & Bar

Register for the next #NIMRI event now! 

Newport Interactive Marketing

Trade Tips at Newport Interactive Marketer’s Second Open Mic Night!

After the incredible success of NIM’s first-ever Open Mic Tips Night, we are very excited to once again host an insightful evening of networking, learning & sharing. We’ll be covering topics such as the latest in SEO, social media, project management & more. Come join us and experience the collective wisdom the NIM community has to offer & share your own bit of expertise!

What’s involved?

Just 1 quick 2-minute tips that would help other businesses/nonprofits, whether it’s SEO, design, Facebook, time-savings. No powerpoint or anything fancy. Just an opportunity to showcase your brand and your know-how.

This event is not to be missed!

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

ScottIndermaur

DIY Video: Tips From the Experts

Video is becoming increasingly important, especially with Facebook favoring it heavily. Some even speculate that Facebook is trying to take down YouTube.

But it’s is expensive, right?  How can you do-it-yourself? And be successful?

Each panelist at this NIM event not only has decades of experience but has also kept up with technology and is willing to offer tips and pro secrets… because that’s how we roll here at NIM.

The four speakers will cover a wide variety of topics including:

  • How to tell a heartfelt, connected story
  • Corporate and personal strategies
  • How to DIY using smartphones
  • A photojournalistic approach
  • How to keep things short and sweet

By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic, according to Cisco. So get ahead with social’s new trending strategy!

Meet Our  Pro Panelists

Hal Landen has been working as a freelance cameraman and producer since 1977. Since that time, he has produced award-winning work as well as wrote his first book, Marketing With Digital Video: How to Create a Winning Video for Your Small Business or Non-Profit.

Jim Egan, for 30 years, was a commercial photographer in Providence’s Jewelry District. Additionally, Jim shoots photos and video web content for corporations, ad agencies, and design studios throughout Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts.

Marc Creedon is the owner and creative director at Marc Creedon Multimedia. Marc is a photographer, videographer as well as contributes to a variety of other projects.

Scott Indermaur has been sharing stories for two decades through the visual language of photography. He travels nationally and internationally to create multimedia stories, annual reports, advertisements and editorial and corporate photography.

“You can talk all day about SEM and SEO, what you need is great VIDEO.” – Marc Creedon

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

Newport Interactive Marketing

Integrating Events and Social Media Lunch & Learn

Newport Interactive Marketers teamed up with the Hive for October to host a social media lunch. Suzanne McDonald’s presentation focused on strategies and tactics to harness the power of social media to improve your events.  Topic included how to incorporate Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram to increase awareness for your campaigns and learn how you can save time with sites like Hootsuite and Eventbrite.

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

Ana Raynes gives tips on how to improve social media strategy through things like outreach and social engagement.

More Social Media Agency Secrets

Newport Interactive Marketers hosted Ana Maria Raynes, a social media specialist at Inceptor, to educate small business owners on how to improve their social media strategy.

With Raynes’ tips, the audience learned how to:

  • Deliver beyond Facebook with Influencer Campaigns
  • Utilize Google Plus and its applications (Google Hangouts, Google Circles)
  • Track social media outreach using free tools
  • Understand social engagement has ROI

Aside from providing “techy” information, Raynes’ talk gave small business owners insight on social branding and customer relationship management.

Meet Ana Raynes

Ana Raynes gives tips on how to improve social media strategy through things like outreach and social engagement.
A native of Colombia, educated in fashion design at the London College of Fashion, @StylinAna has a honed her talent for following trends and introducing new concepts.

Previously Ana was responsible for social media and information technology at the internet fashion startup “Smart Is Cool”. Also, she was featured in Glamour Magazine, appeared on FOX Strategy Room, and toured the East Coast as a motivational speaker for young girls alongside the nonprofit Girls Take Charge.

Since Smart Is Cool, she has worked in social media at New York and Boston agencies. As Inceptor’s social media manager, Ana focuses on clients’ strategic social media planning, blogger relations, and identifying news, trends, and best practices. Based in Boston, Inceptor is a Didit company.

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch at your convenience.

Integrating SEO and Social Media With Google’s Eric Enge

SEO guru Eric Enge broke SEO and Social Media down into plain English at NIM’s Aug. 23 event. Stressing an integrative approach using SEO and Social, Enge said the best way to compete in SEO keywords is to be user-centric.

If anyone knows how to boil down complex ideas for an audience, it’s Enge, who is CEO of Stone Temple Consulting, a 25+ person SEO firm with offices in Massachusetts and California. Enge is also a frequent speaker at marketing conferences like SES, PubCon, and SMX.

According to Enge, the job of any website is to be first in that search. So his PowerPoint presentation boiled down complex SEO and Social Media topics so that attendees of all social media aptitudes could learn just how.

Integrating Search and Social Media highlights

  • Spun or garbage content or cheap tricks to build brand and rank is not the best way to go
  • Devote the right amount of space to anchor text, key phrases, brand names, and domains
  • Avoid bad link-building and backlinking practices, e.g. low-cost or paid-for tactics
Eric Enge From Stone Temple Consulting

Eric Enge featured guest speaker at NIM’s Aug. 23 networking and learning event.

  • Emphasize users in your web content, because they are central to the Google algorithm
  • Make sure your brand lends itself to your audience (and if it doesn’t, ask yourself what it will take to get there)
  • Provide diverse, quality content
  • Title tags play a big role
  • Meta description influences click-through rate

Learning Google’s Algorithm

Quoting Google Search Quality Group expert Matt Cutts throughout the talk, Enge explained that Google algorithm finds quality, diverse results help solve problems for users.

Enge discussed the impact of Google’s Panda algorithm update, ushered in on Feb. 23, 2011, and the impact of Penguin, which came to the fore April 24, 2012.  He discussed the viability of SEO, Social, PR and Real Content integrated together for a masterful integrative marketing plan.

You can build a huge audience even if you’re a small brand, according to Enge, who said 48.8% of the population uses Google+ (that’s 150 million US users) and Google+ creates community circles. But he warned against trying to get too much out of driving FB “likes” and Google+ “+1’s” since these don’t specifically address which part of your content is working. Likes, +1’s and shares aren’t visible to Google. Tweeted links, for example, can help Google discover content faster than Facebook and Google+.

Title Tage, Meta Description & CTR

NIM attendees learned how large a role Title Tags play, how Meta Description can influence click-through rate (CTR), and more specifically, how Bing uses CTR.

“Saying SEO is dead is like saying you 85-year-old grandmother can configure your web server,” Enge explained.

In addition to good content that is user-focused, Enge provided an example of how one guest posting propelled one site from 0 to 100,000 customers using an integrated approach.

In the hierarchy of social media effort, the 1-on-1 meeting is at the top (takes the most effort), then the meeting, then meetups, then blogging, then LinkedIn, Twitter, then Facebook. The bottom line? Make the effort to meet with actual people to build real communities, and that will fuel social media activity that builds your reputation, since that’s what people (users) value most.

Thanks to Eric Enge for speaking in Newport; you can visit his website at www.stonetemple.com, follow him on Twitter @stonetemple, or add him to your Google+: +Eric Enge.

 

Social Media to Drive Events | Newport Interactive Marketers

 

America's Cup World Series Newport 2012

Tall Ships Newport 2012

Social Media: Share and Share Alike

Besides social media, what’s the most important word in the Newport Interactive Marketers vocabulary? That would be “share.” The group shares connections, contacts, information, leads, advice, insight, links, hashtags, business cards, stories, you name it. With social media dominating marketing today, business owners large and small need one another to succeed. So they share – and share often.

In light of this summer’s big events – America’s Cup World Series and Ocean State Tall Ships – 3 social media experts who are also NIM members shared their tops tips and insights for using social media to boost events or bring people through your doors.

  • Mindfull’s Social Media Training Guru Chip Leakas, specializing in real estate
  • RI Blood Center’s Social Media Maven Kathy Manchester, who rocked NIM’s Social Media on a Budget panel
  • Social Media Manager Brian Hodge, who feeds multimedia for GoProvidence.com

The May 17 panel focused on marketing and new media, trading short cuts, hot tips, and best practices that could be implemented  by businesses based in Newport and in surrounding locations. Participants came away with their brains chock full of tips they could try immediately and … of course, share via Twitter, Facebook, and all manner of social media platforms.

Events and Social Media

  • There are 3 phases to any planned event: lead-up, spreading, get others to share, generate buzz during event & post-event
  • Facebook lets brands schedule ads via an “offers” button right from the brand page
  • Understanding customers via social comes first; getting them to know you is second

Social Media To-Dos

  • Update Facebook header image often. Look on Flickr for Creative Commons, which let’s you use photos freely. Highlighted posts cover the width of your Facebook page
  • Facebook and Twitter move on an momentary basis; be actively engaged or you will lose business
  • If you’re on Twitter, you need to be monitoring the feed. People expect answers, and they expect their complaints to be answered
  • Host a Twitter powerhour for social media savvy folks, offer some freebies, or a prize
  • Restaurants should be sharing menus and specials on Facebook and Twitter
  • Offer social customers discounts. Create an event, because social media people love to interact in real life, too
  • Ask customers who have had a great experience to review your business, because testimonials are huge
  • Encourage people to tag themselves when you feature them in your photo and post it to Facebook
  • Check privacy settings so you are notified when people post on your Facebook. page
  • Encourage people to share their photos and post them on your brand page.
  • Set up a Facebook contest, use Wildfire to help with contests, set up a photo contest during Americas Cup and Tall Ships, offer a gift certificate to the winner
  • Post events to RI Monthly, Patch, and @NewportBuzz willing to share.

Social Media Resources

  • Fbcovers.com and similar tools allow you to customize your Facebook header.images
  • Inboxq is another helpful tool to build campaigns around keywords
  • Foursquare is a great tool to drive awareness and loyalty
  • Yelp is a great tool to build awareness, want to be sure you’ve claimed your biz
  • Google Places (now converted to Google+ pages) give you an opportunity to upload photos and videos. 84% of people use consumer videos when travel planning
  • QR codes can be really handy, just need to make sure your site is mobile-friendly

Thanks @NewportBuzz@12MeterCharters, @NoirBlancDesign for sharing Tweeting insights.

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Pinterest: A Top-Tier Social Media Tool for Business

 

If instead of posting quotes on Facebook, you’d rather share tapestries you found at the bazaar in India, or smiling sloths from your trip to Costa Rica, then you’ll love Pinterest. But did you know that in addition to providing the perfect platform for those who are more visual- than text-oriented, Pinterest can also help your business gain traffic and credibility?

For baby boomers, the act of “pinning” may still conjure up a fraternity engagement ceremony. But Pinterest is so on the edge of marketing platforms that even the aughts ought to know about. In fact, it’s one of the top three social media tools including Facebook and Twitter, according to Annie Colella of Discover Newport (gonewport.com), who presented a talk to NIM April 26.

So, what’s Pinterest?

Simply defined, Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo sharing network about your personal and business interests. “Pinners” discover and post photos they love or are inspired by and organize them into a thematic pinboard. Then they share them so that people they know and people they don’t know gain access and the ability to follow them. Think Facebook+Flickr+Twitter+Youtube. (Pinterest even accommodates video uploads for pinning, from Youtube and Vimeo.)

Colella, whose sunny personality, high profile position at gonewport.com, and visual bent make her the quintessential pinner, presented a Powerpoint rich in easy-to-understand tips for business promotion through the fun and surprisingly simple act of “pinning.” The pinning expert summed up Pinterest in one sentence: “It’s Like Fantasy Football for girls.”

Pinterest has cross-reach

While the 80/20 rule applies to Pinterest in terms of women (80) and men (20) are users, in time, Pinterest promises to level out once business people see its merits, Colella said. Those merits are numerous because Pinterest is integrated with Facebook and Twitter. This way users can sign in through one or the other of their social networks, making cross-networking sharing easier. Pinners can pin their own, or, with attribution, re-pin somebody else’s image.

“Great boards promote the event and lifestyle of their demographic,” said Colella, underscoring why Pinterest is such a great tool for brand creation and development.

Generating traffic for your brand via Pinterest comes down to traditional SEO and link building, Colello told NIM. In addition to integration with other social media accounts, pinners can also bring new visitors to their associated websites, blogs and digitally published guest articles.

How does Pinterest stack up to other social?

Not sold yet? Pinterest outsmarts Facebook for time spent, according to mashable.com. And in October of 2011, the website of Tim, Inc’s Real Simple Magazine got more traffic from Pinterest than Facebook.

Pinterest has another advantage: most pinners re-pin rather than pin new items from the Web, and if they are linking back and crediting the way they should, that means Pinterest is a remarkable website traffic referral tool. This is true particularly for apparel retailers.

Another gleaming statistic is that Pinterest hit $10 million U.S. monthly unique visitors, faster than any independent site in history. Like Google, Pinterest also contains analytic tools for tracking traffic such as PinReach, which tracks interests, followers, boards and pins via analytics to measure the most popular boards by re-pin and who your influential followers are.

Now, NIM-ers are savvy marketers already, but so much new stuff comes onto the social media horizon that every new platform introduced can bring apprehension. To reinforce the power of Pinterest, Colello explained that Pinterest was the top social referrer for marthastewartweddings.com and marthastewart.com, sending more traffic to both properties than Facebook and Twitter combined. Pinterest generates more referral traffic to web sites than YouTube, Google+ and Linkedin combined.

You have to be invited

The only downside thus far, Colello said, is Pinterest is still a closed community, therefore users have to request an invite from existing users to join. So Colella promised to take names at the end of her talk so she could send out Pinterest invitations. She then invited guests to find her on Twitter if they had any more Pinterest questions. And that, folks, is the way social media should work!

After the talk, Portsmouth resident Cheryl Digennaro said she would consider using Pinterest in addition to Facebook to promote her reiki business. “I didn’t really know much about Pinterest before,” said Digennaro, “but now I plan on using Pinterest to post photos and quotes from my favorite authors, holistic practitioners, physicians and quantum physicists who support my message.”

Some of Annie’s hot Pinterest tips & takeaways:

  • Don’t be selfish; pin from sources other than your own site
  • Re-pin, “favorite” and comment on other users’ pins
  • Always provide linkbacks and credit your sources
  • Use keywords to make your pins easy to find
  • Be nice!
  • Include item price in description
  • Link back to your e-commerce site so the consumer can make a purchase
  • Use pleasing graphics, good inspirational images – a “wow” effect makes a good Pinterest board for users to follow
  • Don’t be over-promotional. Concentrate on great products, inspirations, corporate and social responsibility.

 

Photos by Ramon at www.smalltimevideo.com

DE/NIM would like to thank @anniecolellahttp://www.gonewport.com/@41northhttp://www.41north.com

Please stay tuned for the next meeting of NIM in June!