Earlier this week I blogged about the importance of having a Pinterest account both for personal and business use. It’s easy enough to simply sign up and pin a few things here and there, but there are a few tips and tricks that will definitely set you apart from everyone else.

• Don’t just pin your own content, re-pin others
• Have several boards and pin  often to them
• Categorize your boards – do you have a board dedicated to clothing you like? Make sure you add it to the fashion category
• Connect with friends already using Pinterest
• You have invites to give out, ask people if anyone needs any as this is a great way to build your following
• Use the browser “pin” button
• When pinning your blog posts make sure you use an eye catching image.
• Make sure you pin directly from your website or blog as it will automatically link back to your site
• Are you pinning something that you’re selling. Adding the price in the description will add a price tag to the pin letting people know that they can purchase it

• Use the blog/ website “pin” button on your own website
• Seek out lists on websites of great pinners to follow (http://www.pinnerstofollow.com/)
• Connect your Pinterest account to Twitter and Facebook and occasionally post also to one or both sites
• Promote your Pinterest account through Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Facebook and any other platform that you have
• Use the Pinterest email signature attachment from Wisestamp
• Use the official Pinterest app on your Iphone (Android has an unofficial app)

What tips do you have?

It used to be easy.

Marketing to our audiences that is…. Before DVRs, the Internet and iTunes we used to know exactly how we could get in front of our audiences. We knew they would consume whatever it was we put in front of their eyeballs.

Commercials were watched, magazine and newspaper articles were read and the radio was listened to.

Now we have the Internet, DVRs, iTunes and so many other distractions that makes advertising a little more difficult to do. Difficult that is until you embrace the fact that today we need to focus on where they are and what they want. Sure, people still watch commercials, read magazines and newspapers and listen to the radio, but it isn’t as often as it used to be. Today is the day of being social, getting to know your audience in a less statistical way, and listening to what they really want.

Luckily for us we have access to do just that. Luckily we have Facebook, Twitter and the entire Internet. The question isn’t where are the people, it’s are you where they’re at? It’s time to stop saying “I don’t want another Online profile” or “My business isn’t ready to embrace Social Media, we’re still researching it” and simply DO IT! 

That’s right, do it.

Simply put, we don’t get to decide where we want people to be. They decide where we NEED to be.

Are you paying attention?

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest….

If you use the Internet for anything social or news related you’ve probably heard of this semi-new Social Media site.

Not another Social Media site!!!

::Insert groans here::

Before you get all huffy-puffy about signing up for a new site I want to give you some reasons why you should NOT write off Pinterest and why you might want to make it a large part of your current and upcoming campaigns.

The non-techies are hooked!

That’s right…

My friends that use Facebook once or twice a week are a bunch of pinning fools. The ability to share recipe ideas, crafts, DIY tips, fashion plus so much more appeals to a vast majority of today’s Internet population.

So who uses Pinterest?

• Mommy bloggers
• Moms that aren’t bloggers
• Dads
• Brands
• Small business owners
• Techies
• 9-5 employees looking for inspiration
• Students
• Teachers
• Politicians
• Teens
• Baby Boomers
• Neighbors
• Friends
• YOUR COMPETITION

For businesses like my own, KiMedia Strategies, this provides me with a platform where I may be able to get in front of people that do not understand nor wish to manage their own business Social Media.

The site is so simple

There’s no long profile to fill out, no hidden links for privacy, and no place to feel completely clueless about the site.

It’s simple.

• You sign up by connecting to either Facebook or Twitter

* (I use Facebook for personal and Twitter for the business profiles I manage)

• You finish your signup by choosing a password, adding your email and the custom URL you wish to have
• Add the Pinterest tool to your browser to easily pin from other websites
• Choose a few topics of interest
• Follow some Pinners
• Customize your boards
• Start pinning your own stuff and repin other pins

Your business could shine

Use Pinterest for your business by adding a more visual aspect to your Online campaign.

Some board ideas that work for any business:

• Quotes
• Inspiration
• Resources
• Humor

Sharing is all the site is about

Share, share, share

That’s what the site is about

The traffic back to your website could be HUGE!

These screen shots are from roughly 15 minutes after pinning a blog post titled “What is a Social Media Strategist”. One is from my web analytics and the other is an email from Pinterest of account activity.

In conclusion, Pinterest may not be something YOU want to incorporate into your strategies, but your potential clients and customers are already there and we need to be where THEY want to be.

A lot of businesses think that simply Tweeting about a sale, event or promotion will bring people in their doors, to their websites and money in their bank accounts. This, although true for many larger well known businesses, is not true for smaller businesses. We are not easily known nor is our logo quickly recognized by thousands, but this isn’t quite a bad thing. Tweeting may be the first step, but never make it the last step.

Let’s say you’re planning a local event or sale.

Twitter may be your first stop/ thought to promote, but do you have a landing page with details or a way for people to contact you with questions? Are you reaching out to other networks?

Here is exactly what I would do and the sites I would use, including Twitter, to promote my event.

Event name: Fake Event/ Sale 2012

Sites to use:

Your own website/ blog – List all details (directions, attire, date/ time and contact information)

Tumblr

This Social Blogging site is one of my favorites and has a ton of possibility for sharing and indexing. Make sure to build a following on the backside and add all proper keywords as well as a link to an event posting or listing, preferably the LinkedIn or Facebook event and your website.

Facebook

Fanpage if applicable as well as the creation of a Facebook event

Tip: Unless completely unable to, create your event under your personal account. Creating it under a page takes away the ability to contact and message those that have RSVP’d yes and maybe as well as those that have yet to RSVP. 

LinkedIn

You can create an event here just like on Facebook. Share the event on your LinkedIn profile. You can also send individual messages to connections you know would be interested in attending.

Google+

If you’ve begun using this platform then I suggest promoting here as well. Be sure to use your location as a hashtag (mine would be #Tampa) for others to find it as well as predetermined hashtag for said event.

Local media blogs

Here in Tampa the TBO.com is a great place to list your event as are many of the local radio stations and other media sites. Do a search in your town for local media sites and see if they have an event submission section or an email address to send news/ events to.

Local bloggers

See if any would be willing to blog about your upcoming event. Make sure you give them all of the details as well as how they can stay up to date with the event details. Include your Twitter, Facebook, website, Tumblr, Foursquare and contact email as well as all details for the event.

Foursquare

If you have a physical location the possibilities are endless. List on the locations Foursquare page about the upcoming event, if it’s your own listing and the event or promo costs money, make a Foursquare special with a percentage off of the event or promo OR create a special that gives people an incentive to attend.

Pinterest

I personally haven’t had a chance to test out how well event promotion is on here, but I soon will and what can it hurt if you’re already pinning away?

EXAMPLE: Join us Sat for out Fake Event/ Sale – Check in and receive a free cupcake (or something like that)

Don’t Forget The Press Release!!! 

Eventful.com

Great place to post local events and sales

Video and Image for promotion

Use sites like YouTube and FlickR if you want to take your promotions one step further with a more visual aspect.

Twitter

Yes now we can come back to Twitter. Now we have a place to send people to. We have listings on other networks.

Do you have a #hashtag picked out? For our event we’ll use #FakeEvent2012 and every time we Tweet about the event we’ll add that at the end of the Tweet. Why use a hashtag? Easy tracking to see who else is talking about your event or sale

In conclusion, if you Tweet it they might come, but your chances are much higher when you take advantage of all that is in front of you.

More often than not people feel like their Social Media efforts are getting them nowhere. This is extremely common especially for the smaller, lesser known businesses, products and brands. When things don’t go the way we planned we immediately think that Social Media itself is to blame and that it really will never work for what your goals are.

This is in fact incorrect and here are 10 reasons why things may not be working in your favor Online.

1. Your goals are unrealistic

2. You skimp on the engagement

3. You follow everyone

4. You dedicate all of your personal accounts to advertising

5. Your strategy is to “wing it”

6. You’re too afraid to be different

7. The message is never different

8. You choose automation over real time engagement

9. You wait

10. You gauge your success by how many followers you have and what your Klout score might be

11. You gave up to soon

When all else fails try consulting a Social Media Strategist to assist in figuring out why things aren’t working and help creatively come up with new campaign; try keeping track of your Social Analytics as well as this will show you what creates the engagement and what is being ignored.

Did you know LinkedIn has a limit as to how many groups a person can join? They do and that number is 50. Many people will eventually hit their limit and have to re-evaluate the groups they are connected to, but how do you actually leave a group?

Here are simple steps to help you trim the fat and allow you to connect with new groups.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Tip for group owners: Keep your page moderated and interesting so yours isn’t one users choose to purge.

Join the Tampa Bay area Twitter users Thursday January 12, 2012 at O’Briens Irish Pub (701 West Lumsden Road
Brandon, FL 33511) from 6-9pm for the #obstweetup.

::Warning:: 

This blog post is simply my opinion on this subject and nothing more. 

Today as I was beginning my day of checking my clients social accounts, followers/ responses etc… I noticed that once again a business that provides a service similar to my company, KiMedia Strategies, had become awfully follow happy. Things like this usually don’t bother me, but when thinking and looking back over the past year, I’m beginning to see a pattern. The pattern goes like this: Follow my company, add me to lists that I personally and professionally wish I wasn’t  part of, visit my website multiple times, begin following my clients, add them to lists, find them on Facebook, like their page etc… etc…

Stop Being That Person!

You see,  we all have competitors whether it’s other businesses because we’re business owners, co-workers, siblings, classmates etc… We as humans are also naturally competitive which is why many of us work as hard as we do. We want to be the best, better than everyone else that’s trying to be better than us. It’s become a vicious cycle and yes, I can be guilty at times of paying attention to what my competition might be doing at times.

Here’s where we need to ask ourselves if knowing exactly what our competitors are doing at any given moment is damaging to our own goals. With me, if I’m paying attention to other Social Media companies, knowing what they are doing, who their clients are, tracking and following their clients, and following the personal lives of the owners and employees; is my business getting the attention it deserves? Are MY clients getting the attention they deserve? Probably not. 

Is it normal to be curious? Yes

Is it normal to devote your days to tracking your competition? No

You will not gain anything in your own personal business by doing so. Seriously, unless your business is in Private Investigation, you’re wasting too much time focusing on something you can’t control and while you’re doing this you’re allowing your competition to pave your path and this is not something I would want at all.

Focus on your goals whether it’s your business, school work, project for work or something else.

Trust me, your competition isn’t worth your time and effort, but your clients are.

Google+

These four tips are not just suggestions, but tasks I am or have done in preparation for the new year in hopes of simplifying the start to a new year Online.

1. Respond to and clean out any outstanding Facebook messages, Twitter DMs, LinkedIn messages etc… Archive orcopy/ paste any of importance into a Google document titled something like “Important FB messages From 2011″. If you need to save screen shots you can post them right into the doc as well.
2. Update all of your social networking profiles if necessary.
3. Does your profile image REALLY look like you? If not and you meet Tweeps or Facebook peeps offline often then perhaps it’s time for a pic that does look like you.
4. Clean out any accumulated spam comments on your website or blog – this is a time consuming task for me, but will be worth it once completed for all sites.

How are you preparing for 2012 Online?

2011 has flown by. It was one of the best years I’ve had in quite a while and honestly have nothing to complain about. Now anyone that knows me knows I complain, but really… I have had an amazing year, and even the stress and struggles as well as another battle with pneumonia, this year has been a blessing. Everything negative can be taken as a lesson learned which then turns it to a positive, right?

Soooo… 2012 is literally a couple of days away and I want to share with you some of my goals…. Not resolutions, but goals for the coming year.

• Blog more tutorials and tips around Social Media, being a woman entrepreneur and business owner.
• Help more people. That’s right, I want to help more people become successful with their Social Media. This doesn’t mean I want to work for them for free, but I do think I want to start a chat or designate a specific email or platform where people can easily send me questions.
• This is personal, but does involve business as eating healthier means I am healthier, more alert, and happy.
• Take more breaks away from technology – I’m only talking hours, not days…. I don’t think I could do that yet.
• Visit new places locally – I’ve lived in the Tampa area for going on 4 years and still have no clue where I’m going nor have I been to many places so if you know of any specific place I should visit, let me know!
• This goes along with the above goal as I would also like to do new things – You know I’ve never been deep sea fishing or even been out on a boat in the Gulf…
• I am determined to help make two other business endeavors absolutely amazingly successful – shameless plug —> Geek Is Single and Seek.ly
• Make new friends – who couldn’t use a few more awesome people in their lives anyways?
• Tell the people in my life more often how much they inspire, motivate, and/ or simply make my days a little brighter as often as I can.
• Travel more
• Stress less
• Laugh and smile more
• Say no more often – I know many people can relate to why this is important.
• Complain less
• Say please and thank you more often

What goals do you have?