What Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Pinterest

I think many of you would be surprised by how many businesses do not take advantage of Pinterest. Maybe it's because social media marketing is a constant challenge for small business owners who hardly have time to take a coffee break, let alone post a pin! Pinterest is very important to growing your online presence, building your customer base and driving traffic to your website and blog. However, if you are pinning images without just cause then you are wasting your precious time. 

Today, we're going to break down five steps that every entrepreneur should know when it comes to Pinterest for your business. Then, we'll review three big companies and how they have made Pinterest work for their brand and business. 

1 | WHAT TO PIN

Organic images of products, employees, workplace culture, event follow-ups, blog photos, infographics and videos are perfect for your account. Re-pin images that are relevant to your business and industry. Remember to keep your personal pins separate for your company pins, or at least create secret boards for personal use.  

2 | WHEN TO PIN 

3 | CONVERT TO PINTERST FOR BUSINESS 

In case you didn't hear, Pinterest now has a "Pinterest for Business" feature. Convert your account to a business account to get discovered by more people interested in your products and/or services. Pinterest has made an ultra-user friendly blog and website just for those of you new to this feature. Click here for more details and FAQ. 

4 | FOR YOUR WEBSITE + SOCIAL MEDIA

Be Pin Friendly! Add the "Pin It" or "Follow Me on Pinterest" buttons to each blog post and webpage to make it easier for your audience to find your Pinterest account. Also, when you add organic pins to Pinterest, build in relevant links to your website and/or blog post to increase your clickthrough rate. 

5 | BE ORGANIZED 

The richer and more organized your Pinterest account content is, the greater opportunity you will have to get noticed and get re-pinned. Separate you Pinterest boards by category and include a short, sweet board description for each board. This will help spread your ideas and is more appealing to your audience's eye. 

TIP: Include your company's unique hashtags and other like hashtags on the pin description to increase your pin visibility. Note that hashtags are only clickable in the pin description (not in your profile description)! 

BUZZFEED

Uses Pinterest for finding story ideas + trending topics to make their content go viral. Now, Pinterest is BuzzFeed's 2nd largest social media referrer. Read the full success story here. 

ETSY

Learned to showcase items for sale in its' marketplace + learned what their customers wanted by monitoring user engagement of pins, re-pins + likes on products. See the case study here. 

PETPLAN INSURANCE

Created a Pinterest account to visually showcase its' expertise and convey their brand personality. By pinning the best content for their company, they increased website views to 69% and 97% of those visitors spent more time on their site compared to those from Twitter and Facebook. Read the success story here. 

Source: https://business.pinterest.com/en/success-...

Posting with Purpose: Free Social Media Printable!

Happy weekend, friends! As this is the sixth (and final!) week of the Posting with Purpose series, I have created a free social media printable just for you! In combination of the strategies outlined over the last five weeks, this printable will help you be accountable when it comes to posting to your social media accounts. 

TIP

Print out the free social media document by accessing it here. Write in the day(s) and time(s) you post to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+. At the end of the week, make sure that you completed the following final three items on the checklist: 

  1. Respond to all messages and comments. (Interact!)
  2. Shared and liked other posts by your clients, fellow industry partners, media sources, etc. (Engage!)
  3. Use appropriate hashtags related to that specific post, your industry and your company. Remaining consistent with your branding is extra important in this step!

Download the Free Social Media Printable

by clicking here!

Posting with Purpose: 4 Ways to Connect Authentically

Being social on social media has never been more important than it is today. While you have the potential to reach thousands, everyone wants to feel like your message is personalized directly to them. The best way to curate this form of content is connecting to your intended audience authentically and build a community around your brand. 

The fifth post in the Posting with Purpose series is all about creating, sharing and interacting. Whether B2B or B2C, by following these four simple steps you will grow your company and social media presence as a well-loved, opinion leader in your industry. 

Tag Others. By tagging individuals, businesses and even larger recourses (with the intent to get featured!) you are identifying them to a particular post. The beauty of tagging: many social media accounts allow you to tag anyone in a photo or post! By tagging others you are giving credit where credit is due, and creating a connection with others. Remember, potential clients and other businesses who would rather work with a someone who is  transparent. 

Share, Share, Share! Here is your chance to become an opinion leader in your field! This step comes in two parts: share other social media posts and share tips. Be sure that you stay in the "safe zone" and only share content relative to your business and/or industry. When it comes to sharing tips, my favorite idea is to reserve a specific day of the week and share a tip that has helped you grow as a small business. This will help your audience as they will look forward to seeing that post each week!

Be Active. The biggest mistake people make when posting to social media is only pushing content, and not interacting. How can you build a community for your brand if you do not interact? It's simple: you can't. "Like" other posts, follow other businesses/industry professionals/national resources, create a dialogue and respond to reviews to increase your own activity. 

Avoid Self Promotion. With this final step, remember the phrase "everything in moderation." Do promote your brand and company culture, but avoid content that is overly promotional and commercial. It is always good to incorporate a brag post on a feature or new product, but do not go overboard by only posting that type of content. 

Be social, be authentic and strike up a conversation by incorporating the above steps in to your social media campaign. 


The Launch of Something Lovely

A little over a year ago I crossed the stage to receive my Master's Degree in Strategic Public Relations from Virginia Commonwealth University. If you had asked me that day when did I think I would begin my own company, I probably would have said, "maybe in five years." But, if there is one thing I've learned it is that things don't always work out as planned. 

In January 2015 I started working with a small set of clients to help grow their company through social media marketing and wedding public relations strategies. In its short (4 months!) lifespan, Magnolia Media Public Relations has aided small businesses to bloom and thrive in their industry in ways that still bring a smile to my face!

I give 110 percent of my entrepreneurial spirit to my parents, who fought for their company even when the naysayers did not believe in them. Yes, I am taking a risk. Yes, there will be a lot of obstacles to overcome. Yes, there will be some who want to see Magnolia Media PR fail. However, I know that I have the tenacity to overcome all of those things and most important: I know I have what it takes. 

Thank you for celebrating and believing in Magnolia Media Public Relations. Words cannot describe how much your love and support for my new venture means! If you would like to contact me regarding a business inquiry or just want to drop by and say "hello," please browse here or send me an email: alyson@magnoliamediapr.com. Cheers!

Source: www.magnoliamediapr.com/blog/2015/5/6/laun...