Monthly Archives: May 2012

5 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Pinterest

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As Pinterest becomes one of social media’s top dog, it is important for your business to learn how to capitalize on Pinterest’s ability to increase Web traffic to your sites and translate these visits into dollars.

Right now, Pinterest is the number one referral source to Websites for all of the social media platforms. Not only is it number one, but if you took the referral rates of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ and added them up, Pinterest’s rate would STILL be higher. Pinterest has linked itself to other social media giants like Twitter and Facebook thus marketing themselves to a greater audience. There are presently 9 million Facebook users linked to Pinterest whose pins and boards can be seen by their friends on their wall.

Okay let’s get down to the meat and bones of this blog. Below you’ll find the top 5 ways to grow your business using Pinterest as noted by entrepreneuress Melanie Duncan in a recent Webinar.

1. Embed Links to your Website or blog in the caption section of your pin. This will allow your potential client to obtain more information, or see the product that they were interested in when they clicked. Adding the link within your caption is almost like a call to action. I can’t tell you how many times I have found an item on Pinterest that I loved, only to realize that I had no way of finding where to purchase it because of the lack of a connecting link. The easier you make it for your audience to find and purchase a product or service, the better your chance of converting that user into a paying customer.

2. Add the “Pin-it” button to your website or blog. With one click, a user can add an image or video from your Website or blog onto their own personal board. Remember that over 80% of pins are repinned, making Pinterest an easy way for any of your products or services to go viral.

3. As you know, Youtube is one of the leading Websites for content to go viral. Not only can you pin images to Pinterest, but you can also pin videos. One of the most popular video genres that are uploaded to Pinterest is “do-it-yourself” tutorials that many pinners often post to their “DIY” or “craft” boards, which are one of the most popular Pinterest boards.

4.Use strategic wording in your photo captions. A lot of people use hash tags as a way to classify their pin and make it searchable within the Pinterest platform, and on search sites like Google and Yahoo. It is also a great idea to include keywords and SEO backlinks to increase the traffic to your Website/blog. Remember that when people are searching specific topics in the Pinterest “search” bar, the only way that Pinterest will be able to find their requested search term is through captions, as they obviously can’t read an image. Be specific as to what your image is within the caption. If you have a bouquet of peonies, use “peony,” “peonies,” “flower” and/or “bouquet.”

This user captioned this shirt as simply, "." Nobody is going to type that in to search for this shirt. Try, "Gold Sequined Top."

5. Make sure to strategically arrange your photos/images to be visually pleasing. Pinterest is all about visual aesthetics so if you have the money, hire a photographer or a designer to make your image pop. Tall/long images have also proven to receive more “likes” and “repins” so when possible, stack related images onto one another to create a bigger buzz for your pin. Infographics and step-by-step do it yourself instructions are very popular. As Melanie said in her Webinar, “take your information, and make it visual.”

This DIY pin received more than 700 "likes" and 4,000+ repins!

Happy pinning everyone : )

America Looks to Social Media on the First Anniversary of the Joplin Tornado

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Today marks the first anniversary of the Joplin, MO tornado which took the lives of 161 people and left much of the city destroyed. The tornado that swept across Joplin on May 22, 2011 cut a path spanning six miles long and a half mile wide.

President Obama Makes Commencement Speech for 2012 Joplin High School Graduates

In the aftermath of the storm, they city’s phone lines and means of transportation were widely interrupted if not altogether unavailable, leaving the people of Joplin without their major means of communication.

Facebook groups emerged almost immediately after the storm hit and were used for storm information, pictures, support, rescue, and for the search of missing loved ones. Groups like “Joplin, MO Tornado Survivors (11,033 “likes”), Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery (173,647 “likes”), and Joplin, MO – Missing Persons and Survivors Page (7,695 “likes”) gained thousands of followers in a matter of minutes all hoping to locate missing lovers, or to inform others of their safety.

On Twitter alone, the word “Joplin” was mentioned 65,459 people on May 22, 2011. Not only were people with ties to Joplin sending their prayers and best wishes to the town, but other people from other states and countries entirely were eager to reach out and offer their services or donations.

After a year of recovery and time to rebuild, Social Media is still buzzing with news, photos and support for the rallying city of Joplin. Today, the term “Joplin” was trending on Twitter racking in 25,644 mentions and counting. People are using the hash tag #JoplinStrong to highlight the strength and determination that Joplin and its residents portrayed in the wake of such a devastating event.

Support for the regrowth and rebuilding of Joplin is still needed. More information about volunteering and donating can be found here.

Social Media Lights Up After Passing of Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees

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The passing of one of Pop and Disco’s most beloved icons 62-year-old Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees lit up social media as fellow industry legends and fans alike expressed their condolences to the family of Robin Gibb who lost his battle with cancer on Sunday.

It came to my attention while researching the specifics to his death, how significant social media is with regard to how we receive and process news and information. Upon logging into Twitter this morning I not only found out that Gibb had been sick, but also that he had died early on Sunday Morning. After searching around Twitter I found all the information that I needed to fill in the holes of missing information.

With major trusted news networks now possessing handles, it seems as though Twitter is blossoming into one of the main outlets for news distribution. With the ability to add multimedia data like images, links and even videos, Twitter has become a necessity for journalists and news wires to use for sharing AND engagement purposes. Twitter’s simple interface makes it incredibly user-friendly and because of the character limit, users can quickly and easily decide whether or not they are interested in reading the entire article that is probably linked to the post.

Anyway, being a huge fan of the Bee Gees, I had to write a sort of tribute to its fallen member that absolutely MUST include this SNL Tribute to Bee Gee Brothers Barry and Robin Gibb

From 10AM Sunday morning to 10AM this morning (Monday), Robin Gibb’s name was mentioned 276,022 on Twitter only, while “Bee Gees” was mentioned 212,762 on Twitter. Perhaps you may have also noticed that #RobinGibb was trending on the day of his death.

Fellow musicians lamented the death of Robin Gibb on Twitter.

Bryan Adams: “Another great singer dying too young.”
Piers Morgan: “Very sad about #RobinGibb – top guy, wonderful singer, and one of Britain’s greatest ever musical success stories.”
Claude Kelly (Pop Songwriter): “The Bee Gees were/are the gold standard when it comes to pop/r&b melody, harmony and vocal arrangement. Massive loss.”

Thanks to Twitter and other social media platforms such as Facebook, blogs and forums, the spread of news can happen even quicker, and perhaps more importantly, hit a population that newspapers and even news sites weren’t able to effectively hit—the youngsters.

Viral Technologies Sponsors 4th Annual Elykssor Charity Concert

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Elykssor ClothingTM, a lifestyle clothing company owned and co-founded by Maine native Kyle Poissonnier, will host their fourth annual charity concert to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation whose mission is to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease through awareness and raising money for research/treatment.

Elykksor ClothingTM was founded in 2007. With the vision of creating a clothing line that held true meaning, Kyle partnered in 2009 with Matthew and Steven Stern to launch the lifestyle clothing brand into the realm of mainstream fashion. The brand’s mission is to inspire its audience to obtain greatness, and to “Prolong Life.” The brand’s unique, limited edition styles and focus have attracted a strong following including celebrities and professional athletes.

All of the acts performing hail from Maine and include Spose, a 26-year-old producer and emcee from Wells, who has performed with such prestigious acts as Wiz Khalifa, Drake, Weezer, Ke$ha and B.O.B, The Mallett Brothers Band who received many of the top awards at the 2011 Portland Phoenix’s Best Music Awards, The Other Bones, and Joe Gallant.

Viral Technologies is pleased to be one of the sponsors for this exciting event, and will be giving out party favors that are sure to impress. Baxter Brewing Company, also of Portland, ME, will be offering pint specials in the Baxter Lounge as the event’s chief sponsor, and Elykssor will have limited merchandise for sale on location. Peter Jensen Bissell Photography will also be bringing a photo booth for guest’s entertainment, to make sure that this fun night is well-documented.

Tickets are $13.00 in advance or $15.00 at the door and can be purchased through the Asylum’s Website here.

For more information about Elykssor, find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elykssor or visit our website at http://www.elykssor.com/.