Pinterest starts experimenting with sponsored pins

Pinterest starts experimenting with sponsored pins

Per an email from Pinterest founder, Ben, in my inbox this morning, it sounds like Pinterest is starting to get serious about how to monetize. They’ve announced that their dipping their toes into the idea of sponsored pins. If they do it well, this could be great news for marketers, especially of products in popular Pinterest categories.

integrating mobile & social media into your crisis planning

Flip through the slide presentation from Jessica’s presentation on integrating emerging media into your event crisis management plan, given to the PCMA Heartland Chapter on Sept 19th.

newsjacking vs. real-time marketing

newsjacking vs. real-time marketing

Pop Quiz, social media marketers: What’s the difference between Oreo’s “You can dunk in the dark” tweet during the 2013 Superbowl and the Golf Channel’s #DreamDay promotion on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream…” speech? One is a cheeky quip about a current event. One is making a speech that inspired and liberated an entire group of people somehow equivalent to golfing. And there’s a lesson in there for us social media marketers and brand managers.

Google+ for business: how Google+ affects PageRank

Google+ for business: how Google+ affects PageRank

Google+ for Business offers strong SEO opportunities by actively passing relevant traffic, if not through preferential treatment from Google itself. Tyler takes a look at 3 ways incorporating a Google+ plan is still worth it for your SEO team (even if the social media team pushes back).

emfluence emsights features posts about email, social medial, mobile, search marketing, and digital marketing.

planning social content that is relevant to the times and to your brand

planning social content that is relevant to the times and to your brand

This is the first of 3-part blog series on shaping your social media strategy. Step 1: creating social content that is current and fits your overall marketing strategy.

Social media is a powerful force in how brands are perceived, received, shared and discussed and I’d argue that content is at the crux of that. Social Media Marketers have a challenge on their plate: we have to come up with the great content to support our brilliant marketing strategies. If you’re like me, you’ve had that day where you just think, “What the heck do I talk about?”

Pinterest launches rich pins for easier product pinning… and buying

Today, the highly visual social media site, Pinterest, announced that they’ll be helping pinners find fun stuff like recipes, movies and products by creating ‘more useful’ pins; great news for social media and digital marketing practitioners.

the anatomy of a healthy sharable tweet

There is definitely an art to writing for social media, and for Twitter in particular. You think you have 140 characters – already a hard task — but you actually only have 97 characters to say what you need to say. The anatomy of a healthy, sharable tweet looks like this…

tweet aggregator storify announces stories for business

Storify is among the newer tools for a social media practitioner and has been gaining popularity as a way to collect and organize tweets, especially those collected around a specific hashtag or top. Today, they launched their Storify Business account option, offering journalists, agencies, brands and bloggers the chance to upgrade their toolset.

hands-on Twitter training for marketers – download the slides

In this presentation, I go into the 6 Steps of Getting Started with Twitter, plus a diagram of “the perfect tweet.” The tips in this presentation are largely for marketers, but a lot of the material is helpful even if you just want to dive in personally!

twitter link update: you can take my heart, but don’t take my characters

twitter link update: you can take my heart, but don’t take my characters

Twitter recently rolled out – a bit early – their character-reducing update for tweets with links. Now instead of counting all URLs (including photos/short links) as 20 characters, they’ll count as 22.

SUPER social: seizing an opportunity in real time

SUPER social: seizing an opportunity in real time

Last Sunday, Americans gathered ‘round our televisions for a rare real-time television event: a really big football game. But something has changed in television – really, in any content consumption: fans are experiencing real-time TV by pairing it with social media, like Twitter. Most notable was the quick and clever thinking of several brands that had been actively engaging in social media during the entire game, especially when the unexpected happened. Some brand responses were home runs and some, not quite.

integrating – not just adding – social media to your marketing mix

In 2012, SocialIRL hosted half a dozen full-day conferences on using “Social Media for Nonprofits” and I’ve had the pleasure of being among the line-up,…

social media marketing: storytelling in 140 characters

social media marketing: storytelling in 140 characters

In just 140 characters, The Salvation Army told an impactful story. The link goes to their blog post, which unravels the full story in just 5 paragraphs with a heartwarming payoff. They capped it with a poignant ask: “Will you make a difference this Christmas?” It’s mind boggling to me that a 255-word blog post and a 140-character tweet could have such an impact. 140 characters isn’t even enough for a preface. Heck, it’s not enough for an opening paragraph!

Facebook introduces gifts – how you can apply to be a gift

Facebook introduces gifts – how you can apply to be a gift

Facebook has rolled live with their “gifts” feature that shows up on the recipient’s Facebook page. Facebook has a (not yet well publicized) Merchant Interest Form where you can submit your products as gift options that friends can buy for each other.

social media marketing for trade shows

Last Thursday, emfluence CEO David Cacioppo presented a Lunch ‘n’ Learn at Skyline headquarters on best practices in social media for marketing at trade shows. In the last few years, it’s almost impossible to attend a conference that doesn’t have a hashtag and a Twitter strategy. And with good reason: social media enhances your visibility, brand sentiment and leads to more conversations than standing on the booth floor alone. Here are a few ways Dave highlights that marketers should be using to increase visibility and traffic before, during and after the show.

LinkedIn’s New Digs – Company Page updates

LinkedIn’s New Digs – Company Page updates

LinkedIn recently announced new look for Company Pages. With a now-familiar “Cover Photo” spanning the top of the profile page and a company news stream, this layout update is definitely an improvement. Bigger news: Company Pages now work with the LinkedIn smartphone and tablet apps. See an example of the major updates.

Pinterest: beyond the home cook and DIY-er

Pinterest: beyond the home cook and DIY-er

We’re hearing the question more and more: Should my business be on Pinterest? Now the third most popular social networking site, Pinterest reached 104 million monthly visits in March 2012. If your business relies on high website traffic to increase sales, you should consider joining Pinterest. Pinterest users are 79% more likely to purchase an item they saw on Pinterest than Facebook users who saw an item in their newsfeed or on a friend’s wall. So how can your business use Pinterest to increase your website traffic, improve your brand recognition, and convert new visits into leads?

post as your page or just as yourself with new Facebook Voice feature

post as your page or just as yourself with new Facebook Voice feature

Before Thursday of last week, as an Administrator of the emfluence Facebook page, anything I posted or liked showed up as emfluence comment or like. With the new Voice feature, I can toggle between if I want the post to come from me (Jessica) or from emfluence as a brand. I can now weigh in on company posts as myself!

dear Pinterest, with love – a marketer’s introduction

dear Pinterest, with love – a marketer’s introduction

The first time I finally got what the buzz was about with Pinterest, two hours passed like 10 minutes. I’d actually tried to love Pinterest a few times before that but just didn’t get it. What’s so addictive about it? How can people spend so much time on it…? The short answer is: it’s pretty.

Pinterest is an online corkboard of sorts where you can pin images of things you like or want to save for later. Pinterest is an easy way for users to visualize and categorize content. So why is it blowing up?

how do search and social intersect?

how do search and social intersect?

How do search and social intersect? Google and Bing (and thus Yahoo!) have different social signals built into their algorithms to allow social media popularity to impact rankings.

Google’s “Search, plus Your World” summarized for marketers

Google rolled out a big update recently called “Search Plus Your World.” While the search community has written many in-depth articles about how it works here’s a brief look at what marketers need to know about the update.

Marketer Do’s and Don’ts: Google’s “Search, plus Your World” update

Search Plus Your World has caused quite a stir in the search marketing community on a number of levels. The short version is this: This update is the biggest Google update in a decade. While the hype may be overdone, it’s not something we can ignore.

Here are a few things that you should know about the Search Plus Your World update and some steps you should be taking to ensure that you are evolving your digital marketing activities to keep from being left behind.

integrating your digital marketing for best results

Successfully integrating a marketing plan takes some work and is based in good planning. To your consumer, an integrated marketing plan will look seamless. The tone and information will be consistent, the consumer will know exactly where to find you and what to expect when they get there. What can you do to inject harmony and coordination to your brand experience?

announcing emfl-U: Digital Marketing Bootcamp, Nov 9th

announcing emfl-U: Digital Marketing Bootcamp, Nov 9th

One thing we hear often at emfluence is how unavailable digital marketing education seems to be. Sure, you can take another 1-hour webinar on LinkedIn, but where can you find a seminar on strategizing and intgetrating every aspect of your digital marketing?

The answer is in Kansas City, November 9th.

Announcing emfl-U: Digital Bootcamp

notes & takeaways from the 2011 emfluence User Conference

Whether you attended or if you didn’t get the chance, the notes will be worth gold. Take a peek at the top takeaways from the three keynote presentations at the 2011 emfluence Marketing Platform User Conference.

a lesson in wow: Helzberg proves their reputation for great customer service

Helzberg Diamonds offered a deal last week that seemed too good to be true… and turned out it was. Their online system had a glitch and their advertised “surprise savings” were a surprise even to them! These are the moments that define a company’s reputation. There are a lot of lessons to be taken from how Helzberg handled the potential catastrophe.

oversharing as a marketer in social media

oversharing as a marketer in social media

What counts as oversharing information in a world where people tweet their breakfast? What is TMI (too much info) about a person or company you follow? Some might argue that it would depend on if it’s content from a personal account or on behalf of a brand (comma?) but I have a rule of thumb that I think you can apply to either situation: Act as if the online world were one big cocktail party.

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