Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share things you love. Comment. Repin and Like.

This growing social platform will be in some way or another a place for brands to market themselves, but like Instagram these sites may not fully bring brands ROI. My social marketing thoughts have always been “Be where the people are and know that every social network you are on… CAN NOT have the same strategy/message”

Some brands/companies don’t have that “mascot” so it tends to be harder to display an image in the social space, but what drives me crazy is that EVERY brand/company has people, real people who make that brand what it is. SO… when a client comes to me and asks “how can we use Pinterest? We’re not like an Esty or a Nordstorm.” I respond with “use this network to display what your valuable staff loves! You hired talented (hopefully) smart people who are committed to your brand message… let them share with fans what they love! Have guidelines that help balance content related to your brand  and their personal style. Of course you will have to take a chance with your staff and OF COURSE you will have to select the right people to do so. This kind of a strategy will always display that “human side” of your company and as we all know that is what makes a strong successful social strategy.

*the tweet that sparked this post: https://twitter.com/#!/clarkkokich/status/147384191661785088

Pinterest profiles can not always be shown as the brand BUT it can show the people who make that brand

As you know I am obsessed with all change & updates with any social media networking site.

This week Twitter launched their NEW ACTIVITY tab and Facebook started rolling out their new Insights… and it’s super #sexy!

Please check out my notes & share your geeky thoughts with me

Facebook is about to release new premium ADs!! This makes me one happy panda because I have always said your Facebook Brand Page should always be reaching your fans friends. This is the most important secret sauce of mine AND Facebook is now going to help us measure this!!

**This is another one of my Facebook Wishlist item

I call this action the Domino Effect and it works every time (if, of course done right)

I want to see that when our brands post something that in return we can measure the “Friends of Fans” impressions. This to me and my team is what we care about the most and how can we reach more loyal fans. This update from Mr. Zuckerberg is going to make our jobs a lot easier…

Here is an example and how I express it to our clients:

This graph displays three of my loyal friends (one being my mother… who is my biggest fan) sharing a post of mine. When we talk about impressions I have always said I wish that Facebook Insights would start measuring the data of my friends… friends! If you look at the equation above you will see that I have added up mine, John’s, Sarah’s and Elaine’s friends… the total number being over 2,000! Now, yes I know that not every single one of our friend will not see this post but even if you are to divide that number in half it’s still large enough to make an impact

As of right now we have to craft/guess these impression and explain it to our clients… but now that Facebook allowed a third-party developer to tap into their API, they are going to give us REAL data/numbers!

I’m super excited to see this roll out and most of all add this to our monthly social media reports

Please tell me how this is going to impact your social goods…

I have been obsessed with this site called Pinterest and I come across a lot of amazing things on this site! This site has really motivated me to get creative around the house, workout out harder and get in kitchen to cook/bake new things!

I am going to say these three words: Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
These amazing little strawberries popped up in my feed on Pinterest and it was a MUST TRY in the panda book.

I had an amazing time making these little pieces of joy…

Step one: Buy the goodies… spread it out and get ready to make happiness!

Step two: scoop out the middle of the washed strawberries and get ready to make the most simple cheesecake filling

Step three: start filling with yumminess and dip those bad boys in graham cracker crumbs

Step four: place them in a glass pan and set in your fridge for an hour

ENJOY and PLEASE share your experience!

For the official How-To CLICK HERE

One of my biggest request to Facebook was that I wanted to be able to see who shares my clients links… well guess what THEY DID IT!

Now we can see who shares out links… this new add-on is going to make my ROI reports SEXY!

“We have over 2,000 Likes!”
What does this mean to your brand?

“Not sure”
What have you learned from these 2,000 Likes?

“What do you mean”
Have you had any “ROI” moments with these 2,000 Likes?

“You can’t get “ROI” from Facebook… we just know we have 2,000 Likes! YEAH!!”
So why are you so proud of this number?

“Because that’s all anyone cares about is the number…it’s all about who has the most Likes! Duh!”
#PunchMeInFace

This is an example of the kind of Social Media Marketing we are displaying and if we keep making this “number” so important to this media… it will die!

Your Likes/Fans/Followers are NOT just numbers, they are real people that can give you real ROI. If you keep treating them like numbers you will NEVER build that relationship with your one number audience. If you are always worrying about reaching that next 1k mark on Facebook… than you are showing that you no longer care about those first 100 loyal fans. This number doesn’t matter to those who believe in your brand, this number only matters to you… and last time I checked you need them to care about your marketing message.

Let’s make this new media a place where we learn and interact with our fans, let’s make them our friends and let’s give them what they want! This is not high school or a game of “Who has the highest Number”, this is a place to mingle & listen to everyone in the world. Use their comments, their tweets and most of all their loyalty to grow your online presents! Don’t give them a number, give them “that moment” with your brand.

Instead of spending all your time worrying about how you can get that number up, go back to Joe Smith who had a great experience with your company and see how he’s doing. This method will go along way with your fans and you will see a much better growth number this way.

I don’t want to share all my #secretsauce tips with you… I just wanted to share my two cents on this annoying trend. So next time you want to shout at the top of your lungs how many Likes you have, stop and talk about your 1-on-1 moments you have with real people.

It’s not the size of the boat but the motion in the ocean

I’m still so proud that I got to be apart of this interview with Tim from abc15… crazy how much foursquare has changed since this story AND how many more mayorships I now!!

PHOENIX -

Posted: 06/30/2010

By: Tim Vetscher

Every time Paige Dell’Armi makes a Starbucks run, she checks in on Foursquare via her cell phone. To reward her loyalty, the Goodyear Starbucks gives Dell’Armi a dollar off each time she visits. ”There’s one right by my house and I went every morning to check in,” Dell’Armi said. “I got mayorship, showed (the baristas) my phone and got a dollar off.”

Download the Foursquare application to your phone. When you launch it, Foursquare uses GPS technology to determine your location. You then confirm that location by “checking in” at a particular business or venue.

“I’ve been obsessed with checking in,” said Dell’Armi. “I check in at US Airways Center, I check in at the grocery store, I check in everywhere.”

The person who checks in the most becomes “mayor.”

A title that brings with it certain benefits.

And a growing number of businesses in the Valley have started offering deals for Foursquare users.

“Now there are four to five million venues offering promos and 16 million venues as actual locations on Foursquare,” said Amy Martin, owner of Digital Royalty. “In December there were 400 venues. It shows businesses are catching on.”

Martin helps brands build their online presence through social media.

Her clients use Foursquare to help bridge the gap between the virtual and physical world.

“Often times social media seems intangible,” said Martin. “When you can bring customers or fans to your place of business, it becomes very powerful.”

Not convinced?

To encourage visits, Monti’s in Tempe offers Foursquare users a margarita for 5 cents.

Sports Authority stores give Foursquare mayors a ten dollar gift card.

The Vig gives FourSquare mayors a free drink and so does SideBar.

Liberty Market in Gilbert honors it’s mayor with a complimentary signature drink, the Cortadito.

Hana Japanese Eatery gives the mayor a free order of sashimi.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill gives mayors a free dessert.

The mayor eats for free at the Spicy Pickle in Chandler.

We’ve had the pleasure of interview social media director Paige Dell Armi from knoodle, an Advertising & PR agency. She’s very passionate about social media and design. Be sure to follow her on Twitter, @Paigeiam or check out her website DoubleBlueDesign.com.

Paige, do you recommend different social media strategies for different types of companies (like retail versus business-to-business), and can you give some examples?

Yes! We ask our clients what their online marketing goals are and from there we integrate them into a social media strategy… We of course have this magic machine that gives us this information  When we build/brainstorm social media for Dine4az & Gaslamp Hilton the strategy does tend to be more “sexy” than, let’s say Petersen Johnson’s. B2B on social media will always be a challenge, but we know it can be done! We always use one on one interaction and our #secretsauce is remembering who we have interacted with a week ago. This is key for us and it builds instant fan confidence…

What do you tell companies doing social media who feel they’ve “run out of ideas” for things to post?
Never forget the small things in life! It’s always those small events in your life that get the most social interaction…

In your experience, what are the most successful posts in terms of getting a lot of comments or replies, in other words, a lot of engaging dialogue?
The posts where we think and act like our audience and not act “bigger” than them… We’re their friend!  We want to know what their favorite snack is when they’re at a baseball game. We learned that Sherry is a hot dog/beer girl and that Joel is a fan of Garcia’s (#secretsauce of ours… is in return to Joel, we commented back with a direct link to dine4az.com for that 20% off next time he goes to Garcia’s)

What kinds of posts get the most “likes” or positive, happy feedback?
“What is your baking secret?” or “What type of beer are you looking forward to the most? IPA, Ale, Stout…” It’s when we ask questions and mingle in the conversation 

What things should we absolutely avoid in terms of social media posts and tweets?
Never do posting in the first person. Your a team, a company and your audience wants to see that 

How do you turn a fan or follower into a customer, and how do you track that?
Personal engagement along with being there within 24hrs… we use social media as a customer service tool for our clients. We take a comment left on Santan VW’s Facebook page and build trust with that one fan. Let them know we’re here and really care about what color Jetta they are looking for. We took a single persons comment about shopping for a new car and build a relationship out of it. Behind the curtain we were in touch with the Sales GM who is getting that Black Jetta ready  This is our strategy and it works, it works so well that we had a customer come back and buy a second car from Santan.

As far as tracking, we have a library of screen grabs when those “ROI” events happen and build case studies out of them.

Thanks so much Paige for taking the time to answer these questions!

We change, whether we like it or not. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m a big fan of updates and changes below are couple of my favorite ones from Facebook!

I heard Twitter is going to be updating their image uploading as well… Seen it on a couple of your blogs I (sad panda) don’t have it yet…

Facebook added “RECOMMEND THIS PLACE” on Company pages! This something that all brands on Facebook need to get excited about… It’s a user friend area where your fans can write you a recommendation.

These recommendations from your fans will be displayed on the right side of your LIKE page. What I LOVE about this is that when you click on the comment/thumbs up icon it doesn’t take you away from your page… it’s a pop up window! This makes it really easy for fans to interact with each other about your brand

Let’s hope every post is positive of course

The BEST PART is once a fan writes a recommendation it’s display to their network… Your friends can see what you have said and mingle in with the posts. #secretsauce here is hoping my network clicks on the companies link and LIKE’s their page

Facebook did a great job at adding this into your News Feed! After a friend writes a recommendation… next to the Like – Comment they add “Write a Recommendation” link. #awesomesauce!

————————————————————————

Couple more random updates that I noticed are “Favorite Places” I love where this is going! Not everyone can see this option yet, but I have a feeling it will be a great way for you to have all your favorite places in one area. There are still some glitches but I have a good feeling about where this is going

Some impressive updates have been made in the last week…

UNO: Below is a screen grab of a fancy updated window that pops up when you want to “Share this Photo/Link” with your network. This sharing platform has been with us for a long time BUT recently got some added features (which most likely came from a 12am Hack-A-thon at Facebook)

DOS: Image below you can see the #awesomesauce features…
“Share: On your own Wall” – means it will be posted on your Wall and seen in the News Feed to your friends at that moment (and randomly in the “Most Recent”)
“Share: On a friend’s Wall” – this one explains itself BUT super useful for when you just want to share it with certain friends. This add-on will help you not flood your Wall with tons of links/photos but yet still “share the love”
“Share: In a Group” – what a great option for all your group freaks again pin pointing exactly what you want your audience to see
“Share: In a private Message” – best for last… this feature was built just for all you “private” people select this and than select the friends you want to “Facebook” email the information to

With these #awesomesauce updates there is know NO excuse for you NOT to share companies updates with your friends and family…. Facebook has once again done it (of course) made me one #happypanda