6 Tips for Marketing on Pinterest

One of the social media sites often overlooked by business is Pinterest. Pinterest is a popular site where people are able to “pin” things to their account from all over the Internet to save for later. It is extremely valuable to businesses because one pin from a customer ends up showing up on all their friends boards automatically. And with over 175 million monthly active users, there’s a lot of customers to reach out to on the platform. Not only is this a great resource for creating backlinks to your business, it also is a great way to spread the word about your great products or services other people may want to take advantage of. Here are 8 tips to follow for effective marketing on Pinterest.

1. Machine learning and automation

One of the best ways to market on Pinterest, and really any type of social media platform for that matter, is through the use of machine learning and automation. With the help of a machine learning startup, you can get set up to have a computer analyze all the data from your Pinterest pins and give recommendations on better pins to post and how to post them. Machine learning takes all the information about what pins have been viewed and how many people have posted those pins in order to determine how effective every post on Pinterest is for your business. It will analyze conversion rates per pin to tell you which pins are working and which ones aren’t. In fact, you can even have automation setup, so you don’t have to do hardly anything on your site. Marketing automation is the next big thing in marketing and is going to become the new normal in 2018.

2. Using ads

Another way to easily market on Pinterest is to simply pay for ads. When users are scrolling through the social media site, the ads are technically marked, but it is hard to see unless you are looking for it. They will assume pretty much everything in their feed is just repins from friends and will look at it if they are interested regardless of whether or not it is a paid for ad.

3. Focus on being inspiration

Some people use Pinterest as a way of finding things they really want or need in their lives. Most, however, use it as a point of inspiration. How-to guides and inspirational places or clothes are some of the most popular posts on the site. While most people recognize there is no perfect lifestyle, the goal of their Pinterest boards is to find inspiration in the lifestyles of others to hopefully start heading in that direction.

4. Recipes are golden

If there’s one thing customers identify with super well it is recipes. Everyone needs to eat, and people are constantly on the search for recipes that look and taste good. On Pinterest, there is even a feature where customers can share their experiences with that recipe to help other users know if it is worth their time, so make sure it really delicious. While it may not work for every business, posting recipes and how-to food prep guides will definitely get you some pins and bring people to your site.

5. Video ad content

A somewhat new feature on Pinterest is the ability to do video ads rolled out in 2016. People like it because Pinterest auto plays video content, so customers will definitely see it. People latch on to video content like crazy right now, but they will only ever stick around if you catch their attention in the first few seconds.

Jump right into the point of the video instead of having long introductions because people want to quickly see what you are advertising to them. It is a creative way to reach customers and a way in which they want to be reached.

6. Cheap and easy activities

Another thing people use Pinterest for is getting ideas for things to do, whether they are doing it with their kids or planning a family activity. Posting activities and how-to guides for doing those activities will get the attention of customers and help them develop interest in the products you have to offer to help with those activities.

Using Pinterest to advertise, while often overlooked as a marketing method, can be extremely effective if done right. Just be sure to check the data to see what is and is not working, so you can create better pins that your audience will love.

Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com

Source: forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/12/22/how-your-marketing-team-should-be-advertising-on-pinterest/#7a9109b850b8

Seven Elements Every Inbound Marketing Campaign Needs

In recent years, outbound marketing (when businesses tried to cold call or reach out in some other way to potential customers) has taken a back set to inbound marketing (where businesses focus on offering value and letting customers come to them). Part of it is that consumers today are savvier and inherently suspicious of people trying to sell them something. Today’s average consumer prefers to seek out the product or service they need themselves. The following seven elements are all things your business’s inbound marketing strategy will need to succeed.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Long gone are the days of flipping through phonebooks to find local businesses. Search engines are the new gatekeepers in the world of business and your success will directly correlate to how far up or down the search results page your business is. It should be every company’s goal to be at the very top of the search results page. One option is to target specific keywords and pay to make sure your website is listed in the sponsored search results at the very top. But the most important way is to have a solid understanding of how these search engines’ algorithms work to prioritize certain websites over others so that you can increase the odds of being at the top of the list.

Social Media presence

After search engines like Google, social media platforms are the next place people go to find local businesses. Social media is no longer just for friends and family to stay connected. It’s a great way for businesses to stay in the public eye and interact with customers on a daily basis. You need to make it easy for customers to find you across all of the relevant social media platforms.

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing

Though PPC could be considered outbound marketing since you’re paying to place ads, it has some overlap with inbound marketing since you’re usually trying to place those ads on influencer blogs where your ideal customers are already looking for info relating to your business’s industry.

Excellent landing pages

Whether they’re clicking on a link in an email or text message, clicking on a link from an affiliate site, or finding you on Google, when they click on that link to get on your website, the landing page needs to keep them from leaving. A good landing page will be rather minimalistic usually containing just one key call to action that you need to get them started on the path to eventually purchase and become a customer.

A good content strategy

A good content strategy is at the heart of an inbound marketing campaign because it’s where you’re offering value to your potential customers and asking for nothing in return. The goal of content marketing is to take the time to produce high quality, relevant, and valuable content that people will want to seek out and see more of in the future. You want people to subscribe to your blog and newsletters, and to go to you when they want an opinion from good authority about a given subject.

Email marketing

Through email marketing, businesses can compile a database of loyal customers who have given their permission to receive regular correspondence with a business. It’s a great alternative to printed mailers and newsletters and can be a great content marketing channel and coupon distribution method.

SMS (text message) marketing

Like email marketing, text message marketing (or SMS marketing) allows businesses to build up a loyal customer base. While it’s more expensive per message than email, it’s also much more effective because of the significantly higher open and click-through rates. SMS can be used to distribute mobile coupons as well as micro content, order status updates, appointment reminders, and any time sensitive information that a business might want to communicate with their most loyal customers.

Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com

Source: forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/13/six-key-elements-of-an-effective-inbound-marketing-strategy/#131bdc88326f

Six Digital Marketing Trends Small Business Owners Need To Be Aware Of

As a small business owner, you know that on any given day, you will wear several different hats. Small business owners don’t have the luxury of hiring an in-house IT specialist or a human resources team. You often have to fill in for sick employees so you might be a cashier or an assembly line worker or a customer service agent all in the same day. It can be hard to manage your small business’s marketing needs when you can’t afford a content strategist, a social media marketer, and a website designer. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of six digital marketing trends you should be aware of since you probably don’t have time to stay on top of the ever-changing world of digital marketing yourself.

Mobile

Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly important part of our day-to-day lives and it’s the single most important channel into a prospective customer’s life. You need a mobile optimized website at the very least and you may want to invest in some in-app marketing as well since the average person spends several hours a day on mobile apps.

SMS

SMS is really just a subcategory of mobile marketing but it’s important enough to deserve a separate mention. It’s the cheapest and most effective mobile marketing channel thanks to SMS’s 98% open rate so it’s really a no-brainer.

Social media/video

Almost all social media platforms today have some kind of integrated video playback feature and nowadays, posts that are just words or pictures no longer cut it. You don’t need a huge, expensive video production team, but the occasional live stream can go a long way it boosting social media presence.

Influencers

As a small business owner, you probably can’t afford to hire Beyonce for a 30 second TV spot, you probably couldn’t even afford to pay her to mention your brand in a tweet. But that doesn’t mean you can’t pay for influencers. It may be a niche blogger or Youtuber who regularly reviews the kinds of products you sell. You may even be able to pay him/her with free products in exchange for a fair assessment of those products that will be posted in places where prospective customers will see it.

Personalization

It’s not enough to start of a mass email with your customer’s first name. You need to be gathering data on customer’s online behavior and segmenting your audience to provide a more relevant and personalized advertising experience.

Metrics

Finally, you need to have access to the metrics that can clue you into how effective or ineffective your various marketing efforts are. These metrics are often built into the platform itself whether it’s your business’s Facebook page or your bulk SMS provider so you can see how many people are seeing your posts, opening your texts, clicking on embedded links, and redeeming special offers.

Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com

Source: huffingtonpost.com/entry/5-digital-marketing-trends-for-busy-small-business_us_598b5e95e4b030f0e267c97a