According to Google themselves, "Click +1 can be used to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1′s help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search".
Firstly, before you get put off by having to create another account, don't worry - it is not as time consuming to set up as Facebook. However, if you do have other social network accounts, it can be useful to connect +1 to these; when your friends search for local restaurants online, the one round the corner which you have +1'd will appear in their search rankings, blimey!
Benefits of Google +1 include:
You can build up your profile as you go and with minimal effort; just your name, gender and date of birth will get you started. In theory, all pages on the web can have the +1 function. Whereas on Facebook, you can only 'like' pages that are already on Facebook.
If your friend is using Google Maps to search for a restaurant, your profile will hover above your +1'd restaurant, recommending they visit.
As there isn't an option to 'tweet' or shout about your recent +1 recommendation, your preferences are still known to the world, but just a little more subtly endorsed. You can of course rave away on Facebook and Twitter later as you wish.
If your business incorporates the +1 feature, only people who like your page can make their feelings known. We have all heard the horror stories of companies being publicly slated and condemned on Twitter as soon as bad press is received - good job Google haven't invented the -1 yet!
But what about my business?
Firstly, Google were inundated with users creating a +1 on behalf of their company (e.g. creating a business profile like they have done on Facebook and Twitter) even though they initially intended the +1 function to be for personal use.
Due to popular demand and firms realising the importance of 'humanizing their brand', Google have subsequently introduced a business profile +1, although a launch date has not been leaked as yet - so hold your horses for now but as soon as a date is announced we'll be sure to let you know.
So, trial Google+ using a personal account first, before opening your business doors to it. If you find it easy to use, think about incorporating it into your firm's web pages
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6955697
Thursday 29 March 2012
Tuesday 27 March 2012
5 Ways To Improve Your Twitter Marketing
If you've just started your social media marketing campaign, you might be feeling a bit lost. In this article, I'm going to share five quick, easy things that you can put into place straight away to get you started with your Twitter marketing. They are great if you're just getting started, or you haven't got started just yet, or perhaps you've even got an existing campaign but it's not really working for you and you're looking to improve it.
The first tip is, if you're not doing this already, go out and follow people in your industry. Follow your competitors and watch what they're doing. Really try to find the people that are doing it well, and watch what they're doing, and learn from it. Take the time to spend a few weeks, a few months even, really understanding their social media strategy and then you can start to formulate your own.
Tip number two is to do the same thing with your customers. You should search out and follow your customers, or your potential customers. That might be people of a certain age within a certain location, or it might be businesses of a certain type, again within a certain location or a certain sector. So how do you find them? Twitter has lots of add-on tools that you can use for these purposes, for example there's a service called Twellow, which you can use look up, for example, graphic designers in the London area, and it will return Twitter users which match that profile. The second thing that I recommend is a service called TweetDeck. This allows you to monitor the conversations on Twitter for certain keywords, so if people are talking about your business, or they're talking about problems that you know how to solve, then you can be alerted and then are able to converse and chat to these people. So, an important part of using Twitter is to make the most of its ability to let you monitor your customers and your potential customers.
Third strategy is, and this underpins everything you do on Twitter, is to give value. Don't talk about your breakfast this morning, don't talk about what's frustrating you the day. Give value to the people that are following you. Offer them stuff that's going to be interesting to them, or useful, or even better, entertaining.
Fourth strategy is to communicate regularly. Twitter works best when you're there and you're using it on a regular basis, posting stuff and answering questions and asking questions. You don't have to let it consume your day, but you can do it with just five minutes, three times a day, for example. But it must be regular.
Our final point is to be yourself and to put your personality through it. Don't sell to your followers, don't be boring. Be yourself and show your human side, and you'll get better value from what you're doing with Twitter.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6937408
The first tip is, if you're not doing this already, go out and follow people in your industry. Follow your competitors and watch what they're doing. Really try to find the people that are doing it well, and watch what they're doing, and learn from it. Take the time to spend a few weeks, a few months even, really understanding their social media strategy and then you can start to formulate your own.
Tip number two is to do the same thing with your customers. You should search out and follow your customers, or your potential customers. That might be people of a certain age within a certain location, or it might be businesses of a certain type, again within a certain location or a certain sector. So how do you find them? Twitter has lots of add-on tools that you can use for these purposes, for example there's a service called Twellow, which you can use look up, for example, graphic designers in the London area, and it will return Twitter users which match that profile. The second thing that I recommend is a service called TweetDeck. This allows you to monitor the conversations on Twitter for certain keywords, so if people are talking about your business, or they're talking about problems that you know how to solve, then you can be alerted and then are able to converse and chat to these people. So, an important part of using Twitter is to make the most of its ability to let you monitor your customers and your potential customers.
Third strategy is, and this underpins everything you do on Twitter, is to give value. Don't talk about your breakfast this morning, don't talk about what's frustrating you the day. Give value to the people that are following you. Offer them stuff that's going to be interesting to them, or useful, or even better, entertaining.
Fourth strategy is to communicate regularly. Twitter works best when you're there and you're using it on a regular basis, posting stuff and answering questions and asking questions. You don't have to let it consume your day, but you can do it with just five minutes, three times a day, for example. But it must be regular.
Our final point is to be yourself and to put your personality through it. Don't sell to your followers, don't be boring. Be yourself and show your human side, and you'll get better value from what you're doing with Twitter.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6937408
Thursday 22 March 2012
Increase Site Traffic With The Help Of A Social Media Buzz
Creating buzz on social networking sites can drive tons of viral traffic to your websites. But, are there steps you can actually take to help generate more buzz and therefore much more web traffic? Sure there is. But how you might ask?
First, try to have something that is buzz-worthy. This could be just about anything, but the top "social buzz" items often have to do with something that falls into these categories: funny, stupid, heart-warming, or bone-chilling. The further along the spectrum the content is the more likely other people will want to pass it on to someone they know. There must be a reason for it to go from one person to another.
Learn which social media sites do the most "buzzing".
Most people assume Facebook and Twitter do the most "social buzzing", but this is not likely to be true. While Facebook does get tons of web traffic, people are only connected with however many friends they have at one time. Same with Twitter. So even if you post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, unless you have a ton of followers you might stop the buzz before it happens.
Instead, consider posting your buzz-worthy content to sites like Digg, Stumble Upon and Reddit.
These three sites alone have caused more server crashes due to social buzzing then probably all other sites combined. These sites are actually a cross between social networking and social bookmarking.
Digg is one of the largest social ping sites on the planet. This site has actually been used to refer to server crashing traffic generation as having a site "Digged". There are even a host of software products out there for caching your website content enough to claim the title "Digg Proof". In fact, sites that generate buzz can acquire traffic numbers in the millions from a day or two atop the Digg homepage.
Stumble Upon is another large-scale social bookmarking site. The community of users are extremely dedicated to quality content on this site. This is another site where front page listings could bring down a server just based on the sheer volumes of views the homepage gets. Stumble Upon users can bookmark and share the content directly from their browser with a download-able toolbar. Making the sharing as easy as one click of the mouse. Great for social buzzing.
Reddit is another large sharing site. Many Reddit users are likely online reading it right now. Millions of posts per month covering just about every topic you can think of pass through the Reddit homepage. Everything from jobs, helping others, and even sub-categories to narrow down topics even further. This community has taking niches to a new level. If there is a sub-Reddit about a topic, chances are someone is discussing it.
If your story is truly buzz-worthy, posting it to these three sites at one time could literally melt your server. You might want to let your web-host know what to expect.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6934506
First, try to have something that is buzz-worthy. This could be just about anything, but the top "social buzz" items often have to do with something that falls into these categories: funny, stupid, heart-warming, or bone-chilling. The further along the spectrum the content is the more likely other people will want to pass it on to someone they know. There must be a reason for it to go from one person to another.
Learn which social media sites do the most "buzzing".
Most people assume Facebook and Twitter do the most "social buzzing", but this is not likely to be true. While Facebook does get tons of web traffic, people are only connected with however many friends they have at one time. Same with Twitter. So even if you post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, unless you have a ton of followers you might stop the buzz before it happens.
Instead, consider posting your buzz-worthy content to sites like Digg, Stumble Upon and Reddit.
These three sites alone have caused more server crashes due to social buzzing then probably all other sites combined. These sites are actually a cross between social networking and social bookmarking.
Digg is one of the largest social ping sites on the planet. This site has actually been used to refer to server crashing traffic generation as having a site "Digged". There are even a host of software products out there for caching your website content enough to claim the title "Digg Proof". In fact, sites that generate buzz can acquire traffic numbers in the millions from a day or two atop the Digg homepage.
Stumble Upon is another large-scale social bookmarking site. The community of users are extremely dedicated to quality content on this site. This is another site where front page listings could bring down a server just based on the sheer volumes of views the homepage gets. Stumble Upon users can bookmark and share the content directly from their browser with a download-able toolbar. Making the sharing as easy as one click of the mouse. Great for social buzzing.
Reddit is another large sharing site. Many Reddit users are likely online reading it right now. Millions of posts per month covering just about every topic you can think of pass through the Reddit homepage. Everything from jobs, helping others, and even sub-categories to narrow down topics even further. This community has taking niches to a new level. If there is a sub-Reddit about a topic, chances are someone is discussing it.
If your story is truly buzz-worthy, posting it to these three sites at one time could literally melt your server. You might want to let your web-host know what to expect.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6934506
Thursday 15 March 2012
A Beginner's Guide to Google+
Google+, the social networking platform was Google's attempt to make sharing more natural on the social media. It aims at integrating most things that an individual would want to share - photos, videos, blogposts, maps and other information - into a single platform to make it simpler and more human. There are many individuals and companies who are attempting to guide people with their Google+ guide, but not many attain their tutorial objectives. Here is a short Google+ guide to help you get started
Your Circles
Google+ is integrated with Google mail, and you can easily import your contacts (choosing the contacts you want to import) and add them to your circles. You can create as many circles as you like, keeping similar people in the same circles, E.g. Family, friends, colleagues, and bloggers. You can also control how much information you share with each circle. When you have news to share but not to all and sundry, you can share the status update with only those in your family circle; if you had a wild night out and do not want your aunts and uncles knowing about it, you can share it with friends only.
Your Stream
Clicking on the "Google+" tab will take you to your Google+ Homepage. At the centre of the page is your stream - the space where you can see updates from your friends and people you follow. On the left, there are options to customise which posts from your screen you can see, and you can opt to see posts only from circles comprising, for instance, friends, family or colleagues.
Hangouts
Google+ allows you to video chat with more than two people at a time, for free! Talk to family or a group of friends anytime, with high quality audio and video. It requires no installation, just that your computer be equipped with a webcam, microphone and speakers.
Search
Once you start using Google+ together with all of your normal web search activity you will start to notice the effects of it's personalisation on search results. By +1'ing articles that you find useful more relevant results will begin to appear in search queries. Google is now adding weight to search results that have been marked by yourself and also any of your Circles. This personalisation of the web is probably just the beginning of further intergration from Google+.
Conclusion
There is still a lot of confusion about Google+. If you have a gmail account or use Google for your daily web experience, there is no avoiding the fact that Google Plus is here to stay. Not many people are using it yet, compared to Facebook and Twitter, but that is set to rapidly change.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6929807
Your Circles
Google+ is integrated with Google mail, and you can easily import your contacts (choosing the contacts you want to import) and add them to your circles. You can create as many circles as you like, keeping similar people in the same circles, E.g. Family, friends, colleagues, and bloggers. You can also control how much information you share with each circle. When you have news to share but not to all and sundry, you can share the status update with only those in your family circle; if you had a wild night out and do not want your aunts and uncles knowing about it, you can share it with friends only.
Your Stream
Clicking on the "Google+" tab will take you to your Google+ Homepage. At the centre of the page is your stream - the space where you can see updates from your friends and people you follow. On the left, there are options to customise which posts from your screen you can see, and you can opt to see posts only from circles comprising, for instance, friends, family or colleagues.
Hangouts
Google+ allows you to video chat with more than two people at a time, for free! Talk to family or a group of friends anytime, with high quality audio and video. It requires no installation, just that your computer be equipped with a webcam, microphone and speakers.
Search
Once you start using Google+ together with all of your normal web search activity you will start to notice the effects of it's personalisation on search results. By +1'ing articles that you find useful more relevant results will begin to appear in search queries. Google is now adding weight to search results that have been marked by yourself and also any of your Circles. This personalisation of the web is probably just the beginning of further intergration from Google+.
Conclusion
There is still a lot of confusion about Google+. If you have a gmail account or use Google for your daily web experience, there is no avoiding the fact that Google Plus is here to stay. Not many people are using it yet, compared to Facebook and Twitter, but that is set to rapidly change.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6929807
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Social Media Marketing Tips
Social media marketing is a relatively new marketing concept that involves increased social interaction on websites and has gained enormous popularity over the last year or two. There are a number of different types of social media sites but all of these have in common that their users can participate on the website by sharing comments, posting their own content or making friends online. If you are still new to social media and need a few marketing tips, read on:
Use as Many Social Media Marketing Tools as Possible
The first tip is to use as many social media marketing tools as possible. There are many different types of social media and within this there are also many different websites. Registering for as many of these as possible and then using them correctly is a great way to boost your website traffic.
Some of these social networking and social media websites that allow you to interact with others online include Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter, as well as social content sites such as HubPages and YouTube. All these websites allow you to either create contacts through their website or else add content of your own to the website (such as articles to HubPages or videos to YouTube).
Link Your Social Media Accounts
If registering for many different social media websites seems overwhelming at first, don't worry. A great way to reduce the amount of time you need to spend on each of these websites is to link many of them together. For example, many social networks allow you to integrate with Twitter so that when you update your Twitter status it is also shown on your social network accounts or when you update your social networks you can perhaps send this to Twitter.
Social Content and Social Bookmarking
Many business owners have used article marketing to promote their business, but have you used social content? Social content holds a number of benefits over article marketing while still being a similar concept. Put up a social content page on Squidoo or Hub Pages and then bookmark these with Digg, Stumbleupon, etc.
Social content websites are like the old article marketing websites in that you can add articles you have written but differ in that you can also add other elements such as graphics, YouTube videos, and interactive elements such as polls, comments, etc. that allow your readers to interact with your article. They also allow people who like your articles to 'follow' you which shows that they are interested in the articles you post and they can also subscribe to them.
Social bookmarking allows you to save a list of your favourite websites on another website where people can see them as well. These websites also allow you to make friends with people who find the websites you are listing interesting and want to know when you add other websites.
Automate What Can be Automated
Fortunately some aspects of social media marketing, such as updating your Twitter status, can be automated so that you set it up once and can then forget about it (at least for a while). Make use of this, especially if you are short of time, as it will greatly reduce the amount of time you need to allocate to social media marketing.
Encourage Visitors to Use Social Media
Another way you can use social media marketing is by encouraging visitors to your website to use it. Put up share buttons on your website pages that allow visitors to quickly and easily bookmark your pages on their social bookmarking accounts. Connect your website to Facebook and Twitter so that people can share links from your website on their Facebook or Twitter accounts, update their statuses through your website, etc.
Make Lots of Friends
Another important social media marketing tip is to make as many friends or followers on these websites as possible. The more connections you have, the more people will see your updates and marketing messages.
Use Social Media Marketing Tools
Since the increase in popularity of social media a number of websites have come out that are not social media sites themselves but that give you the tools you need to use the social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, more effectively.
Social media marketing should be a part of every internet marketer's arsenal of tools. Use as many of these websites as you can and link them together and encourage your visitors to use them too; automate the process and use other tools to help you become more effective at social media marketing.
Use as Many Social Media Marketing Tools as Possible
The first tip is to use as many social media marketing tools as possible. There are many different types of social media and within this there are also many different websites. Registering for as many of these as possible and then using them correctly is a great way to boost your website traffic.
Some of these social networking and social media websites that allow you to interact with others online include Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter, as well as social content sites such as HubPages and YouTube. All these websites allow you to either create contacts through their website or else add content of your own to the website (such as articles to HubPages or videos to YouTube).
Link Your Social Media Accounts
If registering for many different social media websites seems overwhelming at first, don't worry. A great way to reduce the amount of time you need to spend on each of these websites is to link many of them together. For example, many social networks allow you to integrate with Twitter so that when you update your Twitter status it is also shown on your social network accounts or when you update your social networks you can perhaps send this to Twitter.
Social Content and Social Bookmarking
Many business owners have used article marketing to promote their business, but have you used social content? Social content holds a number of benefits over article marketing while still being a similar concept. Put up a social content page on Squidoo or Hub Pages and then bookmark these with Digg, Stumbleupon, etc.
Social content websites are like the old article marketing websites in that you can add articles you have written but differ in that you can also add other elements such as graphics, YouTube videos, and interactive elements such as polls, comments, etc. that allow your readers to interact with your article. They also allow people who like your articles to 'follow' you which shows that they are interested in the articles you post and they can also subscribe to them.
Social bookmarking allows you to save a list of your favourite websites on another website where people can see them as well. These websites also allow you to make friends with people who find the websites you are listing interesting and want to know when you add other websites.
Automate What Can be Automated
Fortunately some aspects of social media marketing, such as updating your Twitter status, can be automated so that you set it up once and can then forget about it (at least for a while). Make use of this, especially if you are short of time, as it will greatly reduce the amount of time you need to allocate to social media marketing.
Encourage Visitors to Use Social Media
Another way you can use social media marketing is by encouraging visitors to your website to use it. Put up share buttons on your website pages that allow visitors to quickly and easily bookmark your pages on their social bookmarking accounts. Connect your website to Facebook and Twitter so that people can share links from your website on their Facebook or Twitter accounts, update their statuses through your website, etc.
Make Lots of Friends
Another important social media marketing tip is to make as many friends or followers on these websites as possible. The more connections you have, the more people will see your updates and marketing messages.
Use Social Media Marketing Tools
Since the increase in popularity of social media a number of websites have come out that are not social media sites themselves but that give you the tools you need to use the social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, more effectively.
Social media marketing should be a part of every internet marketer's arsenal of tools. Use as many of these websites as you can and link them together and encourage your visitors to use them too; automate the process and use other tools to help you become more effective at social media marketing.
Thursday 8 March 2012
3 Tips To Successful Facebook Fan Pages
Facebook fanpages play a huge part in your overall business exposure and can either damage your company or make it a thriving success. Here are 3 tips on how to use your fanpage to become a thriving success.
Tip 1 - Ask Questions/ Polls
A great way to get your fans to start interacting with you is to ask questions. When they start answering this question will show up the in feeds of many others of their friends further increasing the exposure to your fan page where they can answer too. These questions should be business related such things as what would you like to see come from our company next or what do you enjoy the most about what we offer.
Providing interactive feedback such as this is great for customer feedback as well as exposure for your Facebook fanpage and for your overall business.
Tip 2 - Interact With Your Fan (Special Offers)
From time to time its a great idea to reward those who have liked your fanpage. You can do any number of things such as contents for some of your products for free. Run a contest where the 100th person to enter your store wins something creating a lot of foot traffic for your business. Little things like this can go a long way in creating more business for your store or site. Be creative and get people interest and sharing your page.
Tip 3 - Post Helpful Information Related To Topic
One of the fastest ways to get fans on unfan you is by creating content that has nothing to do with what your about or your company. Stay on track and focused by providing valued information about the niche you are in. Helping others goes a long way for increasing your exposure for your site. Answer questions that get posted and post articles on your blog that will help your clients.
These three tips are sure to get your fanpage on the right foot and get you off and running in the right direction. If it takes too much time for you to do this yourself consider hiring someone to do so. Just remember the will be the face of your business so train them well on your company values and what you stand for. Also be sure to keep active with it you should be doing this daily in order to compound your results.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6891472
Tip 1 - Ask Questions/ Polls
A great way to get your fans to start interacting with you is to ask questions. When they start answering this question will show up the in feeds of many others of their friends further increasing the exposure to your fan page where they can answer too. These questions should be business related such things as what would you like to see come from our company next or what do you enjoy the most about what we offer.
Providing interactive feedback such as this is great for customer feedback as well as exposure for your Facebook fanpage and for your overall business.
Tip 2 - Interact With Your Fan (Special Offers)
From time to time its a great idea to reward those who have liked your fanpage. You can do any number of things such as contents for some of your products for free. Run a contest where the 100th person to enter your store wins something creating a lot of foot traffic for your business. Little things like this can go a long way in creating more business for your store or site. Be creative and get people interest and sharing your page.
Tip 3 - Post Helpful Information Related To Topic
One of the fastest ways to get fans on unfan you is by creating content that has nothing to do with what your about or your company. Stay on track and focused by providing valued information about the niche you are in. Helping others goes a long way for increasing your exposure for your site. Answer questions that get posted and post articles on your blog that will help your clients.
These three tips are sure to get your fanpage on the right foot and get you off and running in the right direction. If it takes too much time for you to do this yourself consider hiring someone to do so. Just remember the will be the face of your business so train them well on your company values and what you stand for. Also be sure to keep active with it you should be doing this daily in order to compound your results.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6891472
Tuesday 6 March 2012
Need More YouTube Views? Try Pinterest
Independent film and entertainment studio Lionsgate holds the majority (30%) of the market share of fitness DVDs. Naturally, the company decided to create a YouTube channel comprised of athletic content. What it didn’t anticipate is how effectively Pinterest could promote its YouTube presence.
Launched Jan. 3, 2012 as part of YouTube’s Original Content initiative, Lionsgate BeFit features dozens of workout videos from celebrity trainers like Jillian Michaels and Jane Fonda. The channel posts to YouTube once a day, with the goal to generate as many viewers as possible to each video within 48 hours.
And what has been BeFit’s most successful traffic generator? Pinterest.
Digital brand and content manager of Lionsgate, Tahndi Campbell, says that within five days of Feb. 1, when Lionsgate introduced video content to its Pinterest profile, Lionsgate BeFit’s YouTube activity doubled, from 200,000 to 400,000 views. “I think we are reaching our audience in such a way that makes them highly, highly engaged with our product,” says Campbell.
Brands, media organizations and retailers alike are celebrating astounding referral traffic, thanks to Pinterest. Lionsgate is turning that traffic into views, and those views into advertising opportunities. The majority of Lionsgate BeFit’s pins are YouTube videos, which Pinterest users can watch right on Pinterest.com. The views not only count toward the channel’s YouTube traffic, but users are also exposed to the video’s original ads as well, which helps for future monetizing opportunities.
“We look at Pinterest as a way to cultivate an audience that is actually going to click the links and get that initial burst of traffic to our YouTube channel,” says Campbell. She explains that the more viewers they attract to YouTube, the higher the chance for continued engagement and commenting. “That’s going to send our video up in the search results, up in featured and suggested video. Then, it’s in front of a whole new audience on YouTube, even if we only drive 20 [Pinterest] people there who are highly engaged users.”
Anyone concerned that Pinterest users don’t actually click the links that host original content need only look at the numbers. Pinterest is now among the top five websites to drive referrals, and is neck and neck with Twitter at 3.6% of referral traffic. For some women’s lifestyle magazines and retailers, Pinterest referrals have already surpassed Facebook’s.
Social media manager of Lionsgate home entertainment, Megan Peterson, has observed that Pinterest users are very apt to search for pins’ original websites. “Pinterest users are very source hungry,” she says. “They want to know where that picture’s from, they want to know where they can get that workout, or where they can get that recipe.”
Since brands are still determining which content works best on Pinterest, Lionsgate decided to use other social media platforms to inform its Pinterest activity. “If we post a video on Facebook and it gets a certain amount of shares, then chances are if we post it on Pinterest, its going to get the same amount of pins. We’ve seen that to be true,” says Campbell.
Similarly, they don’t want to bombard their Twitter audience by tweeting every single pin. “Not everything needs to be pinned because that’s annoying on the Twitter feed,” says Peterson. “You don’t want to just be pinning and tweeting, at the same time, everything you’re doing.”
Finally, Lionsgate celebrates the inherently personal nature of Pinterest. “If you look at our Pinterest page, it really looks like a girl is speaking to what it is that she’s trying to work on on her body,” says Campbell. Where other social networks lack a human quality, Pinterest allows brands to create personas based on taste that speak to very specific demographics.
Using Pinterest, Lionsgate has managed to achieve twofold success: The brand has not only cashed in on the hottest new social network, but it has used its Pinterest presence to strengthen YouTube views. Will Pinterest continue to surprise us?
Launched Jan. 3, 2012 as part of YouTube’s Original Content initiative, Lionsgate BeFit features dozens of workout videos from celebrity trainers like Jillian Michaels and Jane Fonda. The channel posts to YouTube once a day, with the goal to generate as many viewers as possible to each video within 48 hours.
And what has been BeFit’s most successful traffic generator? Pinterest.
Digital brand and content manager of Lionsgate, Tahndi Campbell, says that within five days of Feb. 1, when Lionsgate introduced video content to its Pinterest profile, Lionsgate BeFit’s YouTube activity doubled, from 200,000 to 400,000 views. “I think we are reaching our audience in such a way that makes them highly, highly engaged with our product,” says Campbell.
Brands, media organizations and retailers alike are celebrating astounding referral traffic, thanks to Pinterest. Lionsgate is turning that traffic into views, and those views into advertising opportunities. The majority of Lionsgate BeFit’s pins are YouTube videos, which Pinterest users can watch right on Pinterest.com. The views not only count toward the channel’s YouTube traffic, but users are also exposed to the video’s original ads as well, which helps for future monetizing opportunities.
“We look at Pinterest as a way to cultivate an audience that is actually going to click the links and get that initial burst of traffic to our YouTube channel,” says Campbell. She explains that the more viewers they attract to YouTube, the higher the chance for continued engagement and commenting. “That’s going to send our video up in the search results, up in featured and suggested video. Then, it’s in front of a whole new audience on YouTube, even if we only drive 20 [Pinterest] people there who are highly engaged users.”
Anyone concerned that Pinterest users don’t actually click the links that host original content need only look at the numbers. Pinterest is now among the top five websites to drive referrals, and is neck and neck with Twitter at 3.6% of referral traffic. For some women’s lifestyle magazines and retailers, Pinterest referrals have already surpassed Facebook’s.
Social media manager of Lionsgate home entertainment, Megan Peterson, has observed that Pinterest users are very apt to search for pins’ original websites. “Pinterest users are very source hungry,” she says. “They want to know where that picture’s from, they want to know where they can get that workout, or where they can get that recipe.”
Since brands are still determining which content works best on Pinterest, Lionsgate decided to use other social media platforms to inform its Pinterest activity. “If we post a video on Facebook and it gets a certain amount of shares, then chances are if we post it on Pinterest, its going to get the same amount of pins. We’ve seen that to be true,” says Campbell.
Similarly, they don’t want to bombard their Twitter audience by tweeting every single pin. “Not everything needs to be pinned because that’s annoying on the Twitter feed,” says Peterson. “You don’t want to just be pinning and tweeting, at the same time, everything you’re doing.”
Finally, Lionsgate celebrates the inherently personal nature of Pinterest. “If you look at our Pinterest page, it really looks like a girl is speaking to what it is that she’s trying to work on on her body,” says Campbell. Where other social networks lack a human quality, Pinterest allows brands to create personas based on taste that speak to very specific demographics.
Using Pinterest, Lionsgate has managed to achieve twofold success: The brand has not only cashed in on the hottest new social network, but it has used its Pinterest presence to strengthen YouTube views. Will Pinterest continue to surprise us?
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