It’s been quite a while since I can announce a start-up social media service that I really believe has the power to take on the established social media companies. Those who run bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, Digg or Multiply better mind their bank balances!
The new kid is PinInterest.com
Pinterest Social Media Newbie
Pinterest is an online bulletin board for your favorite images, launched in 2010 and is already experiencing wild growth. It has gone thru a soft launch where you can become a member after only receiving an invite. I did this last week and it took about 3 days before i was sent a link to activate an account. I would try it yourself as actions speak louder than words on how it works.
The growth of the service is simply exciting and for small businesses it presents a fresh opportunity. You can post images of your company’s products on your Pinterest board and link them back to your website. It works as a sort of virtual store catalog.
Pinterest site registered more than 7 million unique visitors in December 2012, up from 1.6 million in September. And it’s driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined, according to a recent report from Cambridge, Mass.-based content-sharing site Shareaholic.
A New Digg?
Digg : The social news site changed the Internet, Digg’s offers high power authority and a listing in Digg for a site, even if it only has a couple of votes, will rank highly on Google and other search engines for certain terms. I believe that same power and authority is about to be transferred from traditional sites to Piniterest.
Women just love Pinterest!
According to Alexa Pinterest is attracting women by the droves aged between 25-34 years of age , Pinterest is attractive , pictures speak a thousand words and you will find lots of shoes, handbags and pins of good looking celebrities.
Like all these things get in early and establish your brand Google respects old pages and old posts so get your company on Pinterest now and reap the benefits later. A word of warning self promotion will need to be limited as the sites policies does not encourage self promotion. The best way to determine if Pinterest could attract buyers is simply to give it a go
Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.
Install the bookmarklet. It lets you add a pin from any website with just one click.
Follow a few more pinboards. After all, Pinterest is as much about discovering new things as it is about sharing.
Pin carefully! As one of the first members of Pinterest, your pins will help set the tone for the whole community. Use big images, write thoughtful descriptions, and pin things you really love. Also, no nudity
Celebrities generate huge audiences that they can sell too
A recent post by celeb gossip blog Richcrib.com highlights the fact that social media has become a promotional play ground for the rich and famous. Its no surprise that with their huge audiences celebrities succumb to selling promotional tweets. The audience sizes beat many TV stations, newspapers and other traditional media. The cost to tweet to an audience of millions must run into tens of thousands all for a tweet less than 140 characters. I have no doubt this extra stream of revenue comes in handy especially when the actual process is not actually managed by the celebrity themselves.
Twitter is a social tool so you need to be social most celebs post updates designed for no interaction, it seems that these tweets are more like a warm up act before the big show. The odd tweet here and there just to keep the account fresh and the audience interested. When it comes to a new film, book or other promotion then we see the celebrity increase tweets and Hash tags.
So excited to announce that I’ll be working with #Hasbro on their new game called Twister Dance. You guys are going to love it! @HasbroNews
We can all learn from celebrities
Over selling in a tweet can be the most boring and unattractive thing you can do! If we watch how celebs conduct their accounts you will see that talking about everything else other than the next promotion keeps an interest by followers. This makes it very effective as when the promotional tweets are launched followers will listen.
Twitter is a Promotional Opportunity
Businesses can access large audiences using the numerous services available to get your message noticed. Here are some services that help you promote to large audiences
More followers means you may be able to sell like a celeb
By attracting more followers to your twitter account you are creating a potential audience that you can promote too. The value of a huge twitter audience can turn into real money as advertisers target niche twitter accounts. Here are some services that may actually buy advertising from your twitter account
Their is a huge range of services that will help you increase followers, some of these services involve fake accounts and robotic follows. These are worthless for social media interaction but good to show others how many followers you have. Those that buy tweets will want to see the level of activity your followers generate so these fake followers are near useless for this purpose.
You will find a host of low cost social media solutions at FiveQuidExpert.com
New figures from a leading retail consultancy have found the Brits spent a record amount with online retailers in 2011. 16 per cent more was spent online in 2011 than in 2010 as increased numbers of shoppers bought goods and services on the web.
So, can you afford not to sell your goods and services online?
Online sales expected to increase by 13% in 2012
According to the research by Capgemini, a record £68 billion was spent online in 2011, up 16 per cent on the previous year with online shopping now accounting for 17 per cent of the British retail market.
The Guardian reports that ‘growing numbers of retailers are launching or expanding online businesses, leading Capgemini to predict that total online retail sales will jump by 13 per cent in 2012 to reach £77 billion.’
One analyst said: “Online is such an integral part of the shopping experience now that it generally plays at least some role in most purchases, whether through research and comparison or social media and product reviews.”
Increasingly important to market yourself online
Nick Marr “It seems that only the very rich do not need to sell online , its a low cost method to maximising your returns. Those who who can get free search engine traffic are making huge returns on investment”
If you want to ensure your business is a success it is becoming increasingly important that you market yourself online. This may be through your own website although portals which allow shoppers to access a wide number of independent sellers on one website are becoming increasingly popular.
Sites such as Etsy and Not on the High Street now offer a range of handmade gifts and goods from thousands of sellers in one place whilst you can buy services from professional websites such as Elance and People per Hour.
Another excellent place for you to market your services is on Five Quid Expert. This new site offers a unique service where you can market anything from IT help to translation services to buyers at a price of £5. Five Quid Expert is a ‘one stop shop’ for buyers looking for inexpensive goods and services and offers you a great opportunity to be part of the online shopping boom.
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The growth of the service is simply exciting and for small businesses it presents a fresh opportunity. You can post images of your company’s products on your Pinterest board and link them back to your website. It works as a sort of virtual store catalog.
Like all these things get in early and establish your brand Google respects old pages and old posts so get your company on Pinterest now and reap the benefits later. A word of warning self promotion will need to be limited as the sites policies does not encourage self promotion. The best way to determine if Pinterest could attract buyers is simply to give it a go
