1. Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

Social media profiles are like all your other business profiles, so do it right!  Your username, account name, and business name should all be consistent. Provide a URL to your site too!

For example, searching “Donuts” in Pinterest’s “pinners” section, it provides a nearly endless list of users that all have practically the same name. It’s for this reason Social Media Managers need to keep account information organized, clean, and compatible across all platforms.

2. Verify Your Pinterest Account

Verified Pinterest accounts have more authority in searches. Here is a link to instructions on how to verify a Pinterest account. (Social Media Managers need to verify any and all accounts whenever possible.)

3. Write Solid Descriptions

Write descriptions for humans, not robots. People want the name of a product, where to learn more/purchase, and any specifics like size or color. (Pinners rarely rewrite descriptions, so make it count!)

4. Use Rich Pins

Rich Pins are similar to Twitter Cards in that they pull structured data from your site and display it on Pinterest. Depending on what type of Rich Pin you use, they can show price, availability, and even ingredients. The work managers put into this now will payoff in the future with less time spent on writing descriptions and higher click through rates.

5. Think Long Term

This is where a Social Media Manager can be a bit of an SEO. Make sure you stay on top of 404 errors and out of stock items. If for whatever reason an item/page on your home site is no longer available, redirect or re-work that page. Don’t have old pins sending new visitors to broken or out-of-date pages. This traffic is not only going to leave frustrated, but your bounce rate will rise too!!

6. Start a New Category

If you have a niche product or you simply can’t find a mainstream way to tag your products, create your own categories. Look for a category with a high search volume and a small amount of content. Or, tag your weird product or new design with old familiar tags that are more likely to be searched. On the other hand, DO NOT put all sorts of unrelated tags on every pin you create. This is the best way to scare off users.

7. Stay Organized

Just like SEOs tend to a website, Social Media Managers need to keep pins and boards organized as well. If you want to be a real champ, create a system of organization that is a reflection of your website. This way, Pinterest referral traffic will already have a feel for your site’s content.

Want to know what a real life Social Media Manager thinks? Contact The Clix Group.

The post 7 Tips For A Pinterest Manager appeared first on Clix.

1. New Site Design

I love pinterest, and have since it first came out. The best part about pinterest to me, were the images and how easily you could see food, clothes, home decorations and anything you else pin. The new design has enhanced the images greatly in my opinion. They have removed the white space around each of the pins to allow for the pin images to be larger and has made a clearer layout of your newsfeed in general. They’ve also changed your profile page, its more condensed now, and is much more focused on each image, rather than the white space surrounding it. While these updates may look minor to some, to me and others who are on Pinterest all the time, it was very noticeable, and a welcome change. Bigger is better, and I am loving the new look with the bigger images, its much more inviting and easier to browse.

This update will also help brands and businesses who are imaged based get more business from Pinterest. The larger the images, and the indepth potential customers can see your products, the better. This is a nice change for businesses as well.

The Old Pinterest Layout

The New Pinterest Layout

2. New Analytics Tool

In March, Pinterest introduced a new free analytics tool which allows users to “track he number of pinners and pins collecting material from their sites, and the number of repinners and repins those initial pins received.” Website owners can also track the number of impressions and reach on Pinterest, as well as referral traffic sent back to their website. This is all great data to have as a business owner. They can easily see what products and images are or are not doing well on Pinterest, and which ones are bring the most traffic to the website. Its great data to have for future reference so you can make sure you put the right products on Pinterest.

Both of these updates have enhanced the user experience on the social media platform. Its important for businesses to see the type of traffic they are getting from such sites like Pinterest, and this new tool will make that a lot easier and provide reliable information.

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Secret Boards allow users to pin items that they don’t necessarily want to share with the world. This could be anything from gift ideas to behind the scenes party planning efforts. Pins to Secret Boards are only viewable by the creator and any collaborators, and do not appear anywhere else on the site.

To start using Secret Boards, visit the Boards section of your profile page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see a new section for Secret Boards.

You can also create a Secret Board by selecting the Add + tab in the menu bar. Select Create A Board. In the board information, switch the Secret tab to “on”.

Once you have created the board, you can start adding pins. For the purposes of testing the new feature, I decided to start making a list of Christmas gifts I need to buy.

*If my family is reading this, these are not your actual gifts, sorry!

In the descriptions of the pins I added who the gift was meant for and whether or not I had made the purchase. This is much easier to maintain than a piece of notebook paper with ideas scratched off as I made purchases, and will be especially helpful if you (like me) plan to do the majority of your holiday shopping online this year.

The limit on Secret Boards begs the question, if I delete a Secret Board or decide to make it public, will I receive a new board to replace it? The answer is yes. After I complete my Christmas shopping for 2012, I can delete my board and start planning ahead for 2013!

Secret Boards could prove to be advantageous for business owners incorporating social media as well. For example, a kitchen design company could use a Secret Board to share design ideas and collaborate with a client without using email. This keeps all of the images in a single location, and eliminates the need to open files every time you need to view a photo.

Secret Boards can also be used within a company to share ideas and inspiration for new products or pitches.

What do you think- will you use Secret Boards in your social media strategies? Let us know in the comments!

The post Pinterest Adds New Feature, Secret Boards, In Time For Holiday Shopping appeared first on Clix.

MLB:

With the start of the 2012 season, MLB announced its new social media strategy. Beginning with a Twitter hashtag giveaway (#MLBTVme), MLB dove headfirst into their new plan. In 2012, all Major League teams (including the St. Louis Cardinals) have been given Tumblr and Pinterest accounts. This effort to expand builds on the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts that were previously used.

In addition to an increased web presence, MLB has decided to employ real-time correspondents to provide on the ground coverage of the team and fans during games. The staff will be present at each ballpark interviewing players and fans, posting photos, and updating as the games progress. Keep an eye out for the social media correspondents when the Cards open Busch Stadium next week!

Tumblr:

The Cardinal’s have yet to post to their new MLB mandated Tumblr account, but it would be safe to assume that as the season gets underway and the team returns to Busch Stadium more content will start to surface.

Pinterest:

“Pinning is winning” so it seems natural for the 2011 World Series Champions to have a Pinterest account. The social media site is perfect for pictures and merchandise. After a quick search I discovered that there are a lot of people pinning Cardinals items, so hopefully the organization can harness that fan base and create boards that St. Louis wants to see.

Cardinals:

The social media presence of the Cardinals is well managed. Currently, the birds are the fourth most liked team in the National League. The team Facebook includes team updates, ticket specials, behind-the-scenes photos, and information about non-baseball events. Personally, I find the Cardinals to be a well-managed brand on Facebook. They follow the rules of posting relevant content and keeping the audience engaged. Of course, being the World Series champs probably helps too.

The Cardinals will make their attempt to snag #12in12 this year. If last year showed St. Louis fans anything, it’s that baseball is unpredictable. Having the most reliable sources can make the difference between winning and losing in some cases. Remember this announcement from a FOX affiliate in Dallas?

With such a strong social media strategy, you can get your Cardinal’s news straight from the team and avoid any potentially upsetting misinformation.

The post St. Louis Cardinals Baseball- Stay Involved With Social Media appeared first on Clix.

Overloading the Audience:

There is a balance that must be achieved by companies who do not want to drive away audience members as a result of SEO efforts. The number of posts per day a brand submits to social sites such as Facebook and Twitter can affect how the audience interacts with the brand. Facebook is primarily a friend sharing social tool. Users who “like” brand pages are showing support for the brand, but unlikely to want to see posts lining up in news feeds multiple times each day. Users who feel their feed is being overrun will unlike a brand or hide brand content. Neither of these reactions is ideal.

Twitter is a different avenue and allows brands more freedom to post multiple times per day. As a result of the constant flow of tweets and the likelihood that users review their entire Twitter feeds, it is a good idea to repost content to capture more users. Those who saw it the first time probably won’t see it the second time: it’s the nature of the media.

Knowing your audience and their level of engagement can help regulate the number of posts a brand projects. If users are participating actively multiple times per day, providing more content is suitable. If users are engaged in the morning and ignoring evening posts it would be advisable to remove evening posting schedules.

Reducing Content Quality:

Content is King in the world of SEO and social media. Users want to see that their time and support of a brand has not been wasted. Providing good content is a key element of developing an active social audience and improving search engine rankings. Over-optimization can cause the quality to decrease and disengage the audience. Overloading content with keywords and improper grammar is a red flag to the audience. No one wants to support a brand that doesn’t understand spellcheck or the basics of writing.

Obvious Marketing Efforts:

Obvious marketing efforts are one of the fastest ways to drive away an audience. The primary culprit in this avenue is currently the social media darling, Pinterest. As brands look for a way to incorporate Pinterest for SEO efforts many are too clearly promoting product sales and driving away potential follows and pins. Users view social media as a conversational haven, not a place where marketers will target them. It is up to the brands to be smart and develop keywords and captions that don’t appear to be sales pitches.

Over-optimization is a problem in the current social media climate. Finding the balance between engaging an audience and driving them away is tricky and should not be taken lightly. As a St. Louis SEO company, we know it is up to the brands to understand the population and its reaction to advertising and promotional posts. Accounting for the wants and needs of the audience can prevent over-optimization and keep your conversation relevant.

The post Is Over-Optimization Killing Your Social Potential? appeared first on Clix.

Launched in May 2012, and still in its beta stage, Pinterest has exploded onto the internet social scene. Its users are predominantly female, with nearly 30% declaring household incomes exceeding $100,000 annually. Users are located predominantly in the Midwest, which makes the site particularly interesting to The Clix Group, a St. Louis SEO company. Businesses that can find a home on Pinterest are those with visually appealing elements. This is especially true for retailers and those in the food business.

Pinterest has an interesting method of driving traffic. Users “pin” or “repin” photos that are linked to the home site. Websites can incorporate Pinterest buttons on pages with images, allowing visitors to pin the image and link to the site. This linking method is surprisingly effective at generating traffic. The problem? The links generated are no follow. This means that they presently do not add any value to a brand’s SEO.

Pinterest Pins: Technology

What does that really mean? Pinterest, as much as I hate to say it, not a key factor in SEO… yet. While the site currently does not generate track-able links, there is potential for that to change in the future. Pinterest has grown in less than a year to generating more referral traffic than YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+ combined, and with that kind of progress the site has become the site to watch in 2012.

While SEO companies won’t find rankings use for Pinterest just yet, it is important for Social Media Strategists to jump on board and begin developing a community. The traffic generated to businesses with online retail options or nationwide locations can cause dramatic influx of business when navigated effectively.

The post A “Pinteresting” Question for SEO appeared first on Clix.

You’ve started your new blog, made a couple of posts and made it look all flashy and stuff.  Now what?  How do you get people to interact with you on social media?  The first tip seems rather obvious, but might be overlooked if you’re new to blogging.  Display your social media icons prominently near the top of your blog.  This will make it easy for your readers to connect with you on your social networks.  I say this is a great idea.  Next you will want to create a Facebook page for your blog specifically, this isn’t the first thing I would do, but it makes sense, it might drive your blog readers to be your fan on Facebook, which ultimately creates more interaction.

Some of the other tips included generating traffic with StumbleUpon, which is a recommendation engine; again this should be good for your blog as long as you tag things appropriately for random people to find your niche.  Using the same concept there are a few tips about using things you might already be using to promote yourself, such as sending your RSS feed to your LinkedIn account and using Pinterest.  You can even add a pin it button to your blog, to make it easy for your users to share your content.  If you can get people you already engage with to interact with your new blog, then others might join in.

Other tips were to use link shorteners, even when you don’t need to; this is so you can gain access to metrics.  Metrics are always good; this way you know who is clicking and when they are doing it.  Other things you can do is to use your blog name as your username, this will promote your personal brand.  On top of that you should join many blogger groups on Facebook, this will hopefully lead other bloggers to link to you, if you have good content, which ultimately builds social awareness of your blog.

On that same note, you should show some love to other bloggers as well, retweet them, share their content on Facebook, or repin their stuff, and hopefully they will return the favor.  The last thing you should remember is to stay on Social Media, continue to post and read everything you can.  This will help you make and maintain relationships and get new ideas for your upcoming blog posts.

The post Socially Interacting with your Blog Readers appeared first on Clix.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections.  Pinterest plans to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting.  The idea is for each user to create and label pins that go on specific boards under many different categories.  Once uploaded or shared on Pinterest, the images become known as Pins.

At fist this might seem pointless, but think about the possibilities.  What if you are a bride to be and you can completely replace the three-ring wedding binder.  What if you are a college student and you want to create a shopping list of things you need for school.  Think about if you like to cook as a hobby, and now you can follow other culinary hobbyist and share recipes.  The possibilities are endless.

The Social Angle

The question might be, where does the social part of Pinterest come into play?  That’s actually the fun and easy part.  It’s as simple as finding a good pin, leaving a comment, liking it, maybe repining it to your own board.  You can then head over to the Pinners profile and follow their Boards.  You can also Tweet or share your pins on Facebook.  Pins can be pictures or videos, want to learn how to sew or skateboard?  I bet there’s a tutorial for it.

SEO?

The next question then is where does this fit into the SEO world, it is obviously a great tool to share, and its live in the Social Media world, however if you have a small business will it work to increase your SEO?  With Pinterest being on the hot list for social networks and cracking the top 10 list for social networks (while still being invite only) some peoples first instinct might be this is the next great free SEO tool, but not so fast.

So far the trend seems that you can promote your small business, however do so in small doses and with caution.  Pinterest users frown upon spam, who doesn’t, I don’t even like the food.  You won’t get banned if you simply load your boards with products from your business, however if you want to be taken serious, you will have to contribute to the community, which can help to build your brand by linking and connecting with people that share your companies style.  Be creative when using Pinterest for promotion and it might become your friend.  The jury is still out on where the service will fall into place in the SEO world.

The post Where Does Pinterest fit in? appeared first on Clix.