Article Archive by Marni Weinberg

Pinterest – Is it Right for Your Company?

by Marni Weinberg

Although a tad reluctant at first, many businesses have embraced the Social Media world and are pretty active on their channels. Social Media is a brilliant way to engage with clients or customers, offer exclusive incentives and promote new products or services. That being said, many companies have become rather proficient in engaging with their “likes” on Facebook and their “followers” on Twitter, but have little to no idea what Pinterest is, let alone how to utilize it (effectively) for their business. So, what is Pinterest anyway and how can it work for your company? Pinterest is self-described as “a tool for collecting and organizing the things that inspire you”. Wikipedia defines Pinterest as a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for images, “re-pin” images to their own pinboards, or “like” photos.

If you are a business owner, you’re probably wondering (and you ought to be) how or if this booming social networking site could work for you. With its 25 million members and growing, Pinterest could be a wonderful addition to your overall social media marketing plan. One of the many benefits of Pinterest is that when someone “repins” one of your images, another person can then click on it, and he or she is then sent to your actual website and can either make a purchase, sign up for a Webinar, etc.

Here are examples of 3 top brands that are utilizing Pinterest very well:

Nordstrom

Whole Foods

Real Simple

In addition, below is an example of an ecommerce retailer (Polka Dot Peacock) currently running a giveaway contest on Pinterest. Being that I have made online purchases, I now receive their newsletters and this particular one caught my eye.  It is a terrific way to gain Pinterest followers, as well as keep them engaged as they pin on their board(s) and what could be better than winning a free gift card?

I encourage you to take the time to research and understand how your business could effectively use Pinterest. Take a look at your competitors, as well as other websites you frequent to get ideas for how they might be utilizing Pinterest to interact, promote and grow their brand. For example, Infographics are quite popular on Pinterest, (especially for B2B companies) and are much more likely to be read than plain text.

The possibilities for how you can be creative and make Pinterest work for your company are pretty much endless.

Social Media (if done correctly) is a Full Time Job

by Marni Weinberg

Social Media continues to rapidly evolve. With a multitude of channels available, it can be difficult for businesses to keep up, let alone choose where to dedicate their time, resources and energy. It was not long ago, when companies had to be “convinced” that there were genuine benefits of social media and that a Facebook and /or Twitter company page was a legitimate opportunity to grow their business or brand.

Fast forward to the present; those two channels (or at least one of the two) have essentially become the standard. Today – if a company says they are doing Social Media, it is a safe assumption that they have a Facebook Page and likely Twitter, as well. Sure, there are some savvy businesses that not only see the value (and sheer necessity) of social media, they do it well and are active on multiple channels: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest, etc.  Then there are those who feel as though Facebook and/or Twitter are more than enough to maintain.  Whichever category you fit into, social media requires a considerable amount of time and dedication. Here a few critical components to keep in mind when it comes to ongoing social media maintenance, whether you have just one active channel or many:

• A well thought out plan/strategy as to how you will present your company via social media is super important. You certainly don’t want to just throw up an unprofessional looking Facebook page and begin posting random things here and there. In addition, you want to make an educated decision on how you will respond to your audience for both positive, as well as negative comments. This is very important.

• Dedicating the necessary resources to each channel is crucial. There are few things worse than a channel that has remained stale and inactive for months. This is a surefire way of losing the interest and loyalty (“followers” & “likes” in social media terms) of your audience. You want them engaged and paying attention. Your posts should be timely and relevant to your industry.

• Not every channel is for every company and what makes perfect sense for one may not make much, if any, sense for another. Become knowledgeable and well versed on the channel(s) your company decides to engage in.

• If your company is new to social media, it is advisable to start off slowly, perhaps with one (to two) channels at a time. This will help to ensure that you are not taking on more than you can chew, so to speak. Additional channels can always be added in the future.

Take a peak at a business to consumer brand that is doing an excellent job with their social media channels. Just a few of their active channels are listed below:

lululemon Twitter
lulelemon Facebook
lululemon Pinterest

In addition, they responded very well during a major PR crisis back in March, which garnered a ton of negative posts, tweets, press, etc.

Social media truly is a full time job and requires ongoing maintenance and monitoring. Seriously.  Go big or go home.

Why More Companies Are Not Utilizing Their Google Analytics to Measure Website Performance

by Marni Weinberg

This post is not intended to be technical in nature (as most of our Google Analytics blogs typically are) but rather eye opening, matter of fact and timely. In speaking recently with many different types of companies (large, small, ecommerce, lead generation) there seems to be one commonality, at least when it comes to analytics. Very few are utilizing their web stats in the manner in which they could/should be. The reason? From what I keep hearing, it is largely due to the following: time constraints and/or lack of knowledge of the Google Analytics platform itself.

Let’s address the time factor first. The majority of people would agree that there is never enough time in any given day, week, month or year and as a result, certain “to do’s” get pushed to the back burner, or are forgotten altogether. Most companies feel it would take too much time to focus on their analytics data, but this is untrue. GA offers custom reports that can easily be set up and automatically sent (via email) at the frequency you desire. There is no need to waste unnecessary time aimlessly searching through GA’s (robust) interface to try to find the information you need. You have the ability to include only the metrics of your choice, with the pertinent information grouped together right in one place. Some examples of the metrics our clients have pulled into custom reports:

• Average Time Spent on Site

• Percentage of New Visitors vs. Returning

• How Visitors are Finding Your Site. I.e. Pay Per Click, Organic, Referring Sites

• Percentage of Mobile Device Users & Which Mobile Device is Being Used

• Social Media Interaction, etc.

Google Analytics describes these reports as: “Custom reports are like super reports. You can spend literally minutes building one to show just the information you want to see. It’s like your own personal dashboard.”

Now that we have addressed the time factor, let’s focus on the lack of knowledge. Many companies simply feel that they do not understand enough about the GA platform and are overwhelmed by the wealth of information available. Well, look no further than our very own.

GA Blog for the latest and greatest that GA has to offer. You can refer back to previous articles, as well as view posts by specific category, month or year. Another excellent resource is our Knowledge Center. Here you will find informative, time sensitive Webinars with a section dedicated solely to GA. Our most recent GA Webinar is How To Avoid The Most Common Mistakes in Google Analytics.

In addition, MoreVisibility is one of a select few companies to be named a Google Analytics Certified Partner (GACP) and employ Google Analytics (GA) on our corporate website, as well as provide training, support and consultation to our clients utilizing the GA interface.

I find it perplexing that more marketers have not set aside the time and budget to gain a better understanding of what is actually occurring on their website(s). Doing so would afford them the ability to make educated decisions relative to allocation of online advertising dollars. In today’s challenging marketplace, every dollar counts more than ever. You want to ensure that your analytics code has been added to the site properly and that your data is being collected correctly. Otherwise you are likely spinning your wheels and relying on poor and/or inaccurate data, which can be extremely detrimental to your overall online marketing initiatives. Take the time to not only learn what your analytics platform can provide, but also ensure that the website is coded correctly and with the most up to date version of GA available.