Do you use Pinterest to market your business?

"Pinterest? Isn't that just crafts and recipes?"

Pinterest is a social platform that is built upon the idea of pinning visual reminder or Post-it note to a white board. Think about what you would pin in real life that you want to plan, buy, or do. 

In the office, it could be solutions for productivity.  Apps that can be helpful for you and your team can go onto a Pinterest board. (A board is a collection of things around one idea.) Maybe a re-design of your website is necessary. A Pinterest board can show the design team examples of things you like and things you want to avoid.  Perhaps you need to think about unusual ways to go above and beyond for customers during the holiday season.

Have you ever put an idea or "to do" on a scrap of paper so you can look into it more later? Then you know how to use Pinterest. 

Why am I talking about how people use Pinterest? Because in any type of social media, business owners must understand what potential customers are doing and seeing on the platform. In order to reach the right people, it is beneficial to fully understand how people interact.  As a business owner you aren't trying to shove your products in front of every person and ask them to buy immediately. Some people may be ready to convert immediately, but mainly you are helping customers understand your brand better. 

Pinterest is an excellent way to help your potential customers find your website, YouTube videos, or blog posts. Pins will need an attention grabbing photo related to the topic. Then, speak naturally in the description. (#Don't #hashtag #everything!) The link will direct people to more information and help you get more awareness of your business. 

If you are just getting started with Pinterest for your business, make sure you are setting up a business account and not a personal one. This will allow you to see the analytics of your account to know which Pins cause more people to buy or go to your website.  

This is not meant to be a comprehensive how-to article since you can find out how in the Pinterest help section. (Also, it is always best to view each social media platform's best practices and help section periodically for updates.) The point of this post is to help business owners understand why they should consider Pinterest to promote their products or services. It is not for everyone. If you are clear about your brand and what your company represents, it should be much easier to develop a presence. 

What about advertising?  If you are new to using Pinterest for your business, take some time to find out what works. What do people repin? What pins have sent more people to your website?  Then you can create Promoted Pins!  "Click to buy" buttons are coming soon as well as other things that will make big differences to retailers. 

Happy Pinning! 

Invite People to Like Your Facebook Page at No Additional Cost!

There is a great opportunity to invite people to Like your Facebook business Page but it may be a bit hidden.  

In this example, we can see that Shelby, Samantha, Emma, and 9 others like this post.  Click on the "others" in blue and a new screen pops up. 

This screen tells you that you can "invite people who like this post to like your page".  

First, let's remember that you can see posts in your newsfeed from Pages that you did not like. This is what happened here. People that are not yet fans of your Page saw your post and liked it.  Maybe their friend engaged with the post (liked, commented, or shared) so it appeared in their newsfeed. Now you have the opportunity to invite people to become a fan of your Page so they can see more content they (hopefully) enjoy.  

Simply click "Invite".  As you scroll down, you will see if they are already fans of the Page because it will say "Liked" instead.  

I would not advise my clients to do this on posts that are inconsistent with the purpose of their Page or brand voice. Someone may, in fact, Like a post that is totally off topic for your Page but have zero interest in your other posts.  Use your best judgement to decide when you should hold back on using this tool. 

Unfortunately, this feature is not available (yet?) on iPhone. This includes the Pages app. I have only seen this feature on a desktop computer...but that is my version of the platform. Your experience may be different. Honestly, I don't know about Android phones, so try it out yourself and let me know. 

This invitation tool certainly won't get you the number fans that a Like ad would generate. Like ads should be running even with the smallest of budgets to help boost brand awareness. If someone doesn't know your business exists, how can they buy from you?

That being said, this is a great tool to use when you are running a different ad type with a different marketing goal. Any ads that are NOT Like ads: Website Conversions, Video Ads, App Installs, Page Post Engagement, etc.  Now you can check on the Likes your ad receives (same method as above) and get the opportunity to invite people to Like your Page at no additional cost. 

Get clicking!

New Facebook "Call Now" Button

If the primary goal of your Facebook ads is to get customers to call, try this new button! People served your ad on a mobile device can click the 'Call Now' button and their phone will call the number you set up in the ad.  This is another really helpful change for various advertisers that want a phone call more than any other action. 

Restaurants can get reservations directly from the ad.  Salons can invite people to book appointments by calling. This is also a great experience for your customers!  Keep forgetting to make an appointment to service your vehicle? Suddenly an ad appears and makes booking so simple! (You can also create custom audiences to specifically target customers that should be returning for a service.)

Right now you can track 'Button Clicks' in the ad reports. If you want to make sure you can track the actions from this Call Now button, you could direct it to a dedicated line. For smaller businesses, you can always create a Google Voice number for this purpose. 

Have you seen better ad results with this button vs other calls to action?  

Changes on Facebook: Responsiveness

If you are trying to generate revenue for your business on Facebook you have, no doubt, been noticing some changes to the platform.  Many times changes are rolled out to different people at different times.  Other options may not exist for advertisers based on the type of business they have or the settings on their Facebook Page. 

Let's go over one new thing today...

Ratings for how quickly you respond to customer messages:  Now businesses will get a little hat icon if they respond to 90% of all posts within 5 minutes or less during the course of a week.

I worked with a client that wanted to know how in the world she is expected to respond to someone "within 5 minutes" at 2:00 AM.  Don't panic! Let's think about this.  First, how likely is it that you will get messages at strange hours?  Does your business have customers around the globe? Then it may be the norm. Could the number of messages that come in after-hours fit into the 10% allowed for a slower response time? If you only have a few over-seas customers you may not need to worry about the occasional message. 

I am confident that the developers of this tool have the best of intentions at heart, so let's think of the positive possible results. Let's take this same example of customers messaging your Page after-hours on Facebook. The good news is that this tool can help you think about how you encourage customer communication overall.  Does your business display contact information in the About section of your Facebook Page and also on your website?  If you do business with people in various countries, is it easy for them to find your hours of operation?  Do you have a preferred method of customer contact?  Is contact info different for speakers of different languages?  

Even if your business only serves your community, there is another new Facebook feature that should help reduce your response time.  You can "manage replies" in and create something like a form letter.  (Currently, my clients don't have a button or quick way to access this yet.  Go to Messages and select any customer messages. Click on it an you will see the new pre-set reply option.) If you always have customers asking the same question, you can set up the answer ahead so other members of your staff can reply with the pre-written answers.  In most situations, a customer would be pleased with a response about it being after hours and a time estimate of when you can reply with more details. 

Not a fan of this new responsiveness rating? As with many Facebook policies, if you go with what they are recommending it can only make your life easier.  There is also always the option to hire someone (ahem!) that loves the platform, and is willing to help your business adapt to any new curveballs that Facebook throws your way.