How to Pin it Right

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Pinterest

In my Social Media Marketing class, we have been talking a lot about Pinterest and how it can be a big player in a company's social media. I can not say I am an avid user of Pinterest. I only have a profile because I used it for my internship this past summer. After all of this talk about Pinterest, I decided to take a deeper look and see how it can really help certain companies. 

My Search

I took some time and looked over the Pinterest website and decided to try and find companies I would want to follow. I searched for Dunkin Donuts and I personally found it hard to find the specific Pinterest page for the company. I had to Google search for any company's "official" Pinterest. I found that many other users used the company names, which is good. But my search backs up the discussion we had in my class that companies should ensure they have an easy to find name, because I found it hard enough to find specific pages. Overall, I liked the idea of Pinterest for companies because I know in the past I have searched for certain recipes or ideas and was actually directed to a pin from the website. But a quality question for your company is should you use Pinterest and how? Companies with something to sell or ideas to share about their product or organization should be using Pinterest. Sephora is a great example of a company that benefits from Pinterest. Other companies should take Sephora's experience and use it as an example in their brainstorming of how to best use Pinterest. 

                                        Sephora 

http://www.heydolly.com/

Through my research, I discovered Sephora and their journey of success with Pinterest. Sephora sells beauty products, which makes Pinterest a perfect avenue for social media and connecting with consumers. Sephora can use photos and videos to share products, tips, & tricks. In 2012, Sephora noticed the Pinterest trend and decided to take advantage of the social site. They noticed their consumers were already pinning their products, so why not join in with their audience?  As I was reading about Sephora's experience with Pinterest, I noticed they list their suggestions when working through Pinterest. They suggest using email to tie consumers to Pinterest (a tactic Sephora used) and to encourage users to pin shopping lists. I found it interesting to read some of Sephora's results from using Pinterest and email. For example, "In the month following the first email campaign, Sephora also saw 60% growth in traffic from Pinterest."  To read more about their results and other success stories from Pinterest, follow the link posted below. When incorporating social media into your business, do not over look the value Pinterest offers to numerous companies, not just beauty companies like Sephora. 

https://business.pinterest.com/en/success-stories/sephora

Strategize By Size

Social Media

In Mark Schaefer's book Social Media Explained: Untangling the World's Most Misunderstood Business Trend, he discusses which companies do not actually need social media. I discovered there are few companies which have no major need for social media sites. Shaefer discusses how those companies in certain niche markets, such as for coal, radioactive waste removal, and the world's oldest company (Fonderia Pontifiia Marinelli- they make bronze bells in Italy since year 1000) do not need to go running to social media. Every company should consider social media, but ensure it fits your company!

Big Companies.. Dunkin Donuts

http://www.brandchannel.com

No matter what size your company is, you will deal with content marketing and what it is you want and should say to your consumers about your product or company. The real question is, what content approach best fits the size of your company? Dunkin Donuts is a worldwide, well-known company because they have already done the initial hard work to become a player in the coffee shop/ food and beverage industry. So what approach should a big company such as Dunkin Donuts use? In addition to traditional media advertising such as TV commercials, Dunkin Donuts has been doing a nice job of incorporating social media. The company created and aired a Vine on the popular topic of football. Their ad was shown during ESPN's Monday Night Countdown. Throughout the season, Dunkin Donuts intends to create and show a few more Vines. 

Check out the first Vine commercial here: https://vine.co/v/h15FI6tl0dL

Since Dunkin Donuts is a big name company, they are able to do such advertisements in their strategy. Everyone already knows what it is they sell, therefore the company just needs to be creative and continue to be in touch with their consumers, especially via social media. During my current semester, I will be doing a project which will look at Dunkin Donuts' social media marketing. 

A Local Coffee Shop

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In the case of a small local coffee shop, content marketing is going to differ from Dunkin Donuts'. Your local coffee shop will not be making content to push through major outlets, such as Monday Night Countdowns. A small business will recognize this and adjust to discover what content should be pushed. A small shop will be creating content to establish personal experiences with customers. The small shop approach can be more conversational and less big business like Dunkin Donuts. Local shops should use their social media to post weekly specials as one example. Your local shop could use Vines but would it really be feasible or worth it? It would be easier for a local shop to do tweets, posts, and visual posts. The big take away here is if you are a small company, realize it, see if social media works for you, and use it to your company's advantage.

Why You Should ❤ Social Media

Importance

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At this point in the marketing world, technology and the major increase of social media in our lives plays a crucial role in every company. Social media is key for your business, product, or service. It plays a role in a variety of ways such as brand awareness, "human to human" contact for your company, and it can build your reputation.

How would I know? 

During my internship at Zco Corporation this past summer, I furthered my knowledge of just how important of a role social media plays. Social media is truly beneficial for new companies or products. At Zco, I worked with the marketing team on their social media management for clients in which they built applications. I learned a person can spend all sorts of money on creating the newest product or app, but without properly spreading the word and benefits of your app, how is your audience going to know? Creating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media sites can greatly aid in marketing your product. 

Numerous companies ranging in sizes are realizing and rightfully taking advantage of the use of social media. Big companies such as Target and small town ice cream stands such as Doc Davis Ice Cream (from my small hometown of Pepperell, MA) are utilizing Facebook. Social media is not out of reach for small businesses, so why wouldn't one "invest" in social media? It appears to be a silly question to me. 

                                       Patience pays off

http://trainstrive.com

It takes time to build awareness and create your reputation, but this is expected with all advertising. I witnessed and agree that when a company/product is just starting out on social media and is new to the public, it is beneficial to use promoted tweets or posts when using Facebook and Twitter. What good is a post/tweet which no one sees? You have to build your audience and keep up with your content to achieve social media success.