Google’s “Knowledge Graph” is another strong step forward by the preeminent leader in online search. It is a strong, resounding endorsement for rich content.

Photo and video content has enjoyed a recent serge in the past year due to the Panda and Penguin search algorithm updates. Now, with Knowledge Graph, online users and businesses alike should recognize an even grater value potential in creating rich, unique, and engaging content.

The leaders in this effort will not only create and distribute this rich content, but also optimize that content with the search-friendly Schema.org markup vocabulary. Schema.org is a collaborative effort between Google, Yahoo, and Bing that helps organize, translate, and contextualize pieces of content for search bots. The better these bots can understand the text, photos, and videos (people, products, organizations, recipes, schedules, etc.) on your website/blog, the better and more appropriately they can rank your link in SERPs (search engine result pages.)

The greatest takeaway here is that, according to tech analyst Greg Sterling, Google is looking to deliver “answers, not links.”

My advice: Take content creation very seriously and seek the council of those fluent in social media and search engine optimization on best practices to best optimize this content. (In this, beware of the “old-school” SEO pro; most of their tactics are now being penalized.)

And finally, take the time to understand the concept of Social SEO. Social Media isn’t a thing, and it certainly isn’t a fad, it is a paradigm shift in the way the Internet is fundamentally organized. If you can be agile in this paradigm shift, you will perform better in Search, and ultimately, connect more efficiently with your end user.

Note: Actionable tactics regarding Social SEO can be found en masse on Tier10lab.com. For any specific questions, please leave them as a comment below or tweet them to @josepholesh.

Related posts:

1. Google+ Shows In Search Results, Signals Greater Plan From Google
2. Google+ For The Digital Marketer
3. An Introduction to Google Webmaster Tools

As the Facebook IPO approaches, we want to provide a quick summary of events. Slated to be one of the largest IPO’s in U.S history, the world’s largest social network has already begun to change as it moves from the private to public sector. Follow our timeline below for the Facebook IPO basics.

• After months of speculation, Facebook files for its IPO on February 1, 2012.

• Facebook buys photo-sharing social app, Instagram, on April 9, 2012. Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock — a strategic move that analysts think was done in an effort to increase the Facebook IPO value.

• On April 23, 2012, Facebook buys about 650 patents from Microsoft for $550 million. Ted Ullyot, general counsel for Facebook, says of the purchase, “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.” Meaning, this was another decision made with the IPO in mind.

• From May 7 – 11, 2012, Facebook’s roadshow travels across the country to appeal to potential investors. A 30-minute online video presentation of their roadshow can be seen here. Though receiving mixed reviews, analysts project Facebook will be able to raise as much as $16 billion from the IPO.

• Facebook is criticized for lack of a mobile strategy. Though it has a strong mobile presence, the advertising is lacking. In regulatory documents filed on May 10, 2012, Facebook states “We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products.” This has become a major concern for potential investors and during the last presentation of the Facebook IPO Roadshow, Mark Zuckerberg addresses this concern by saying that mobile is Facebook’s first priority.

• On May 15, 2012, Facebook raises individual share prices. Original share prices were set between $28 and $35, but after being criticized, Facebook raised the amount to between $34 and $38. Facebook states that they raised its share price due to heavy demand.

• Also on May 15, 2012, Zuckerberg announces that Facebook is offering an additional 50 million shares in the company. This brings the total to about 337 million shares.

• Facebook continues to develop their mobile strategy on May 15, 2012 by joining forces with Lightbox, developer of a mobile photo sharing Android app. Though both companies make it clear that Facebook did not acquire Lightbox, Lightbox announces their current services will end on June 15, 2012.
• On May 16, 2012, Facebook announces that they will sell 25% more shares, putting the total at 421.2 million shares.

• On May 17, 2012, Facebook will price its final offering after the markets close.

• Friday morning, May 18, 2012, Nasdaq will welcome Facebook and the ticker symbol, “FB.” Mark Zuckerberg has decided to ring the bell from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, as opposed to in person in NYC.

• If all 337 million shares are sold at $38/share, then $14.7 billion will be raised. This will result in Facebook’s worth amounting to over $100 billion.

Related posts:

1. Facebook News Feed Update
2. Google+ Business Page Update

The fuel behind any social media network is content, most often user-generated. Going into an event like the New York International Auto Show, the preeminent mobile-based social network, Instagram, was positioned for traffic better than any other mobile application on the market, especially with its recent release to the Android network the very same week.

Tier10 Marketing was tasked with covering the show for the New York Acura Dealers Association (NYAA). We’d covered the North American Auto Show (NAIAS) with a good amount of success, both in the content we created and the traffic that content generated for AcuraSocial.com. A smart social media strategy, high-quality photo and video content, and an efficient content distribution stream were the primary tactics responsible for this campaign’s success.

One small tactic, though, did act as a spark plug to the buzz created by the NAIAS campaign: @NAIASDetroit on Instagram. The North American International Auto Show did a fine job promoting the week’s festivities on Facebook and Twitter, but neglected the then thriving photo-sharing, mobile-based application. So, we jumped on it.

While covering Acura’s presence at the show in Detroit for NYAA, we also covered the show at-large, all of the vehicles and manufactures, and posted them to @NAIASDetroit on Instagram. To the public user, the account would have appeared to be hosted by the show, as the Instagram name identically matched the show’s official Twitter handle: “@NAIASDetroit.”

The results were modest: 148 Photos, 175 Followers that begat 1003 total “Likes.” The value came in realizing that we could leverage an emerging mobile application like Instagram to build buzz. Any digital marketer will tell you, the hard part about gaining virality in a digital/social campaign is achieving the critical mass needed to push your content to the amount of users required in the campaign’s initial moments… basically, you need a catalyst. In this case, Instagram, by way of the @NAIASDetroit handle, brought us that spark.

Fast-forward to March of 2012, one month before the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). We’re in full preparation-mode, building out an ambitious set of creative assets – original blog posts, a comprehensive infographic, and an animated video infographic, to name a few – to hit the Internet by the Show’s opening Press Day, April 4th.

Running off a strategy that learned from, and improved on, the tactics that drove the NAIAS campaign, we ran an audit of the social media platform NYIAS had built to that point. Thorough profiles had been built out for Facebook and Twitter, but again, Instagram was forgotten. (Google+ was also not built out. A huge mistake on the NYIAS’ part, but a discussion for a later time.)

Tier10 Marketing Creative Director and Co-Founder Scott Rodgers, who led the NAIAS Instagram effort, helmed the account that became @NYAutoShow. This time, we hit it out of the park: 91 photos, 5,582 followers that begat 26,618 “Likes,” and average of 292.5 per photo. This level of engagement figures would please any digital strategist.

One highlight of the @NYAutoShow feed included a visit from the New York Yankee’s Mariano Rivera to the Acura booth. Mariano, a spokesperson for the New York Acura Association, took pictures with a long line of fans at the booth, many pictures eventually winding up on users’ own Instagram accounts.

Why the North American and New York International Auto Shows overlooked the value an application like Instagram could yield is beyond me. The application had been a sensation for for the past six months, and absolutely on fire since being made available for the Android network… the week of the Show!

Authoring the NYIAS Instagram account allowed us to “@mention” the New York Acura Association (@NYAcura) at will. The size of @NYAutoShow‘s following lent prime exposure to the content of each photo, and caption, therein. Believing there was a certain amount of responsibility that went with producing content for a profile with the New York Auto Show’s moniker, we covered the show fervently, capturing as many manufacturers as possible, each in their best light. 

BMW, in particular, made reference to Instagram on the spec-sheets beside each showcased model at the Show. The call-out, seen in the image to the right, was subtle, but still a progressive marketing move for a brand that’s seen it’s competitors (Audi) gain traction and public appeal in recent years. 

Other notable brands employing an Instagram strategy are Barack Obama, Audi, NBC News, and Kim Kardashian. (The AdCouncil ran a wonderful piece breaking down the brand/Instagram dynamic.)

In the end, the Instagram application was one piece of a greater digital content creation strategy that was applied to the New York International Auto Show on behalf of the New York Acura Dealers Association. This campaign sought to generate blog posts, photos, videos, and graphics that drove the New York Acura Dealers Association brand, and, outfit the members of the association with rich, sharable content for their respective social media platforms.

Conservative analytics show, now, for more than 24,000 photo views, 9,600 video views and a total social engagement metric of over 94,000. (Total Social Engagement = The total “likes”, “shares”, “retweets”, “pins”, and the like.) Not a single ad-dollar was spent on this campaign, just strong creative content optimized with social SEO best practices.

For more, see links below:
AcuraSocial.com
NYIAS YouTube Playlist
New York Auto Show Video Infographic
Instagram Video Guest Book at NYIAS
New York Auto Show Infographic
NYIAS on Flickr
New York Acura Dealers Association on Facebook

Related posts:

1. New York Acura Dealers, Tier10 Marketing to Attend North American International Auto Show
2. The 2012 New York International Auto Show [INFOGRAPHIC]
3. Tier10 Marketing VP of Account Services & Partner Scott Fletcher on Marketing the Modern Auto Dealership

Facebook is at it again, changing not only their layout, but the way we experience Pages entirely. Their latest invention, Timeline, is the new layout for our personal profile, group and brand Facebook Pages. There has been some debate whether this layout is better, worse, or makes any difference at all. Ultimately, it is up to Facebook, and marketers must adapt, so here is everything you need to know about Timeline for your brand’s Page.

Cover Photo
One of the most striking features of the new layout is the cover photo. Having a cover photo makes a page all the more personal. However, a cover photo cannot be an advertisement or display any offers or contact information. Instead, choose something that will grab the viewers’ attention, like a cityscape or a vibrant pattern. Use the cover as an opportunity to brand your product or service.

Administration Panel
Timeline’s administration panel displays your page’s notifications, new likes, insights (fan demographic, shares, and reaches), messages, and Page Tips. Page Tips is a new tool that helps develop your page by giving insight about who is viewing it and what articles, videos, and polls fans are interacting with. This can be very helpful in the early stages of creating a brand Page in order to reach out to potential and actual fans so you know what is working and what isn’t working on your Page.

About Section
Under the Administration Panel is the About Section, where you can display a short blurb about your Page, such as its classification (like ‘Advertising Agency’), where the business is located, contact information, and your company’s mission statement. To the right, the Favorites Section shows photos, likes, maps, blogs and other ‘favorite’ Pages for fans to see.

Layout
Completely different from the old linear layout, Timeline’s new look is much more interactive. Instead of using a linear, chronological list of posts, Timeline highlights the most recent and popular posts, friends and activities at the top of the profile. Another new feature of the Highlights part of Timeline is mutual friend activity: you can see right away which of your friends have visited, liked or mentioned anything on the page.

Timeline
To utilize the timeline feature, Facebook has provided an area to the right of the page where users can view the history of any profile. By clicking on a specific month or year, users can see all of that profile’s events, beginning with its creation. This is useful if you’re interested in specific information from a certain time. In the old layout you would have to click “older posts” at the bottom of the page continually until the information was found. The new Timeline makes finding information easy and efficient.

Newsfeed
As before, people can see updates and posts from businesses they “like” in their newsfeed, but this won’t give them an overall impression of a business. Timeline is especially important for new “fans” of the page because they have not been privy to past posts through their newsfeed. By visiting the Page, timeline helps to inform the user and give them a concise history of your brand.

What do you think of the new Facebook layout? Did you prefer the old layout or are you a Timeline fan? What do you think are the pros and cons of each? Share with us in the comment section below!

Related posts:

1. How To Get The New Facebook Profile
2. 7 Ways to Build A Stronger Facebook Page
3. Tier10 Marketing, Mighty Macs Use Facebook To Maximize Results

Few pieces of media can communicate the amount of data that a video infographic can deliver. Add the engagement factor of a graphic-based video, and you’ve got a high-powered online marketing asset.

The New York International Auto Show is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious of its kind. We first developed an infographic to carry the salient details of the show’s scope and scheduling details. The translation of that still graphic to a motion video amplified the ability of that piece media to reach more online users.

From an agency point-of-view, this process allowed for collaboration between motion graphic and graphic design team members. Bringing life to a data set was the task of Tier10 Marketing graphic designer Jason Kress; setting that infographic to motion then became the responsibility of Tier10 motion graphic designer Erin Lancaster.

The video takes its aesthetic cue from the infographic in font choice, color palate and iconography. The goal is to educate users, albeit briefly, on rich history of the New York International Auto Show and deliver key pieces of information regarding scheduling and ticket prices.

From a strategic point of view, I believe strong multimedia assets can carry relevant content to the next level. The campaign to cover the New York International Auto Show is one that will include over 15 original, optimized blog articles, 2 videos and over 300 photographs from the show’s floor. Schema.org markup will help optimize this rich content and an integrated social media strategy will then distribute this content to the masses.

We broke records with our coverage of the North American International Auto Show, utilizing Social SEO tactics to move the needle in Search. We are now positioned in a stronger, more efficient way for the New York International Auto Show; I am looking forward to publishing those results.

For questions or inquiries from the New York Auto Show, or regarding the digital strategy that was developed for it, find me on Twitter at @josepholesh.

2012 New York Auto Show Infographic

DATA SOURCES:
* http://www.autoshowny.com/
* http://trade-shows.findthebest.com/d/a/Automotive
* http://trade-shows.findthebest.com/l/1/New-York-International-Auto-Show
* http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2011-new-york-auto-show-ends-on-a-high-note-121499789.html
* http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=12664
http://www.gnyada.com/files/pages/dealers/MAY_2011.pdf

Related posts:

1. The 2012 New York International Auto Show [INFOGRAPHIC]
2. Social Media: A Machine for Creative Content and Human Engagement [INFOGRAPHIC]
3. New York Acura Dealers, Tier10 Marketing to Attend North American International Auto Show

The New York International Auto Show is one of the oldest, most prestigious auto shows in North America. For the last century, through war and depression, prosperity and growth, it has consistently presented the world with new, state-of-the-art concepts. This April, it is expected to uphold and surpass its record-breaking reputation.

AcuraSocial.com, the official blog of the NY Acura Dealers Association, is leading the content charge with a rich collection of posts that speak to the show’s history and scope, to logistical details like scheduling and ticketing.

This year, the show will host 61 new vehicle world-debuts, over 100 events, and two-dozen Automaker press conferences. The show has become so popular that the duration has been extended to 10 days — six and a half days longer than the average trade show.

The Tier10-designed infographic held at the bottom of this post highlights some of the following New York International Show fun-facts:

• It reels in an estimated 1 million people per year. That’s over twice the amount of attendants of the Dallas auto show and 4times the amount of attendants of the Philadelphia auto show. In fact, the show expects more visitors than the sum of the attendance at Autoshows in Montreal, Chaoyang, Cairo, and Las Vegas combined.
• Most attendants boasted household incomes of over $45,000, with 34% earning over $65,000 annually. 80% said the show helped them decide their next vehicle purchase, proving the New York Auto Show is for serious car folks. (Of these, 30% preferred sport-utility vehicles.)

The NY Auto Show offers a very special way of bringing together diverse communities from the world over — all for the sake of seeing what the auto industry has to offer under one roof.

If you are in or near New York this next week, we’d recommend stopping by the 2012 New York International Auto Show at the Javits Center, “Marketplace for the World,” on Saturday, April 7th. Tickets are only $15 for adults and $5 for children. Press previews are April 4th and 5th, and a special public preview will be held on April 6th.

2012 New York International Auto Show Infographic

DATA SOURCES:
* http://www.autoshowny.com/
* http://trade-shows.findthebest.com/d/a/Automotive
* http://trade-shows.findthebest.com/l/1/New-York-International-Auto-Show
* http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2011-new-york-auto-show-ends-on-a-high-note-121499789.html
* http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=12664
http://www.gnyada.com/files/pages/dealers/MAY_2011.pdf

Related posts:

1. New York Acura Dealers, Tier10 Marketing to Attend North American International Auto Show
2. Social Media: A Machine for Creative Content and Human Engagement [INFOGRAPHIC]
3. Auto Success Magazine Names Tier10 Marketing One of the “Top 10 Companies to Watch in 2010”

As Honda rolls out the Civic Natural Gas across the nation, dealers like Paragon Honda are eager to get in the game to help promote this cleaner alternative-fuel vehicle. Though natural gas vehicles are popular in other parts of the world, the Civic Natural Gas (CNG) is the only compressed natural gas vehicle available in the United States. Dealers who are among the first to start selling the CNG will set a leading example for others across the nation.

Because it runs on compressed natural gas, the CNG offers a unique option for drivers who want a “greener” car but are hesitant to switch to limited-range electric vehicles. With an estimated range of about 190 miles, the Civic Natural Gas has a 110-hp, 1.8-liter, 16-valve, SOHC i-VTEC engine that gets about the same gas mileage of a gasoline vehicle: 27 city/38 hwy/31 combined. Refueling only takes a few minutes, and drivers can locate compressed natural gas stations using the available Honda Satellite Linked Navigation System.

Previously only available in four states, Honda’s natural gas alternative is spreading across the nation with the help of dealers like Paragon Honda. From the beginning, Paragon Honda General Manager Brian Benstock has been committed to promoting the Civic Natural Gas. As one of the first Honda dealers in the New York area to sell the CNG, Paragon Honda’s support in helping to jumpstart this cleaner technology is critical and makes them a role model in adopting and marketing greener vehicles throughout the industry.

The increasing use of compressed natural gas vehicles like the CNG has more implications for society that simply being cleaner than gasoline. Compressed natural gas is also safer—because it is lighter than air, it disperses quickly in the case of a spill. Compressed natural gas vehicles are also easier on the wallet, with a cost of about $1 to $2 per gasoline gallon equivalent. Compressed natural gas can also help reduce dependence on foreign oil: eighty-nine percent of the natural gas that is used in the United States is produced domestically.

With that in mind, Paragon Honda was enthusiastic about marketing and selling the Civic Natural Gas. To help promote the vehicle, Paragon Honda and Tier10 Marketing organized a photo shoot with esteemed photographer Douglas Sonders. As Sonders snapped images of the green car juxtaposed against the urban city, Joseph Olesh captured behind the scenes footage, lending insight into the inspiration behind the photo shoot and the campaign.

In the backdrop of a city like New York, the need for cleaner fuel alternatives couldn’t be clearer. Historically, Honda has set the bar in developing environmentally conscious vehicles and processes, so it’s no wonder that Paragon Honda would share the vision of selling a greener car in the U.S. market. With the CNG, Honda is taking natural gas technology to a larger playing field. By acting as an ambassador for Honda, Paragon helps pave the way for the CNG and the future of compressed natural gas technology.

CBS News New York has just released a piece called, “Wave Of The Future? Natural Gas-Powered Cars Gaining In Popularity.” Benstock is quoted in the article explaining, “Right now the technology exists with the CNG car to get a more fuel efficient vehicle and a cleaner vehicle with an abundant supply of fuel right here in the USA.”

[Show as slideshow]

Related Links:
ParagonHonda.com
Facebook.com/ParagonHondaNY
Twitter.com/Paragon_Honda
Plus.Google.com/ParagonHonda

Related posts:

1. Tier10 Client Hamilton Honda Awards Army Officer and Single Mother of Three with a 2012 Honda Civic [VIDEO]
2. The World’s Top Honda Dealer Defends the 2012 Civic Against Review in The New York Times
3. Renowned Auto Dealer Defends Honda Civic, Disagrees with Consumer Reports

Its name alone, “Schema.org,” is enough to scare most bloggers and social media pros right back to their WYSIWYG editors. However, this collection of schemas (html tags that web masters use to markup their pages in ways recognized by major search engines) is an easy and relatively quick way to improve your SERP CTR (Search-Engine-Result-Page Click-Through-Rate.) The launching of video support for Schema.org was the inspiration for this blog post.

Rest assured, time invested in this Microdata vocabulary will be worth every minute. Schema.org is a game-changer for search engine optimization (SEO), video search engine optimization (VSEO), and most any other online visibility attribute that exists today. It’s one thing to work your brand onto “Page One”; it’s an entirely more valuable thing to have that link on page one gain a click that sends the user to your chosen landing page. This markup enables search engines to understand the information on your web pages and then provide richer search results. Schema.org is also the product of a Google, Microsoft, Yandex and Yahoo! collaboration, meaning it’s relevant, consistent and here to stay.

Schema.org is a Microdata vocabulary, not a markup language in and of itself. This means the Schema.org properties can be inserted while marking up content for any given web page. See example below:

Original HTML:

    .    Jane Doe
    .    <img src="janedoe.jpg" />
    .    
    .    Professor
    .    20341 Whitworth Institute
    .    405 Whitworth
    .    Seattle WA 98052
    .    (425) 123-4567
    .    <a href="mailto:jane-doe@xyz.edu">jane-doe@illinois.edu</a>
    .    
    .    Jane's home page:
    .    <a href="www.janedoe.com">janedoe.com</a>
    .    
    .    Graduate students:
    .    <a href="www.xyz.edu/students/alicejones.html">Alice Jones</a>
    .    <a href="www.xyz.edu/students/bobsmith.html">Bob Smith</a>

With Microdata:

    .    <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
    .      <span itemprop="name">Jane Doe</span>
    .      <img src="janedoe.jpg" itemprop="image" />
    .    
    .      <span itemprop="jobTitle">Professor</span>
    .      <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
    .        <span itemprop="streetAddress">
    .          20341 Whitworth Institute
    .          405 N. Whitworth
    .        </span>
    .        <span itemprop="addressLocality">Seattle</span>,
    .        <span itemprop="addressRegion">WA</span>
    .        <span itemprop="postalCode">98052</span>
    .      </div>
    .      <span itemprop="telephone">(425) 123-4567</span>
    .      <a href="mailto:jane-doe@xyz.edu" itemprop="email">
    .        jane-doe@xyz.edu</a>
    .    
    .      Jane's home page:
    .      <a href="www.janedoe.com" itemprop="url">janedoe.com</a>
    .    
    .      Graduate students:
    .      <a href="www.xyz.edu/students/alicejones.html" itemprop="colleagues">
    .        Alice Jones</a>
    .      <a href="www.xyz.edu/students/bobsmith.html" itemprop="colleagues">
    .        Bob Smith</a>
    .    </div>

This is how search results appear when using the Schema.org vocabulary as rich snippets:

Image Source: SEOmoz

To apply this vocabulary, use the list at http://schema.org/docs/full.html.

One example is attached below for “Thing,” the most generic type of item. The set table lists the property, expected type and description of each.

My favorite use of Schema.org is in video markups. The schema.org data is now the recommended way to describe videos across Google, Bing and Yahoo! To apply, simply define an interscope, an item type=”http://schema.org/VideoObject”, and set the name, description and thumbnail URL properties. Then, apply your video embedURL or contentURL and you’re off and running! (The Schema.org video will not effect your video site maps or mRSS feed you might already be using.)

The video at the bottom of this post uses the Schema.org video markup.

There is so much more to Schema.org than the 1% covered in this post. Employing Schema.org into your markup language will greatly enhance your online visibility by creating content that machines (search engines) can understand. For more detail on schemas and functionality, see: http://schema.org.

Schema.org is not widely used at this time, though it is unanimously adopted by major search engines. Understanding its functionality can make the difference when competing for page one in your particular industry. Microdata video embeds, as seen below, is one of many examples to proactively take the lead and increase your brand’s online standing.

As always, feel free to submit questions to the comment section below or tweet me at @josepholesh.
 

Related posts:

1. An Introduction to Google Webmaster Tools

Content sharing site Pinterest is capturing the interest of social media gurus—and not just because of its rapidly growing user base. In addition to growing from 4 million users to 10 million users in less than two months, Pinterest is turning heads because of the potential value it offers advertisers to help promote their brands.

What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a content curation site that allows users to share their favorite pictures and organize them on virtual pin boards. When a user finds something they think is funny, cool, interesting, inspiring or informative, they “pin” it to their pin board. People use Pinterest for a variety of reasons, including wedding planning, decorating, finding recipes, sharing inspiring pictures and posting favorite books, toys and clothing. This means that users are frequently sharing products, making it attractive to advertisers.

How Pinterest Works
Users can share an image in several ways: they can pin images using the special “pin it” tool, they can repin images that others have posted, and they can upload their own image. They can also “like” other pins and comment on them. When a user pins an item, they categorize it on one of their boards, which must fall under one of Pinterest’s many categories, like Design, Products, or Cars & Motorcycles, among others.

Users can also install a “Pin it” button on their bookmarks bar, which allows them to pin any image on the Internet that they find. Websites can also add a “Follow me” button to their website and a “Pin it” button to their product pages or blog posts.

How Pinterest Can Promote Your Brand Identity
Pinterest is generating more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined, according to recent studies. This is most likely due to Pinterest’s “Pin Etiquette,” which strongly encourages users to link back to their original source.

Brands can leverage Pinterest by adding the “pin it” button to their product pages. Companies should be careful, however, when they create their own Pinterest account, as Pinterest discourages self-promotion. Instead of posting pictures of their products, brands should use the content curation site to demonstrate the idea behind their brand and to provide a sense of their company’s culture.

Advertisers might also find Pinterest useful for market research. By examining what other items their followers are pinning, companies can discover other interests their fans have and use that information to target consumers on other social media sites, like Facebook. Companies looking to utilize Pinterest should also note that most users are female and should cater their strategy towards women.

As with any social media site, companies should use Pinterest to provide useful and engaging content that fans will like and enjoy. They should pin images that consumers will find visually appealing, compelling and interesting, and will want to repin to their own boards. Ultimately, Pinterest is about helping people find images that are inspiring. Companies who keep that in mind will be more likely to reap the benefits Pinterest has to offer.

Related posts:

1. Tier10 Marketing VP of Account Services & Partner Scott Fletcher on Marketing the Modern Auto Dealership
2. Auto Success Magazine Names Tier10 Marketing One of the “Top 10 Companies to Watch in 2010”
3. Why Should I Include Video In My Online Strategy?

Why comment on blogs?

Commenting on blogs creates another opportunity for you to increase your brand awareness and overall presence on the web. Relevant blog comments with a link to your site can increase direct traffic, and if done correctly, can also increase your search rankings and connect you to influential people.

To create successful, relevant blog comments that will eventually help your business presence, take a look at the following recommendations.

1. Orient yourself with the blog. Read multiple posts, research the author or company, and get a feel for the overall purpose and personality of the blog. This includes reading the blog comments as well. If there is already an established community that interacts through a blog, you’ll want to be familiar with their writing styles and the types of conversations they engage in. Having this background knowledge will allow you to leave comments that are relevant, interesting, and engaging.

2. Be aware of your comment length and relevancy. When writing a comment, you want to be sure it is more than 140 characters, but less than multiple paragraphs in length. You want your comment to be long enough to establish credibility. To ensure that people don’t skip over your comment because of length, be sure to keep it at a maximum of two paragraphs. Also be aware of exactly what you’re writing. This may seem obvious, but if you write a generic comment like, “Great stuff! Very interesting!” it might lead the author and others to believe that it’s an automated comment. By including details from the post itself, you’re ensuring that others know you have read the post and have something important and worthwhile to say.

3. Be authentic and genuine. You’ll be taken more seriously if you use your real name and picture. You should also be honest about what you do for a living and why you’re on the site. Comments that include irrelevant links or information are often unlinked or deleted by the blogger. Though your first impulse may be to include a link to your site in your comment, step back and make sure it truly relates to the blog topic or the point you’re trying to make. It is obvious to the author and other readers if your comments are purely based on self-promotion, and even if you make a relevant point, it won’t be taken seriously.

If you would like to add to this advice or if you have any other recommendations, please leave us a comment!

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