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HOW TO: Effectively Use Pinterest for Events

February 27, 2012 by Kari Rippetoe

Hi, I’m Kari, and I’m a Pinterest addict.

I was wary about it at first (“Ugh, not another social network!”), but after using it for a few months, I totally see what the attraction is and why it’s driving more traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. People love pictures, and Pinterest capitalizes on that.

Brands are slowly beginning to pick up on this popularity and leveraging it as part of their social media marketing efforts. And events are no different. They have a unique opportunity to further engage attendees and convey information through a more visual medium. A picture paints a thousand words, and events can tell an engaging story on Pinterest.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started on Pinterest to promote your event:

Make your pins visually compelling. On Pinterest, visual rules the day. This is what makes Pinterest so popular – images that compel users to learn more. Take an inventory of photos you have that will be of visual appeal, such as speaker photos, venue photos, infographics, and even videos (yep, you can pin those too!).

Create well-organized & relevant boards. Because Pinterest gives users the option to follow a person (and all of their boards) or just individual boards created by a person, it’s important to plan your boards to appeal to different interests your attendees will have. For example, if you offer several tracks of conference sessions, consider creating a board for each track that includes photos of speakers. Have photos from last year’s show? Create a special board to share them.

Categorize your boards properly. Apart from just browsing through the pins of the people they’re following, Pinterest users like to browse through Pinterest categories to find new things from people they don’t follow, so make sure you categorize your boards appropriately. You can only add a board to one category, so make it count! Think about where your attendees would go to find the information you’re providing, depending on what kind of content your event offers.

Include descriptions with keywords. As I started using Pinterest more, I quickly realized that simply pinning a photo with a description like “Love this!” or “Yum!” wouldn’t give it proper context or exposure. The description not only tells others what they’re looking at and why you pinned it, but helps your pins to get found. If someone searches for a specific keyword on Pinterest, pins containing that keyword come up in results – so you don’t want to miss that opportunity! Think of it like SEO for Pinterest.

Mix it up, don’t just broadcast. The same rules of social media engagement apply here as they do on any other social network. Don’t just broadcast your own content on Pinterest, but mix it up with relevant content from other sources. Look for what others are pinning related to your event or event topics. One idea is to create a Speakers board and pin articles or posts from your speakers about what they’ll be talking about at your event (that include an image). Note: there has been some recent controversy regarding whether content shared by users on Pinterest violates copyright (there are lots of articles out there about this, but here are a few). While there hasn’t been a definitive ruling on this yet, it’s best to remain on the safe side and pin content that you either own, or have permission to pin (i.e. you’ve been given direct permission, such as from your speakers or partners, or the website clearly allows anyone to pin their content on Pinterest).

Have you used Pinterest for an event like a conference or tradeshow? What tips would you offer?

Why Mobile Marketing Will be Essential in 2012

December 23, 2011 by Kari Rippetoe

You’ve probably read at least 100 blog posts listing the big marketing and social media trends for 2012 (our 5 social media trends included) – I know I have. It’s that annual tradition that starts around October and continues right into January – lists of tools to use, companies to watch, everything you should be thinking about when it comes to marketing in the new year. And a lot of what you’re reading isn’t necessarily new stuff; but they are things that will grow and become more popular, and therefore, should be worthy of your attention and consideration.

Mobile is one of those trends. It’s been listed on many a marketing trend list for 2012. Mobile marketing has been around for a few years and has gained momentum since the advent of the iPhone; but why is it suddenly the hot marketing platform for 2012?

To start, here are some stats from Mobithinking.com, which we talked about at a recent Foundation Center DC seminar on social media trends for 2012:

90% of mobile phone users interact with it daily.
85% of handsets will be able to access the mobile web by the end of 2011.
Smartphones will overtake “feature” phones (those handsets that allow for calling and texting only) in 2012. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore those using feature phones – still a big segment of your customers and prospects.

Another stat that shows the importance of mobile: many mobile users are mobile-only – 25% of mobile Web users in the US, in fact. They rarely use their desktop, laptop, or even tablet device (although that last one could change significantly over the next couple of years).

Mobile marketing can be implemented in a number of ways, including:

Making your website mobile-friendly or creating a mobile version: Perhaps easier said than done, but there are a number of low- and no-cost tools out there to help you if you don’t have the web design and development resources to do it for you. Google also launched a free tool for building a mobile landing page this year.
Developing a mobile app: Again, resources for building a mobile app may be an issue; but tools such as AppMakr can help you build your own – no coding required. There are lots of mobile app building tools out there, both free and paid, and this exhaustive list will help you choose the one right for you.
Using QR codes: This is one of the easiest ways to get into mobile marketing. QR codes are most effective in offline places like print and signage – where people only need to scan the code with their phones to easily access your content. QR codes are easy to create using free tools like Delivr or even URL shortener Bitly, and can direct people to any content you want – like your mobile-friendly website, a product information page, or a video.
Leveraging location-based services: If you have a physical location (like a retail store or event of some sort) establish a presence on a location-based service like Foursquare. It’s free and a great way to get people interacting with your business or organization through their phones. You can also offer check-in specials and provide tips on your page to help your customers (such as staff favorites, off-the-menu items or secret discounts).
Launching an SMS text campaign: I don’t know about you, but I see more people texting than talking on their phones! Texting campaigns can be a bit more time- and labor-intensive to collect mobile phone numbers, plus it can get expensive depending on the size of your database and provider rates. But, check out tools like TextMarks (their ad-supported Lite version is free) and EZTexting for some relatively low-cost options.

How you use mobile marketing all comes down to what will be the best fit for your business or organization. A location-based service may not make the best sense for an online-only e-commerce site, but a mobile app may help customers choose the best product to buy. Determine what goals you want to achieve with mobile marketing, then look at what other similar businesses and organizations are doing for ideas.

Do you you plan on adding mobile to your marketing mix in 2012?

LinkedIn’s New Features: 2 BIG Missed Opportunities

October 13, 2011 by Kari Rippetoe

I’ve been very excited to see the new features LinkedIn is rolling out for companies. For a long time, they were missing the social media boat in so many ways in an effort to stay true to it’s business networking and job search roots. In the past year, they’ve made strides at creating a more social hub for members, and now their latest features aim to increase value to marketers and brands. But my question is: why have they been so slow on the uptake?

While I’m not complaining about their latest changes for the better, I think there are still major missed opportunities:

Make company pages more dynamic: We have apps for profiles, why not apps for company pages? As LinkedIn continues to build and roll out new features for company pages, they should think about ways to make them more dynamic and spotlight content such as videos, presentations and upcoming events.
Pay as much attention to event pages as they are to companies and individual profiles: Not much has been done to change the way event pages work on LinkedIn. Perhaps this has to do with a lack of traffic to those pages – members just don’t use them as much as other areas of the website. However, therein lies an opportunity to make them more interactive and valuable to event organizers, marketers and event attendees alike. Ways this could be done include embedded videos, Twitter streams, links to event social outposts, and even discussions from a related event group on LinkedIn. Also, why not allow event page admins to send messages to those who have RSVP’d – with the ability to segment by who’s attending and who’s interested, industry, even title.

Perhaps with LinkedIn’s new Certified Developer Program we’ll begin to see changes like these come down the pike. What do you think and what do you want to see on LinkedIn?