Social Media: Essential Tasks

1. Sign in, check messages, comments and replies;
2. Damage control if necessary;
3. Post fresh content;
4. Reach out to at least 3 of your followers;
5. Reach out to at least 3 new people;
6. Monitor the competitors and the industry reviews;
7. Brainstorm future posts based on your followers feedback;
8. Check out statistics

The Uses of Social Media (And How it Will Boost Your Business)

1. Know your audience;
2. Use multiple sites (don't just stick to Facebook and Twitter, explore the advantages of Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ as well);
3. Use a Social Media Manager (if you don't have the resources to hire someone, use sites like Ping.fm and HootSuite;
4. Post visual content (photos, videos...);
5. Interact and engage with your audience (followers);
6. Commit & be patient.

10 Pinterest Best Practices

In the world of social media there are few mediums that go untouched, but there are those that are significantly more prominent than the others.

Facebook and Twitter being the reigning kings and others trailing behind with users unsure of what to do. However, Pinterest is proving to be an extremely useful tool for businesses to engage in.

So why should you be interested in Pinterest? Recent new data is showing that it has now become the 4th largest referral network after passing Yahoo and now only sits behind Google, Facebook and Twitter.

It is a visual niche social network that is proving to be  a driver of significant traffic driver for image rich eCommerce sites. Walmart is considering plans to include trending pins (Pinterest posts) as one of the signals it listens to in its own eCommerce search engine as signalling buyer intent.

Here are some tips when it comes to Pinterest and your business:

1. Plan - Create a content strategy that is centered around the lifestyle of your target audience. Avoid “me syndrome” and only pinning your products and your information. Dive into the interests and aspirations of those that matter most: your consumers.
2. Set Goals - Define your goals. Are you looking to create brand awareness? Drive traffic to you your website? A good benchmark is that 25% of all website traffic should come from social; decide how Pinterest fits into this equation for your brand. Decide how you will be tracking and reporting.
3. Align - Position your brand to align with popular, timely and topical conversations; i.e. if you are a shoe company, pin trendy shoes. “News Year’s Eve” shoes (timely), or “prom shoes” (topical).
4. Optimize - Google LOVES Pinterest! Focus on the keywords that matter most for your brand, align this with what you know about how your audience searches (and what they are searching for) and incorporate them into your board titles and pin descriptions.
5. Engage - Pinterest is a social community that requires two-way engagement. “Repin,” “Like” or comment on pins and boards of others. Interact with your followers and take the time to participate.
6. Organize - Sort your boards well. Also, while keywords are important, have a little fun with how you name your boards. Finally, be sure to set the board “cover image” to a pin that best conveys the topic of that board.
7. Diversify - Pinterest is a great opportunity to reach all the segments of your audience. Create boards and pin items that appeal to every segment of your consumer base!
8. Integrate - Be sure that the content on your website is easy to share. Incorporate the “Pin It” button into your social sharing lineup.
9. Evaluate - Measure your success. What boards and pins are seeing the most “Likes,” and “Repins?” Is Pinterest driving traffic to your website? Evaluate KPIs like bounce rate to ensure that the traffic you are driving to your site is directing to the right place and leverage your ability to use specific links for tracking.
10. Enjoy - Have fun with this awesomely visual medium. Encourage others to pin your content with contests or scavenger hunts, tracked by tagging (@) or hashtags (#).