Pinterest is my favorite social media platform by miles.  I encourage my small business PR clients to use it because it’s an excellent way to increase awareness and drive website traffic.

In case you have been living under a rock (kidding), Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to share photos that they have assigned to specific boards.  While Pinterest is super to easy to use, there are definitely some tips for success.  I’m starting with the very very very basics here, but will follow up with more advanced tips in later posts.

1. After you create an account, create your profile complete with description and photo.

2. Add the “Pin it” button to your tool bar.  You can get that here:  http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/.  It can’t be any easier – simply drag the icon to your tool bar. This will allow you to easily pin any photo to your boards as you’re surfing the internet.

3. Create boards based on your interest (fashion, food, photography, etc.) AND make boards that are relevant for your business.  For example, I love interior design and cooking so I have a lot of boards related to these topics PLUS I have a “Small business and marketing tips” board and a “Client press” board.   Mixing business and personal is a general rule across social media and Pinterest is no different.  Mix it up!  Don’t just blog about your business – there is a person behind that business of yours and that interests people.

4.  For your business boards, pin photos from your blog and write a catchy description in the text box.   Make sure the photo links back to your website.  Pinterest is not just for product based businesses and can be used for service based business like mine as well.  For my business, I find it helps increase pins if I put text on the actual photo like the one I’ve used in this post.

5.  Set a timer!  I know I give the timer speech all the time, but Pinterest is HIGHLY addictive.   Trust me on this one – otherwise Pinterest will start to feel like a bit of a time suck.

Please share your experience using Pinterest – I’d love to hear!

What is your morning ritual?  I’d love to hear!

Here goes…

I can’t tell you how many questions and comments I receive from entrepreneurs about being overwhelmed by social media.  In many cases, they feel like they have no direction or aren’t getting any results.  Check out my latest small business PR video below if you need a social media sanity check!

5 Productivity Enhancers For PR & Social Media Professionals

Public relations professionals are masters at increasing their productivity. To be successful in the strategic communication, marketing and social media fields, you must stay on the cutting edge of technology. Fortunately, there are five great mobile applications that can truly help you increase your productivity.

CamCard: Free/iOS & Android
When your work is all about your network, CamCard is undoubtedly one of the most important apps you can install on your mobile device. The simple premise of this app is that allows you take a photo of a business card and will then extract the information into your Address Book or the app’s built-in rolodex. The app recognizes and stores all the important categories of information including websites, emails, phone numbers QR codes, and address maps. You can carry hundreds of cards with you without the clutter. The app also allows you to share them easily. The app gets 4-5 stars in both catalogs, assuring you that the effort will be worth it.

camcard

CloudOn: Free/iOS & Android
Without a doubt, CloudOn is a must-have on your mobile devices. This application allows you to view, edit, and share your Microsoft Office products anytime, anywhere. That means that when you leave your laptop at home, you’ve still got access to your spreadsheets on your iPad or smartphone. If you’re out and you run into that very-important-someone, you can pull up your presentation and play it on the spot. CloudOn is capable of drawing files from DropBox, Google Docs and other cloud storage systems. CloudOn is also able to access many different file types including .PDF and .PNG and will save and share your documents easily. It’s available on iOS and for Android and enjoys 3.5-4 star reviews in both catalogs.

cloudon

CallFlakes: Free/Android
Public relations professionals are going to wonder how they ever lived without CallFlakes. This genius app pops up a menu right after a phone call ends. The menu allows you to choose from six different choices in order to follow up a call including a text message, call back, share (Twitter/Facebook), email, set a reminder or schedule a calendar event. Another unique function is Facebook caller and text id. The just under 4 stars this app gets lets you know that it’s still young and needs improvement, but is ready for your download now.

callflakes

Glyder: Free/iOS
Glyder allows you to create a message and share it across multiple platforms at once. Glyder provides templates that you can edit with your information and publish to any combination or Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, ApplePassbook, email, MailChimp lists and Constant Contact. It’s that simple, and that necessary. Again, this app is young but has been received strong ratings since it became available last year.

glyder

Group Mail: $7.99/iOS
By far one of the most productivity-killing problems with smartphones is the lack of group email functionality. There are many apps that try to answer this problem. When you need to fire off an email to your sales team or a list of clients, you have to have an app to do that. However, not all group email apps are created equally. GroupMail is just one of the many choices available so it may take some “shopping around” to find one that suits your needs and fits into your workflow.

Here are my three for this year.

I feel that announcing resolutions publicly helps make sure you actually do them.  Do you agree?  What helps you stick with your resolutions?

Here are my thoughts…