Set your objectives.

Like any other marketing tactic, your approach needs to line up with your strategy. What’s the end game for you? It’s easy to track site traffic from Pinterest with Google Analytics, and this is a no-brainer of a benchmark to use. But more than site traffic, it’s important to think about your overall desires. You should shoot for lots of interaction and repins galore if brand awareness is your aim, but not so much if you need straight sales. Instead, track who is checking out at your online store, if they came from Pinterest, and which pins were able to seal the deal.

Create a branded Pinterest account. 

When exploring a new social network, it’s easy to think: “I’ll just stick my toe in, test the waters, before we commit to a plan…” But that’s a rookie mistake. The second you decide to create a Joe’s Plummer Pinterest account, you must assume that anyone searching your business’ name will discover it. You don’t want their first impression to be one that isn’t aligned with your brand. So plan out your copy, your look and your approach the way you would any new marketing initiative.

Spread the word!

Once you go live, one of the best ways to create an audience on a fledging platform is to recruit your enthusiasts on your more established platforms. Tell your Facebook fans and Twitter followers that you are on Pinterest, and include the news in your next email blast as well.

Do a test run.

Now what about that content? When you are first starting out, it makes sense to test-run a variety of pins to see what sticks. As with all social media content, we recommend 25-50% promotional stuff, with the other 50-75% of your material curated from other sources. Of course, all of this should be on-brand. Whole Foods does a great job of pinning their own recipes and products from their website, as well as repinning things their audience is into – from recycled products to gardening tips.

Make sure your pins are SEO’d.

Especially when you are first establishing your audience, you should make it as easy as possible for folks to find your pins. That means using a clear description along with each and every pin with plenty of keywords. The principles of search engine optimization apply within Pinterest, but optimized pins will help you out on Google and the other big boys, too.

Let your audience lead the way.

Once your test run is in full swing, track which pins are receiving the most likes and repins to shape your content strategy going forward. Also, it’s super easy to see what from your website is really taking off on the Pinterwebs. Just type http://pinterest.com/source/your URL into your address bar, and you’ll see all the pins coming from your website. You’ll be able to know exactly what pinners love, so you can create more content for your website that folks can’t wait to pin.

Think visually.

Speaking of pinnable content, make sure that all your online content lends itself to the very visual format of Pinterest. Since the platform is all about images, make sure that your images are crisp, attention-grabbing and easily understood. While this is a must for the images you share on Pinterest, it’s important for all the images you share, period, if you want to have a pin-friendly brand.

Give your website the “Pin It” button makeover.

The most surefire way to entice folks to pin your stuff? Add “Pin It” buttons to your website, both to your blog content and any products or services you highlight. That way, you make it easier for your customers to bookmark you and seal the deal later, and tell all their friends while they’re at it.

Let’s cut to the chase.

There’s a multitude of ways to implement Pinterest for your business – someone’s probably thought of a few more while I wrote this. But the takeaway really is: Start off on the right foot, don’t be afraid to try a few different things, and measure it along the way. And have some fun – I know I am!

How does this affect marketers reaching their mobile audiences? There is one huge takeaway – optimize your site for mobile!

We’re putting that into practice. Below is a screenshot from The National Chicken Council’s “Chicken” Facebook page. One of their marketing goals is to get online audiences thinking and talking about chicken. That gives us some freedom to play around a little. Sharing this image resulted in 745 likes, 27 comments, and 171 shares.

It’s interesting to see what kind of “truths” are coming out of social media studies. What’s worked for you?

How’d this all get started? A humble health food store in Rhode Island pulled Kashi from their shelves and posted this note on the shelf:

As you can imagine, all it took was one customer’s smartphone snapshot to send this image viral on Facebook.

Now, far be it from us to get into the nitty gritty of all this “natural” hullaboo. Ecosalon has a detailed rundown of the industry standards, federal regulations, and whatnot. The bottom line is – Kashi insists that they didn’t do anything wrong because the term “natural” is not federally regulated, and therefore up for them to define. But we don’t have to tell you that customers have their own definitions, and their own very angry thoughts to share on the matter. All you have to do is check out the explosion on Kashi’s Facebook page to see where customers stand.

Since we aren’t nutritionists or federal regulators, we’re going to weigh in on the stuff we know best – how did Kashi handle all this on social? After all, that’s the very place where the whole story started… what are they doing to ensure that there’s a happy ending?

What They Got Right

They didn’t get “hide happy.” When faced with a social media crisis like this one, it’s tempting to pull a Chapstick and just click “hide” on every negative wall post or comment. But Kashi made the brave decision to leave at least some negative posts up and respond to them publicly. This kind of transparency goes a long way in re-establishing your brand as one that can be trusted.

Their responses are judicious, respectful and informative. Now, Kashi has been fairly choosy with who to respond to so far, a strategy that has pros and cons. It is true that over-responding can give the impression to your community of fans that you are attempting to tamp down every criticism. Instead, they are responding to posts with direct questions to Kashi, or that include factual inaccuracies. And with those responses, their messaging strikes the right tone:

They showed they were taking it seriously with two videos. We give Kashi props for putting the time, effort and budget into producing two YouTube videos to address the situation. While a written statement would have covered the same material, creating two separate videos shows that they really are listening and understand that this is a Big Deal. Check them out: “Kashi’s response to recent news” and “Kashi’s Commitment.”

They are attempting to rectify what their consumers are upset about. Despite the fact that Kashi has done nothing wrong by the standards of the law or the food industry, the fact is that they have been convicted in the court of public opinion, and that’s all that matters. We are impressed that rather than trying to totally damage control the heck out of this with “you’re wrong” messaging, Kashi has made a commitment to having 100% GMO-free granola bars by 2014 and at least 70% USDA organic certified ingredients by 2015.

What They Got Wrong

Their videos lacked authenticity. Hey, we don’t want to be in the business of kicking brands while they’re down. Still, we couldn’t help but notice the staccato reading of the nutritionist in Video #1, and the gentle but ever-present sound of the cue cards flipping. We weren’t the only ones:

Thankfully, Video #2 made several improvements on the first. General Manager David DeSouza went outside rather than sitting at a generic desk (much more on-brand) and appeared to speak moreso from the heart. Still, our biggest bone to pick had nothing to do with the setting of the videos…

Customer concerns were not validated. Haven’t they heard the phrase, “The customer’s always right”?  Rule #1 in online community management is to make the audience member feel heard, understood and appreciated.

While Kashi had some great messaging, never did they simply say, “We understand why your initial reaction to this would be disappointment or frustration, and we are sorry if you feel that we have let you down. We never want you to feel that way.” This isn’t just good customer service – it’s about reinforcing the message that Kashi is a brand that that wants you to care about what you put in your body.

Of course, we get that the buck doesn’t stop with the social media pros. Some lawyers probably advised Kashi to avoid admitting fault or apologizing – and their reasons are probably quite valid. But we wish they had been able to reassure their customers a bit more. We know from experience how far that kind of approach can take you.

The Takeaway

The most obvious lesson to learn here is that you should never underestimate social media and the viral potential of pretty much anything. Facebook’s recent adjustment to algorithms make images in particular go viral more easily than ever. Thus why it’s important to always be monitoring the online airwaves for mentions of your brand, so you don’t get caught with your pants down!

But beyond that, we believe that transparency will always serve you well. Obviously some transparency about their products and claims could have come in handy from the beginning, so that the issue could have been avoided to begin with. That’s another lesson altogether about marketing claims. Remember, just because you are playing by the industry’s rules doesn’t mean you are playing by your customers’. But Kashi has already made great strides in the direction of openness and authenticity, and though there are some things they could have done better, we hope that their efforts will serve them well in the long run. We still like their granola bars, robot-soybeans and all.

But wait! There’s more! All our team members do lots of heavy lifting when it comes to developing brand messaging, strategizing integrated marketing plans, brainstorming wild and crazy campaigns, and all in all creating great advertising.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Support the Digital Marketing Manager in researching, brainstorming and strategizing the interactive / social legs of marketing plans and advertising campaigns.
• Create engaging content for Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social platforms for a variety of brands, with careful attention paid to “on brand” tone and voice.
• Manage online communities and problem solve online crisis situations, with keen understanding of customer service and public relations.
• Establish and grow relationships with bloggers and other online influencers on behalf of our clients.
• Meticulously track and report on key social media measurement areas for regular reports to our clients.

Qualifications:

Below describes the perfect candidate… but nobody’s perfect, so if you think you would be great at this and can show us why, please apply!

• You have a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, Marketing, Communications, or the like.
• You have at least one year of experience in social media marketing – two is preferred.
• You aren’t just a social media “guru” or whatever they’re calling it these days. You have a demonstrated understanding of marketing and advertising, and you understand how word-of-mouth tactics such as social media fit into the bigger picture.
• You can’t get enough of Twitter, you are an Apple snob, and you can explain why Pinterest is so, so addictive.
• You have experience with WordPress, understand SEO and maybe even code a little.
• You’re a great writer. The vast majority of this job involves writing, so you should love it and be excellent at it.
• You are good at relationships. Whether you are a building relationships with online influencers to create buzz for a brand, or with online community members turning to you as the mouthpiece of a company, you will need to be able to win others over. It comes in handy in the office, too.
• You live for variety. You’ll be juggling several projects, big and small, so you should have experience with multi-tasking and tailoring your approach to the task at hand.

Why You’ll Love Working At TCA:

• The Cyphers Agency happens to be home to coolest folks you’ll ever have the pleasure of working with. No, really. Work is so fun you’ll feel like you’re getting away with something.
• Worried about becoming a Twitter monkey? Only if you decide to be. Everyone wears lots of hats around here and that means you get to do great creative and strategic work in a bunch of different ways, and you get to work with team members in every department.
• This is not a job for the timid, and we think that’s a good thing. You’ll have the opportunity to jump in and leave your mark from day one. Expect plenty of responsibility with not a lot of micromanaging, but with all the perks of a collaborative team environment.
• With the diverse variety of clients we have, there’s never a dull moment, and no two days are the same. And no matter what you’re into, we probably have a client that will suit your fancy… within reason.
• We offer a great health care plan that is covered 100%, among other benefits. And it’s casual Friday every day!

If this speaks to you, send your resume and cover letter to jocelyn@thecyphersagency.com. We encourage you to include writing samples and links to or screenshots of your work.

What is Tumblr? It’s a blogging platform at heart, but with a twist. This isn’t meant to be a traditional blog for writing that people visit or subscribe to with an RSS reader. Tumblr is designed for short, media-driven content: pictures, songs, movies, quotes, links. On top of that, Tumblr has a social angle (because honestly, who doesn’t these days). If you have a Tumblr account, you can follow other Tumblr blogs by clicking a follow button. All the content from blogs you follow show up in a feed on your Dashboard, similar to Twitter’s timeline.

It might seem overwhelming to add another social to your repertoire, but it’ll be worth it if your audience is age 12–34. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

1. Keep posts short and, if possible, visual. People scroll through their Tumblr feed quickly, similar to scrolling through their Twitter timeline. If your post is too long or too wordy, users will likely scroll right past it. I love those epic 4,000-word New Yorker cover stories and I still find myself scrolling past things in my Tumblr feed that are wordy. It’s just not the place for it.
2. Post quickly and frequently. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, the rule on how often to post is a bit more lax. Tumblr blogs may post 10 times in the same day, but Tumblr’s focus on visuals makes scrolling through lots of posts easy. Also, don’t take time stressing over every single thing you post. Tumblr’s vibe is quick, easy-going and off the cuff. Cut loose!
3. Show your personality. The thing about Tumblr is that, unlike Twitter and Facebook, there aren’t many hard and fast best practices. As long as you’re having fun, you’re probably doing it at least half right. One great use for Tumblr is to show the personality of your brand. Posting pictures of antics around the office or of the things your employees enjoy. What pop song is on repeat at the office? You could even use it as a way to show off your awesome customers.

Here are some brand examples.

Nike uses their Made by Nike Tumblr to profile young athletes and creators wearing Nike work out clothing.

Coke’s Happiness is.. Tumblr is a visual stream of what Coke thinks happiness looks like.

Popstar Carly Rae Jepsen’s Tumblr shows off fan-made covers of her new single.

Popular Mac/iPhone e-mail client, Sparrow, uses Tumblr to post tips and tricks on using their application.

MSNBC uses Tumblr to post news articles, but always with a prominent photography accompanying a quick story.

Are you already on Tumblr? What tips and tricks do you use?

To be honest, these logout ads kind of irk me. Yes, they are sleek, shiny, and beautiful, and yes, I have clicked “play” on this exact ad (Hi, my name is Jocelyn, and I’m an Internet ad clicker…”). And yes, the number of shares on this are astounding. And that’s exactly what irks me.

Facebook by and large leveled the playing field for businesses big and small. While Joe’s Dry Cleaners is never going to buy a Superbowl ad, or maybe any TV spot at all, social media has provided the opportunity to do the consumer engagement thing just as good as Ford, or maybe even better. When big businesses already have a huge leg up in pretty much every other form of media, it’s a sad day when they get it on the great equalizer – the social web – too. It’s like when you find out that the hot quarterback of the football team is nice, rich, and smart, too. Throw the dorky guy a bone, Zuck!

The web, unfortunately, doesn’t always level the playing field, though. Sometimes the highest bidder is the one who is seen. That’s proven in pretty much any ad platform in existence. Sometimes the more money you put into a Facebook ad, the more fans you’ll get. And for smaller businesses, sometimes this just ain’t fair because, after all, small business dollars are a bit more precious than Fortune 500 ones (am I allowed to say that?). And these new Facebook logout ads are kind of the icing on the cake. It might be blasphemous for me to say so, but do we really need more ads talking to us about how sexy the Ford Mustang is, especially after we’ve chosen to leave a site? I just want to logout of Facebook, for Zuck’s sake!

At the end of the day, all I can say is “Pshhht, whatever.” I can sit here and complain about how crap it is that Ford gets a leg up because they have more dinero to spend. Or I can sit here and come up with ways to make my clients’ networks better in different ways. Maybe it’s offering better, faster, smarter customer service to our fans. Maybe it’s building and encouraging a community of likeminded fans and rewarding them for just being awesome. Either way, it gives us smaller companies a chance to flex our muscles, be original, be authentic, and still be badass.

The interesting part isn’t that tech manufacturers are building these services into their products. It’s what this shows. Twitter and Facebook used to be small parts of our lives. Fun distractions. That’s not the case anymore. With the ubiquity of cellphones and wireless internet, social networks are becoming completely integrated into our day-to-day. Having a Facebook is no long weird or cool. Not having one is weird and makes you the friend who never knows what’s going on. Every commercial has a suggested Twitter hashtag. Every news anchor has their Twitter handle on screen. What I’m saying is, the social media revolution is over.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that social media is on its way out. Far from it. What I’m saying is that the days of social media being an early adopter phenomenon are over. Social media is a thing of the masses and this is when the real fun begins. The time is better than ever to be a marketer using these tools. Just look at all the changes that have been happening with the platforms.

Facebook just rolled out Pages Timeline and Twitter overhauled their whole website to make it more ad friendly. Both are getting ready to jump head first into mobile advertising and both of them are in great positions to do that. And the best part? They aren’t just focusing on traditional ads, but are putting an emphasis on storytelling (They’ve been reading our blog). Facebook is launching Sponsored Stories and Twitter added their Discover tab.

Get excited everyone. Social media may be starting to mature, but that’s not a sign of things slowing down. The tools are being improved, the strategies are being refined and the audience is bigger than ever.

Changes Coming Sooner than Later

Brands can opt into Timeline now, but it will be rolled out permanently for all Pages on March 30 – pretty soon! The biggest changes are the addition of the large Cover Photo (like Timeline for personal pages), new ways to feature content, and the Private Message capability between brands and users. Some challenges we’re presented with are the reduced visibility of tabs and the elimination of default landing pages for new visitors. Of course, the head honchos at Facebook think these elements are worth eliminating in favor of an approach that brings content like the Info section, photos, and apps front and center. Not to mention the new ways that ads will allow Facebook admins to more easily get their content in front of their fans. For all the details, Mashable has the complete guide to what’s new and what to do with all of it.

Reinforce Creativity and Strategic Messaging

One of the greatest strengths of the new Timeline for brands is the potential it holds for brands to get creative and use both the Cover Photo and content on their Timeline to communicate strategic messages. For example, we love Captain Morgan’s cover photo, and how it merges with the Profile Picture perfectly. The brand has clearly taken the opportunity to use the new space in a way that they couldn’t have with the old Pages.

Likewise, Burberry is maximizing their entire Timeline with lots of large, beautiful images. While they were sharing this kind of content before, it’s easy to see how Timeline so seamlessly lends itself to this type of multimedia-heavy approach to Facebook engagement. It’s been transformed from just another Facebook page to a truly Burberry branded destination.

Storytelling

On the other hand, it’s evident that this change is not just another tweak. The Facebook folks made much ado in their announcement on the 28th about the new Timeline’s focus on storytelling. Timeline for Brands isn’t much different than Timeline for individual Facebook users, and there’s a reason for that. Facebook envisions a platform where brands interact with their customers just like people do with each other on Facebook – listening to each other, swapping stories, sharing content that they really think those that are tuned in will appreciate.

If you’re a business that embraces social media not just as a marketing tactic, but as a way for a business that already values their customers to scale that approach, this change should be exciting for you. But if that’s not you, Timeline isn’t going to revolutionize the way you market with Facebook. In fact, it could present challenges. Check out Macy’s – a brand with a solid social media approach and nearly 5 million likes. They’ve updated their Cover Photo, but it’s nothing exciting. It’s nothing that they haven’t already done before. So far, none of their content seems to be capitalizing on the new capabilities of Timeline.

Still, it’s worth noting that they did take advantage of the opportunity to tell the story of their brand, going back to 1858. One of the best things about Timeline for businesses is the opportunity to tell their “life story.” By showing how small Macy’s started, and how far it has come, Macy’s really reinforces their brand and allows Facebook fans to connect with that emotional sell. I’m excited to see if they will eventually bring more of that into their Cover Photo and their newer content.

Overall, we think that Timeline for business is a good move by Facebook. While it might take all of us a while to transition and get used to these changes, it’ll provide so many more opportunities to reach, converse, and interact with customers in a way that more strongly reinforces a brand identity as a whole.