Last week we discussed what Pinterest is, how it works, and how to get started using it. Today let’s dive into WHY Pinterest matters!

If you’re looking to drive traffic to your site, build links, generate leads, or simply utilize this new, popular avenue of social sharing than you should definitely consider joining Pinterest.

Traffic:

Perhaps the number one reason you should be jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon is the potential to drive lots of traffic to your website. Early research indicates that Pinterest is more effective at driving traffic compared to other social media sites, even Facebook!

Like any social network, the highest returns will be seen for those companies and individuals that are early adapters of Pinterest and leverage it’s traffic driving abilities. Will you be one of them?

Links:

If you use the “Pin It” button on your website, every single one of your pins will include a link back to the source. While the links are ‘no follow’ and won’t have a direct impact on your SEO strategy, this still offers an incredible opportunity for link building and again, driving more traffic to your website.

Leads:

As we all know, traffic is great but it’s the leads that we’re ultimately going after. The cool thing about Pinterest is that it’s driving traffic based on visual appeal. What this means for you? If you can equally delight your website visitors visually upon landing on your website, you have the potential to generate new leads in droves!

Social Sharing:

Finally, let’s not forget the powerful role Pinterest can play in your social media strategy. As I mentioned in Part 1, Pinterest accounts can be connected to both Facebook and Twitter. This means that when a user ‘likes’ or ‘repins’ your images, the images can be shared on the user’s Facebook and Twitter profiles, which means more eyeballs on you! This feature is great to boost social sharing and get your fans
to spread the word about your brand.

Be sure to connect with me on Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/devanifreeman/

Stay tuned for more next week as we discuss best practices for using Pinterest!

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To your social success,

I am SO excited for the doors to be open for Marie Forleo’s Rich Happy and Hot B-School. So I have been following Marie for quite some time now. She is by far one of the most brilliant marketers out there. She is real and authentic and educates on what really works for marketing your business.

I have learned so much from her with just her free weekly videos. B-School takes it to a whole other level.

I am not sure if you can relate to this,  I love what I do with serving entrepreneurs with one on one marketing and social media coaching along with social media management for local businesses. But, I am at the point where I don’t have any more time to give, yet I want to increase my profits. How do I do that?

Well the best way to do that is to leverage yourself through an online business. You have the ability to sell your products and services 24/7 to people all over the world. I KNOW I am meant to have a big impact like that, are you?  The thing is there is a lot of people jumping online these days. How do you make sure you are above the noise and attract and connect with the right people who love what you have to offer? B-School teaches this!

Watch Marie Forleo’s two videos here. This videos alone will teach you SO much!

Video #1

Video #2

So long story short I have decided now is the time for me to enroll and embark on fine turning my business model, marketing strategy, mindset and more. I want to PERSONALLY invite you to join with me! Let me tell you, I have done my research on this program. I have actually met and have had phone conversations with several gals that went through the program and they ALL said they got a return on their investment plus more!

This program is for you if:

If you are not happy with the amount of money you are making right now

You are not satisfied with your current level of influence & impact in the world

Your income is inconsistent

You have too few of customers

Your business model puts a cap on your income and time

Not sure where to get started online, hire out, etc?

You know you are meant to do great things and you want to share your message with the world.

Bonus for you!

So I encourage you to join me in this amazing program. You can get all the details on the program and enrolling here. I appreciate your loyalty as a reader and subscriber . I am offering anyone who enrolls in B-School 4 one on one social media coaching sessions with me personally. Social Media in depth is not covered in the program so you will be armed and loaded for major success when you are done!

My mission is similar to Marie’s. To help and support women entrepreneurs all over the world to share their passion and get paid through the internet!

Here is the link again. Send me an email after you enroll and we can connect over the phone! Deadline for registration is May 25th so get a move on it!

P.S. Even if you can’t enroll at this time I still encourage you to watch the videos, you will get a lot out of it!

To your success,

Over the past few months, you may have heard the buzz surrounding the brand new social network Pinterest. This hot site is drawing people in like crazy! In December 2011, Pinterest was listed on the Hitwise List of the Top Ten Social Networks at #5, which is ahead of the race with LinkedIn and Google+!

Before you dive in to learning about Pinterest you should consider if this is the right social network for your target market? Pinterest has a high percentage of women users so if your target market is men, this may not be the best place to spend your time and efforts in. If it is women, than this is perfect!

So your question as an entrepreneur probably is, “How does this work for marketing my business?” Here’s my answer, in a few different ways. Let me share it with you over the course of a four part blog series.

What is it and how does it work?

Pinterest is a social network that is basically a virtual pin board. Have you ever created a visual board at home? I have one hanging up in my office. It’s filled with pictures of goals and things I want to experience & accomplish such as: vacation pictures, money, in shape bodies, etc.

Pinterest is very similar to that, except on steroids! You can have as many “pinboards” as you want in different categories. You can visually share & discover new and interesting images by posting on these boards. This is also known as “pinning”. You can pin images and videos everywhere on the web.

There are a few ways to add pins to your boards:

• Upload them from your computer
• Pin things you find on the web by using a Pinterest bookmark button
• Add a URL
• Use a Pin it button that a website may have. (WordPress now has this plugin).
• Browse & repin items in Pinterest

How to get started:

Pinterest is an invitation-only site still. That being said, you can request an invitation. Visit www.Pinterest.com, click “Request an Invite,” and enter your email address. They seem to have a quick response time.

Once you get your invitation you have to decide if you want to sign your account up with Facebook or Twitter. Currently Pinterest doesn’t offer a connect to business pages on Facebook, so your pins would be showing up as an application on your personal page. If you’re wanting to keep it strictly business, I would suggest signing up with your Twitter account so it feeds in to that.

Once you have created your account be sure to optimize your profile under the settings tab with all of your information and website.

Be sure to connect with me on Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/devanifreeman/

Stay tuned for more next week as we dive in to how Pinterest can drive a lot of traffic to your site!

Are you subscribed? Be sure to sign up & receive inside access to tips, tricks & tactics to grow your business online!

To your social success,

There are so many social media sites out there these days. You have Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, Tumblr…and the list goes on! So which one is the best for YOU and YOUR business to get the most return from your time?

In this video you will get three tips on how to figure that out!

Tip 1: What is the demographic of the clients you are trying to attract? By clarifying the type of clients you want to attract you’ll be able to determine which social sites they prefer.

Tip 2: Where do your current clients hang out? Study your current clients and the social sites they spend their time on to get clues to where your future clients may also be hanging out.

Tip 3: How much time do you have to dedicate to social media? Some social sites require more time than others. Figure out how much time you have to dedicate to social media and allocate it wisely.

Tip 4: Just start out with one social site, don’t overwhelm yourself! If you try to do it all at once chances are you’ll burn yourself out and not see the results you’re looking to achieve. Remember, even in the fast paced world of social media, slow and steady wins the race!

Which social site have you been using? Tell me about your results in the comments below!

Looking to get hands on help to start your social buzz? Book your “get acquainted’ session here!

To your social success,

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Tova Edwards, owner and founder of Wink Lash Extensions in downtown Bellevue, Wa. Lash Extensions has been all the rage when it comes to beauty! What more could a girl want than to look make-up ready all the time?

In this video I will introduce you to Tova, walk you through my appointment and share with you a few tips on what makes Wink Lash Extensions so different. Lashes can be a bit of an investment, time and money wise. So it’s best to pick a top notch studio that can provide quality work & the option to get more than one service done at a time! I got my lashes and pedicure done at the same time, who would have imagined? Check it out==>

If you enjoyed this video please share it with your friends! You can like Wink Lash Extensions on Facebook and Twitter.

To your social success,

As March came to a close, Facebook Business Pages got a facelift. The new look? Timeline! With all business pages officially moved over to Timeline on March 30th, it’s important you know how to best utilize your page and the new features. This video will walk you through these important changes. I’ll show you the key features you need to know about, best practices for customizing your page, and some tips for creating an engaging and effective Business Page…with just a few clicks of the mouse!

The Layout:
The first thing you may notice about the new layout is that the Default Reveal Tab is now gone. The good news is that you still have a tab with it’s own unique URL. I recommend purchasing a domain or creating a unique URL from your site with this unique URL.  Add this to your website, email signature and marketing materials so you can drive new ‘likes’ to your Facebook page. Dimensions for this tab are 810 pixels wide.

The Cover image:
My favorite feature of the new layout is the Cover image. The Cover image is 851 X 315. While you cannot openly market particular services or products on this cover image and no website links or URLs are permitted (see page guidelines here) you can use this space to make a powerful statement about your brand.

Some of my favorites:

Creative Marketing (featuring a client):
Ovaleye::Cloud Services

Unique:
Livestrong

Fun:
The Power Chicks

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your Cover image. It’s a great space to showcase your brand in a fun and unique way!

New profile image:
The new profile image is 180×180. My tip: avoid using logos when you can. People want to connect and relate with a person, even if you sell a product.

Thumbnails for apps:
The new thumbnails are 111 X 74 pixels. You can have up to 12 applications. Use these thumbnails to create calls to action and consistent branding with a custom box. Use Picnik.com to edit image size yourself.

New Features:

Messages: Facebook users who do not ‘like’ your page can send messages to page admins now (be sure to check your admin dashboard regularly)

Highlight Post: Highlighting a post allows your post to stand out in your timeline and stretch across your entire timeline page. You can highlight as many posts as you want at a time. Things you may want to highlight are milestones in your business, new videos or perhaps a post that received a lot of comments. To enable, click on the star on your post.

Pin Post: This allows you to feature your most important content or post on the top of your page for as long as 7 days. You can only pin one post at a time. This feature is great to highlight an offer, special content or perhaps an event!

Another new option is you can now change the name of your Facebook page where before you could not. You can’t change the URL but you can change the name.

If you enjoyed this post please share with your peeps!

To your social success,

In today’s vlog post I want to share with you some simple tips on how to fall in love and attract the clients you want to work with!

I hope you enjoy!

xo,

With all of the Facebook changes, it is so easy to overlook simple things that could lead to a huge increase in Facebook traffic and engagement. One of those mistakes is a simple setting on your Facebook page. When you Facebook Page is first set up the settings, under your “managed permissions” tab is defaulted to “Only Posts by Page”. You DO NOT want this.

This means that viewers and yourself, can only see posts on your wall that are posted by you, not other pages or fans. This is not good for a few reasons:

1. Can prevent you from getting great interaction with your fans.

2. Can decrease the likely hood of getting a new like because of the engagement they see on the page.

3. You can also potentially miss posts from people and other fan pages!

Conclusion: You want the setting to be set on “All Pages”. See image below.

I also included a hands on video to explain how to set this up properly.

I hope you got a lot out of this! Please share with the links below so we can help others that may have these setting set wrong.

Stay tuned for more tips & tricks on social media, internet marketing, social list building and more! Sign up here<====

To your Success,

So if your anything like me you are always reading and searching for ways to become more productive! I often find myself distracted, not sure if it’s text, email, Facebook, Twitter, phone…the list could go on! I know you feel me. As soon as you sit down at your desk or wherever you work you immediately get overwhelmed. I am right there with you! I have learned a few key strategies and wanted to share these with you in my video below. I want to help you to clear out some of the clutter and be more productive in your day!

Tip #1: Set a firm and clear deadline! If I don’t put it on the calendar with due date it will never get done!! I have done this so many times, you think I would learn! If I don’t make a solid date I will keep putting it off. Put it in your Google Calendar, wall calendar, everywhere. Remember, be realistic though!

Tip #2: Work from a President’s List and a todo list. President’s list is 5-6 TOP things you MUST do for the day. Don’t overload your list or you will feel overwhelmed. (I learned about the President list from Jennifer Lovelady). Short List: 3 tasks that are your next steps to work toward finishing the goal of your project. Instead of just listing the project, list the steps. It will seem and be much more achievable! (I learned this tip from Carrie Wilkerson)

Tip #3: Get an accountability partner: Think of another entrepreneur that would be a perfect match to be someone who you can check in with weekly? Perhaps it’s someone online or if you don’t have one you can use your social media audience and fans to keep you accountable. When you have a meeting with your partner be clear and realistic on what you want to accomplish. I have made some amazing progress in business because I have an accountability partner.

Tip#4: Reward yourself for your hard work! Give yourself a pat on the back. Being an entrepreneur is not easy! We need to take time for ourselves to get to recharge and inspire new ideas!

What do you like to reward yourself with? Love to hear your comments below! Don’t forget to get on my list to receive my Dish with Devani Ezine to stay in the loop and get my latest marketing & business tips!

To YOUR success,

I am a huge fan of mastermind groups. Being part of a group and community of like-minded entrepreneurs has skyrocketed my learning curve in my business. Just recently I was involved with a local mastermind/coaching group and was super impressed in how much value I received from it. There where a few times I was stuck with a business creative and I had the input of several other people, all with different experiences and backgrounds. Not only did they help me to uncover an amazing solution but they also help with pivoting on that idea in a way I never thought of, that is the power of a mastermind group! There are a few tips I recommend to follow when you decide to embark in a mastermind group, check out my video below:

Tip # 1: Always invest in a mastermind group. You want to be surrounded by successful earners. When people have invested in a group they are not just investing in their business but themselves. In addition, you and the other members will put more into it.

Tip # 2: Stay accountable! Treat the Mastermind group like you would any project or client. Make it a priority and you will get a lot out of it!

Tip #3: Ask for advise and use the group to your full advantage! Every person in the mastermind group is there to learn from others and grow their business. Don’t be scared or embarrassed to ask questions, that what the group is for! Be open and honest with you and the other members!

If you are currently in a mastermind group please share your experiences in the comments below, love to hear from you!! Also don’t be shy and share this post with others from the the links below!

To YOUR success,