Do or die mentality and “must-read” articles aside, let’s take a look at the facts.

Yes, the data shows that Pinterest is gaining in popularity especially among 20-something females, but does that really mean your brand needs to hop on board? We’ll be honest: probably not.

But in case you’ve got the ever-so-contagious Pinterest itch, we’ve laid out some tips for the up-and-coming platform and provided a few real-life examples of  companies using the site to build followers and develop brand personality in an innovative manner.

Why does Pinterest matter?

Search is on our side

Pinterest is a goldmine for inbound links. Users see a cool image on your board and if they’re intrigued enough, chances are they’ll click through to your website. We should point out here that if you want a visitor to end up on your website, you should link there rather than to a jpeg.

According to some search experts those happy inbound links on Pinterest will someday be replaced with NOFOLLOW links much like social predecessors Twitter and Flickr. But for now, why not take advantage of another way to drive traffic to your site?

Positioning

Pinterest is very much a niche platform – people come to find and share very specific types of content. This is your chance to frame yourself as an expert in your obscure field of research, a part-time funny person, or an accountant with a keen since of style. Embrace your weirdness on Pinterest.

Be nerdy

On a similar note, Pinterest caters to the crafty/creative/techy people of the world, so try to publish content that lends itself to these interests.

Stop talking about yourself already

In addition to pins directly related to your products or services, mix it up by posting images only remotely related to your industry, shots in cool spots around your city or even images that inspire you and your team. Showing that your company is comprised of interesting individuals rather than salesmen is means more eyeballs.

Don’t forget your keyword etiquette

Use good keyword text to describe your pins, but as always don’t stuff key terms in a nonsensical manner.

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There’s just one problem…

Clients aren’t impressed with agencies’ digital skills. According to a recent CMO Council Report, just 9% of marketers say they believe agencies have been good at migrating to digital, and 51% of marketers see agencies as playing catch-up with regards to new technology.

That confidence gap can create tensions and result in mismatched agency client relationships. It’s also a key differentiator for agencies willing to invest in the digital space. And data supports the idea that a more open, transparent marketing firm with a strong digital presence captures leads and closes deals more often than competitors that do not execute a focused digital marketing strategy.

Solving the issue of client confidence may be as simple as helping marketing firms practice what they preach. The goal of this white paper is to show how marketing firms can use social media and content marketing to overcome the assumption that traditional agencies don’t do digital.

This white paper includes:

• Raw numbers showing how top US marketing agencies rank in social media.
• lonelybrand Custom Research showing how consistent social media presence, blogging and content marketing help accomplish agency business goals.
• Solutions to close the issue of client confidence in an agency’s digital competence.

Companies aren’t happy with the level of digital proficiency they’re seeing from agencies, but at the same time those companies have haphazard systems for appraising work agencies are doing in the online realm. It’s not surprising. After all, “you don’t know what you don’t know” right?

How can brands expect to hire the right agency when they have no way of identifying and evaluating the right skill sets? We believe the way that agencies represent themselves in the digital world says a lot about the work they do for their clients.

Clients aren’t happy…

Results highlighted in a new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report dubbed “More Gain, Less Strain” show that clients are disappointed by agency performance, most notably because they feel agencies are not keeping up with developments in social media, mobile marketing and other digital whizbangery.

In fact only 9% of senior marketers believe traditional ad agencies are doing a good job of evolving and extending their service capabilities in the digital age.

51% see their agencies as playing catch-up with regards to new technology, or acquiring but not integrating digital marketing capabilities.

Long story short, agencies aren’t cutting it when it comes to digital.

But no one is keeping score

Unhappy as they may be, most marketers don’t have a documented process for evaluating the work that agencies do on their behalf. Only 44% of marketers say they have a formal scorecard for rating agency performance on an annual basis while 52% have no such mechanism.

As the CMO Council’s executive Director Donovan Neale-May notes, “there’s an underlying level of frustration among senior corporate marketers worldwide when it comes to agency contributions to business value creation, strategic thinking and digital marketing development.”

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Studies show that among the general public, women have a slightly larger presence on social networks. A recent comScore survey revealed that 83.9% of female internet users belong to a social network, versus 81% of the male online population.

At lonelybrand we wanted to know whether gender affects the way agency executives view social networking, so we took a look at our survey of over 300 top agency executives to find out.

Who’s more old school?

We wanted to see whether one gender prefers more traditional business development tactics over social media, so we asked the executives whether meeting prospects at conferences, conventions and events is very important for lead generation.

It turns out that women are more likely to turn to in-person business development strategies; 70% said that these tactics are important for lead gen. Meanwhile, just 64% of men said that meeting prospects in person is of the utmost importance.

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1. Learn the Art of Googling from Santa

The Google team created a rap (if you can call it that) teaching Santa how to Google in preparation for his trip. Goofy? Yes. But also full of some pretty legit tips for the amateur Googler.

2. Get Crafty…Or At Least Buy Crafty

Finding the perfect gift for that special someone can be tricky. But never fear - Etsy has come to the rescue with a little help from Facebook. The eCommerce website for crafts and vintage items created a Gift Finder tool that examines your Facebook friends’ activity to find the perfect gift for each and every one of those social connections. Check out the Etsy Gift Finder here.

3. Where’s Santa?

Track the elusive man in red’s journey with NORAD’s Santa Tracker. Or if you’re craving 3D, follow him using Google Earth.

4. Social Decor

If you’re worried that you won’t be able to pull a certain family member away from their Twitter feed during the festivities, try distracting them with these handmade social media ornaments.

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In the first installment of our four-part 2012 prediction series, we’ll take a look at what’s next for social media and content marketing.

1. Brand Page Explosion

Brand pages on the big three social networks are in the midst of a sizable evolution. Google+ and Twitter rolled out brand pages in late 2011, and once Facebook’s legal issues are settled, they will release their Timeline Interface for brands.

Marketers will begin executing strategies around new features. With Google+, it will be about using Circles for segmentation purposes. Facebook Pages will need to take advantage of the sleek new design and Sponsored Stories. The new Twitter brand pages will allow brands to have a Promoted Tweet that remains on the top of their page. All in all look for better and more trackable uses of social networks for digital marketing.

2. Niche Content

Content marketing will continue to overtake B2B and encroach into the B2C realm. Relevance and quality contribute to more views and better conversion rates. Marketers will cater to niche crowds in new ways. Better social segmentation in the aforementioned prediction will help deliver the most relevant content to the right audiences. Expect to see more in-depth articles and videos that provide real value.

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Low barriers to entry for software as a service products combined with a lack of case study material has crowded the social media monitoring space.

But which social media monitoring tool is a fit for your organization? What are the most popular tools and how are they being used today? How much should you budget for social media monitoring tools in 2012?

This white paper includes:

• Research and findings from 5 popular social media monitoring tools.
• Objective scoring according to 8 key dimensions.
• Social media monitoring tool recommendations for agencies and brands by function and budget.

To learn which social media monitoring tools are right for your company, download the white paper today.

Foursquare Reaches 15 Million Users

Earlier this week Foursquare released the encouraging news that they now have 15 million users. But that’s not the whole story.

This statistic looks at the number of registered users, not people who actually use the app. Plus, only about 50% of these users are located in the US.

Check-Ins Still Uncommon

According to a recent Forrester research report, just 6% of consumers have ever checked in, and only 2% check in on a weekly basis. 70% of the 37,000 people surveyed knew what a geo-social app was, and while this seems low, it is a steady improvement over last year’s 16% awareness level.

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Founded in 2008 by tech industry veterans Mark Bradford and Rob Lambert, ChirpUp addresses the digital marketing needs of midsized and large businesses with affordable, scalable inbound marketing, content marketing and social media solutions. With the acquisition lonelybrand gains proprietary digital marketing processes and technologies as well as a significant boost to its already large digital presence.

Comments on the News
“The acquisition of ChirpUp represents our ongoing effort to connect digital marketing activities to revenue,” said Nicholas Kinports, Digital Strategy Lead and Founder of lonelybrand. “In 2012 soft metrics just aren’t good enough. It’s not about a fancy strategy or sexy creative anymore. In challenging economic times our clients need disciplined processes and direct links to ROI – even for less defined areas like social media.”

Mark Bradford, Co-Founder of ChirpUp notes, “lonelybrand’s holistic approach to digital marketing made this an easy decision. Our proprietary technology and processes for identifying and connecting with online consumers at the moment of purchase intent amplifies everything lonelybrand is doing in the digital space. Our ability to quickly build and deploy advanced and experience-optimized landing pages and websites meshes perfectly with everything lonelybrand is doing in the digital space.”

Bringing a Proven Model to Market
Chicago-based lonelybrand was founded in 2010 and saw immediate growth by providing blended digital solutions for midsized to large businesses designed to simultaneously address analytics, customer relationship management, digital content marketing, mobile marketing, search and social media.

While other agencies and consultancies have focused on “pure play” initiatives lonelybrand has differentiated itself by providing a complete outsourced digital solution for companies that don’t want to take on and manage additional staff or multiple consultants. By quickly addressing and implementing measurable digital marketing programs lonelybrand takes pressure off top executives allowing them to refocus on business development and growth.

About lonelybrand
lonelybrand operates an extensive digital presence at www.lonelybrand.com,on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lonelybrand and Twitter at www.twitter.com/lonelybrand.

Of course, we’re not drones. We don’t sit idle in front of a computer and sift through business card videos to find our favorite businesses; however, the video business card is a clever spin on the familiar. Think about it: We’ve passed out these little cardboard cutouts for ages and they’re more likely to end up in the recycling bin than in our wallets.

Traditional business cards may even seem a bit archaic and unimaginative to a 20-something.  In many instances they have been displaced by smart phone apps or ubiquitously placed URLs to video business cards.

In this case, a hot dog vender or hair stylist can hand out a business card with a YouTube link and find just what kind of relish or gel they use in their services. isendout is one of the many services that deliver low-cost media to clients who don’t want to be inundated with text.

The trick is: The cards have the service name and a link. That’s it.

Give it a try. It costs next to nothing to do and consumers get a visual of the service you’re trying to deliver.

In my next post, I’ll talk about real, disposable video cards that actually air video from a device the size of a driver’s license.