let's talk about pinterest

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at the USU PRSSA Mountain West Public Relations Conference as part of the social media panel. I was asked to present on Pinterest.

Not only do I love Pinterest, but I've recently learned a lot about how it can benefit businesses.

In my opinion, the world is majorly shifting with the continuing social media explosion. SEO is still important, but we are in a whole new world of discovery now. Instead of having great SEO so that when people search for an answer to a question, businesses need to be the answer to their question before it's asked.

This is where Pinterest comes in. By representing your brand on Pinterest and having your product or ideas pinned and repinned, people are getting to know the brand's name, what the brand does, what the brand likes, and even what the brand thinks is funny. So instead of searching for a new dentist online, the consumer will think "Oh, I already follow so-and-so on Pinterest and I feel like I have a relationship with them already."

I created a pinboard (of course) of valuable information and tips on using pinterest both for personal and business use.

Check out the pinboard here.

What do you think of Pinterest? Are you using it for your business?

search engine optimization

• Search Engine Optimization
• 11 Steps to Successful SEO for your Business

Yes, that's right. I'm using a wikipedia article as a source. Why? Because I searched "search engine optimization" in google, and wikipedia was a top result. Clearly, they rock at SEO. 

SEO is improving the visibility of a webpage or website in search engines. Search engines use algorithms to decipher what order your results appear in when you search. Generally speaking, the higher your site or page is on the search engine results, the more views/visits it will receive. 

If a company effectively uses SEO, it can be a great marketing opportunity for them. 

Article two presents 11 steps for using SEO for your company. From Keyword Research, to Web Analytics, it's important that you are SEO-conscious when you are creating your website, updating your website, or posting to your blog. 

there's an app for that

via

• Mobile Application and its Global Impact
• Top 5 iPhone apps

Section 4 of the first article discusses the ethical effect mobile apps are having on society. I think some really interesting points are made. Quicker communication, increased productivity, and entertainment at our fingertips can all be seen as positive impacts of mobile apps. It's all becoming increasingly more common. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder if we're lowering our quality of living. We can communicate instantly, which can be very helpful in some situations, but how is it effecting our interpersonal communication? And aren't there times when you wish you could just disconnect? Similarly, it's nice to have entertainment at our fingertips. Waiting at the doctors office is a lot less boring, but where in the past we may have talked to someone else and made a new friend, now we keep to ourselves and play angry birds. I think there are positive and negative impacts to all aspects, we just need to find a balance. 

Article two highlights just one blogger's favorite apps, but I think it expresses what we as a society find important. ShakeItPhoto- we want to share our lives and do it in style. Bloglovin'- we want to keep up on the latest gossip and stay "involved" in the lives of our friends. Grocery IQ- we want to increase productivity and simplify our lives. Again, I think that all of this can be seen from both a positive and negative perspective. The important thing is to find the balance.

skype: changing the world one video conference at a time

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• Skype TV changing businesses
• How Skype changed the world

In article one, we learn that the first video conference call took place in 2006. Now, 5 years later, Skype is common lingo. "Skype me" is heard often and telephone calls are becoming obsolete. (Okay, not really.) The potential is there, however. The first article introduces Skype-enabled TV. Working with Samsung and Panasonic, Skype developed a TV that allows users to make video conference calls using the Skype software. 

This creates a free opportunity for easier conference calls. Whether it be business/entrepreneurial needs (as the article discusses) or personal use. Imagine never making a phone call again and always seeing the person you were talking to. Is this, perhaps, where our world is headed?

Article two talks about how Skype has already changed the world. Skype is the embodiment of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). So, the way Skype works is by sending little digital packets of your voice to others just like email. Skype is a huge innovation and has provided many new opportunities for conversation and business. 

viral videos

And that's how you use viral videos for great PR. Everyone knows the Old Spice brand, and now they know the Old Spice guy. Plus, who isn't a sucker for a marriage proposal. Old Spice guy engages with his audience. That's what I call successful PR.

• Viral Videos for PR
• How to make a Video go Viral

If you can get your video to go viral, you've got it made. Everyone loves youtube, and if everyone is quoting your video- they know your brand. The secret is making your video worth sharing. 

Top three tips from article 1:

1. Humor
2. Early Hook
3. Originality

Article 2 discusses outreach. To get your video out there, you have to get the ball rolling. Share it. Make it available to be shared. Use blogs and forums to get the video viewed by your target audience.

Overall, I don't think you can just "make a viral video". You can give it your best and hope for results, but in the end, it's pretty hard to know what will take off and what won't. 

location based social media

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• 5 things you need to know about LBS
• What are LBS?

I think the easiest thing to recognize with location based services (LBS) is the huge marketing opportunity. "For the same reason radio is a great advertising channel for retailers, LBS advertising is also valuable: because it can reach the consumer near the point of sale."(Via article 1)

However, I am really glad that the first article points out the battery life issue. My biggest personal issue with location based anything is that my GPS kills my phone battery. As the article points out, Foursquare has done well in setting up their "check-in" feature so that you don't have to run the battery-sucking GPS all the time. 

The second article addresses safety concerns. The author suggests three options for staying safe on LBS.

1.  If you're worried about your safety, don't check in. Maybe LBS aren't for you.
2. Share with trusted friends only. 
3. Only check in as you're leaving a location.

traditional views

• Newspapers Vs. Blogs
• Blogs Vs. Newspapers

“But newspapers continue to perform an incredibly important function as informational gatekeepers – a function, as far as I can tell, that grows more important with time, not less. Between them, for instance, the Times and the Post have literally hundreds of trained professionals whose only job it is to sift through the mountains of information that come out of the various levels of government and find what is of value and of importance to the rest of us. Where would we be without them? We’d be lost.” - Malcom Galdwell (Via Article 1)


The Author of the first article disagrees with this quote, and I think I do as well. I think that as social media gets bigger and bigger, things like blogs depend less and less on newspapers. Yes, newspapers are gatekeepers, but each blog author is a gatekeeper themselves as well as the readers of blogs. 


I like the commentary in the second article about blogs having more readers than newspapers. I do think that newspapers are fading out. I think there is still a place and a market audience for them, but I also think people are finding that they like social media news outlets more and more.