Pinterest Means Serious Business

Source: smallshopstudio.com
 via Jessica on Pinterest

At first glance, the new Pinterest "pinning" platform may seem like a peripheral channel for rainmakers, but if your target market is women between the ages of 25-44 (a group that makes up more than 60 percent of Pinterest users) and you market unique, visually appealing products in the fashion, food, crafts or bridal business, your brand should create a Pinterest profile and begin engaging in the platform. Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate, and discover new interests by posting or “pinning” images and videos to virtual pin boards.ting them on personal pinboards. Retailers benefit from utilizing a “Pin It” share button on product pages within their current e-commerce site. In its first year, large retailers like Nordstrom claimed to receive more traffic to their site from Pinterest than Facebook. Before you begin, understand that developing or curating photography is time consumming. Pinterest etiquette also states it's not a place for self-promotion, so brands need to be creative, play by the rules in order to be effective. Here is a list of useful tips on how you can join the more than 250 brands already on Pinterest:

1. Think creatively and envision how you'd like others to experience your brand.
2. Use Pinterest as an effective focus group by collecting information about your following to get insight on your target consumers.
3. Use as a great crowdsourcing tool by encouraging followers to post photos of themselves at events or experiencing your products.
4. Brand to consumers by encouraging employees to help you build inspiring pinboards about what your company means to those who work there.

5. Create pinboards based on core keywords already used in your current website SEO strategy.

Santa Claus' Job Just Got Easier

The 2010 Holiday shopping period got off to a fierce start this weekend, but it was primarily fueled by mouse clicks, rather than store stampedes. For the first time ever, online retail shopping year-over-year growth surpassed in-store purchase rate, proving that "the digital raindance" has forever changed Holiday shopping. With consumer electronics and apparel leading the way, online retail purchases during Black Friday weekend rose by 16 percent, according to UBS retail analysts. In-store sales were about 6 percent higher than last year. Those retailers with user friendly online sites and free shipping are expected to rule Cyber Monday results when it's all said and done. Early reports show that Nordstrom, Macy's, Abercrombie & Fitch and Urban Outfitters could show year over year increases of about 20 percent. Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Internet giants, Amazon and Ebay are also expected to show positive results. It looks like Santa Claus' job may be getting easier.