Internet Marketing - Easy as 1-2-3

Visit hundreds of internet marketing sites these days. They will tell you all the hundreds, if not thousands of ideas and ways they can sell you some product or service to have you making gazzilions of revenues through the internet. Half before lunch, ok, it's tough, so it might take you until after lunch to get the other half of the gazzilion! Yeah, right!

What they won't tell you is the cold hard truth. Being successful on the internet takes a special blend of many ingredients. These include time, education, experience, luck, and yes–money.

Every day, I see more and more potential internet marketeers who have obviously cut corners, rushing to market a product hastlily put together, poor marketing techniques, you name it.

Aside from having a lot of money to begin with, experience shows that gaining experience and educationing yourself about internet marketing topics are the Number One areas that anyone wanting to get started needs to focus on. In reality the more one learns about marketing on the internet, the more they realize that you are just touching the surface! And with the continuing advances in technology, it's changing every day!

Ok, admit — internet marketing is NOT EASY! It is not a piece of cake or the proverbial bed of roses. Now that we have admitted that part, what can be done then to advance or more accurately to accelerate the process? Here are a few tips that have helped mylearning curve:

Treat your growth to frequent "library time" on the internet. That is to say, just like going to a traditional library, you need to set aside some "quiet time" to surf the net with the express purpose of reading as much as possible about internet marketing topics. Simple searches on any of the major search engines will give you lots and lots of subjects that your can explore.

From the start, set up specific goals for yourself and your growth efforts. These should be short term, mid-range and longer term goals designed to continuously improve your knowledge. The quicker you become knowledgable and fluent with internet marketing, the sooner you will be having customers anxious to by your latest products and advice.

Obtain as much written literature and information on these topics as possible. Ideally, FREE information whenever possible. One faboulous resource for the full range and breadth of IM topics is Dotcomology. I personally use it on a continuing basis as a reference guide. You can get your copy absolutely free at the InternetMarketingUSA website.

Find and locate programs that include websites (already designed or customized for you) as a part of the program. Getting your own website on a reputable website hosting service is imparative.

Outsource portions of your work to supplement your own knowledge or expertise. Don't be afraid to use the expertise of others to excellerate your website capabilities. This is an ideal way to get your success on a fast track. Keep in mind you must shop around for reputable and low cost providers.

Get your very own newsletters and ezines going as soon as possible. The sooner you begin to share what you have learned, the sooner you will get your name and company "on the internet map". There are a multitude of benefits for this approach. To say the least, this is a great investment of your limited time.

Join internet marketing forums related to your specific area of interest and developing expertise. Start making many contributions to the various topics and postings to keep your self current on issues, build a reputation among your peers, and get your name and company on the search engines as content sources for other websites.

And lastly, stay positive and "have fun" with your efforts and activities. Maintaining an upbeat attitude not only helps you as you "learn the ropes" – it also comes through in your dealings with potential customers.

Original source: Internet Marketing - Easy as 1-2-3.
http://www.jretechnology.com

7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement

By Bryden McGrath
Published May 2, 2013
Is your company’s social media as stale as last month’s bread?
Would you like to get more people-to-people interaction and begin a real conversation with your audience on social media?
No matter your company’s industry or size, you can encourage these deeper connections and improve your social media engagement.
Here are some tips to help you encourage people-to-people interaction, whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Foursquare or Instagram.
Your company is only as good as your hardworking employees—so don’t be afraid to highlight them.
SEOmoz uses Facebook photo albums to highlight their employees.
The SEOmoz Facebook Page does an excellent job of this. Two examples in particular really jump out.
The “Then and Now” photo album: Employees provided photos from their youth along with recent photos of themselves. This is a great way to show fans the human side of SEOmoz. Plus, the baby pictures are adorable.
SEOmoz does a wonderful job of featuring employees, like in this “Then and Now” photo album.
The “What are Mozzers listening to?” photo album: All it took was snapping photos of employees with their headphones on and asking them what they were listening to. The result is an inside look at company culture.
The MLS team Seattle Sounders FC creates Facebook Events and invites their fans.
The MLS team Seattle Sounders FC creates Events for both their games and promotional events like player meet-and-greets.
Is your company holding an event that’s open to the public?
Then create a Facebook Event so followers can RSVP and add it to their calendars. This is a feature that is often overlooked by businesses—even many professional sports teams don’t create Facebook Events for their home games.
To get your juices flowing, here’s a short list of the types of gatherings where a Facebook Event could be perfect:
SeminarsWebinarsOpen housesCharity eventsConferences
In the example below of the 500px Facebook Page, they use Facebook to feature their fans.
For the photographers who are lucky enough to be featured, it means tremendous exposure to the Page’s almost-300,000 fans. As for everyone else, this type of post makes them feel part of a community with the possibility that they could someday be featured.
As a photo-sharing service, 500px is a natural fit to share user content on their Facebook Page.
Social media gives companies the ability to easily recognize their customers and fans.
Depending on your company’s niche, there are numerous ways to feature your customers and fans. For example, you can highlight contest winners or encourage users to submit their own photos and videos.
Get creative by using video to connect on Twitter.
You can use Twitter Vsnap to send personalized videos. Vsnap is a tool that allows you to record a video message with a maximum length of 60 seconds. Use this to send a personal video message to a follower on Twitter.
Every new follower Vsnap gains on Twitter is sent a personal video message through the service.
Making these short video messages personable is easy. Look at your target’s Twitter bio to see if something interesting jumps out and use this to craft your message. Or say thanks to someone who shared your content or became a new follower. Or answer a question someone has about your company.
Businesses have already found several creative uses for Twitter’s Vine app, which allows you to take 6-second video clips.
These short videos can be fun to watch and encourage viewers to connect with you further.
Your Vine videos don’t have to only be about your products. Here are some other uses your company might want to consider to connect with your audience:
A tour of the officeIndividual Vine videos for different teamsEncouraging customers to Vine about your business
Let people know who’s tweeting.
Have you ever noticed companies who include the initials of the person tweeting at the end of each tweet? Or companies who include the Twitter handle of the person(s) tweeting in their bio?
Both of these strategies are a great way to make a branded Twitter account feel a little more human and the interactions more personal.
Time
lets you know who is responding to their account on Twitter. The TIME Twitter account includes information on who is authoring the account’s tweets in the bio section.
Be part of the conversation.
Don’t ignore people who take the time to tweet to your company.
The Whole Foods Market Twitter account makes it a priority to respond to tweets.
Sometimes just acknowledging a tweet can make someone’s day—potentially making that person loyal to your brand for a lifetime. If you take the time to tweet, take the time to respond to complaints, compliments and questions in a timely manner.
Use humor to make your followers laugh.
Old Spice is known for their quirky marketing and branding, and it shines through on Twitter as well.
You never want to force it, but humor can be an effective way to make your company seem less robotic. And with the constant stream of information on Twitter, breaking it up with a laugh is always appreciated.
Create and share Google+ Circles your followers will find useful.
One Google+ feature that is sometimes underutilized is the ability to share Circles.
Your company can become a resource for users looking for more people to follow related to your company’s industry. After sharing the Circle on Google+, you can copy the link and share it in a blog post or on Twitter.
This is an example of a recent Circle featuring almost every speaker at SMX West.
Furthermore, this allows your company to connect with the people in the Circle you’ve created and build your audience. They may see the Circle you’ve made and decide to share it on their own profile.
Here are some examples of the type of Circles your company could create and share:
Industry leadersSpeakers at conferencesFavorite writers
Get active in the right Google+ Communities.
Google+ Pages are able to take part in Google+ Communities like any other user: Pages can create, join, moderate and participate.
Chances are there’s already a Community that fits your company’s industry. If so, join the discussion. If not, make a new Community and invite others to join.
To learn more about Google+ Communities, check out this article from Mike Delgado.
Use Google+ Hangouts.
With Google+ Hangouts, your Page can start a video chat with up to nine people. This is a great opportunity to connect with your audience.
This Google+ Hangout with chef Nigella Lawson isn’t just solid content; it’s a fantastic way to have followers interact with The New York Times Google+ Page.
This New York Times
Hangout featuring Nigella Lawson is a perfect example. It features a host—Lawson—and three home cooks who wrote in describing how they fared making Lawson’s pasta recipe and why they wanted to be included in the Hangout.
LinkedIn Company Pages can feature up to three groups on their page in an effort to have more people join the group(s).
Much like Google+ Communities, participating in LinkedIn Groups is another opportunity to join the discussion in your company’s industry and answer questions. As an added bonus, more professionals in your field will see your company.
This is a great opportunity for you to get more visibility for your company and to interact with people who may be interested in your products and services.
Your company’s Pinterest boards don’t have to be limited to just company pins. Collaborate with other users to give your account a more personal feel.
For this style challenge, Home Depot invited others to pin.
To invite other Pinterest users to pin to a specific board, go to the board and click Edit. Next to “Who can pin?” type the users’ names or their email addresses (Note: in order to invite someone, you must be following at least one of that user’s boards.) Click Save Changes.
Once the invited users accept your invitation, they’ll be able to pin to the shared board. However, you can always remove the user and remove their pins. Moreover, invited users cannot change a board’s title or description.
Pinterest is just as much a community as any other social network. So remember to make the time to interact with other users by commenting on and repinning their pins. While you’re at it, follow users’ boards that fit your company’s industry so you have a fresh stream of related content every time you login.
Use Foursquare to leave tips.
When a Foursquare user visits a location page, they’ll also see tips from other users.
If your company has a location (or multiple locations) on Foursquare, leave tips at your own locations to show users the personable side to your company. These can be simple, or perhaps even offer an inside joke.
Leaving tips at other businesses in your area provides a way to offer your authority on your industry. Best of all, Foursquare users get insightful tips and tricks.
For example, maybe you own a travel agency and leave tips on the feedback you’ve heard about particular attractions. Or maybe you own a food website and leave tips at popular restaurants.
You’ll find fun facts from the History Channel in the tips section of several landmarks.
In the above image, the History Channel provides some fun facts.
Again, you’ll be actively adding to the community.
Use Foursquare to create interesting lists.
Creating lists of places based on a general theme can help your company be seen by more people on Foursquare.
Lists are something Foursquare users appreciate because they act as a resource that’s easy to save. For instance, your company could create a list of its employees’ favorite lunch spots. Or the list could be the best places for company outings.
The Travel Channel has some food tips galore from Adam Richman.
Travel Channel has a list with the places Adam Richman has visited on the show “Man v Food Nation.” Over 8,000 users have saved it.
If you do decide to create a Foursquare list, login using the desktop version of Foursquare and make it from there. Compared to doing this on your phone, it’s much easier to find and save places to your list with more screen real estate.
Creating a hashtag and encouraging users to submit their photos is a smart way to stand out and be personable on Instagram.
The NBC News
Instagram account recently asked users to tag their winter storm photos with the hashtag #NBCNewsPics. After the weekend passed, they chose four of their favorite user-submitted photos and featured the photos as a single image. In the description, they gave credit by including each user’s Instagram username. By creating a hashtag, NBC News encouraged users to submit content AND was able to feature their favorite user-submitted photos.
Featuring user photos in this fashion on your company’s Instagram account adds to the community. It also shows that you’re on the social network to contribute more than just your own photos. There are several examples of companies doing this, including those in industries like journalism, sports and travel.
The easiest way to feature another user’s photo is through the use of third-party websites like Statigram and Webstagram. Both websites have the option to repost underneath all photos. Before reposting, don’t forget to obtain permission from the user first.
Use These Tips for More People-to-People Interaction
Use these examples to inspire your social media efforts and you’re sure to increase your social media engagement as you connect with more people in your community.
What do you think? What other strategies do you see companies using to connect with their audience on a deeper level? Leave your questions and comments below.
About the Author, Bryden McGrath
Bryden McGrath is a social media strategist at Portent, Inc. in Seattle. He also has a background in news and music journalism. Follow him on Twitter @Bryden13. Other posts by Bryden McGrath »
http://www.jretechnology.com

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7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement

By Bryden McGrath
Published May 2, 2013

Is your company’s social media as stale as last month’s bread?

Would you like to get more people-to-people interaction and begin a real conversation with your audience on social media?

No matter your company’s industry or size, you can encourage these deeper connections and improve your social media engagement.

Here are some tips to help you encourage people-to-people interaction, whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Foursquare or Instagram.

Your company is only as good as your hardworking employees—so don’t be afraid to highlight them.

SEOmoz uses Facebook photo albums to highlight their employees.

The SEOmoz Facebook Page does an excellent job of this. Two examples in particular really jump out.

The “Then and Now” photo album: Employees provided photos from their youth along with recent photos of themselves. This is a great way to show fans the human side of SEOmoz. Plus, the baby pictures are adorable.

SEOmoz does a wonderful job of featuring employees, like in this “Then and Now” photo album.

The “What are Mozzers listening to?” photo album: All it took was snapping photos of employees with their headphones on and asking them what they were listening to. The result is an inside look at company culture.

The MLS team Seattle Sounders FC creates Facebook Events and invites their fans.

The MLS team Seattle Sounders FC creates Events for both their games and promotional events like player meet-and-greets.

Is your company holding an event that’s open to the public?

Then create a Facebook Event so followers can RSVP and add it to their calendars. This is a feature that is often overlooked by businesses—even many professional sports teams don’t create Facebook Events for their home games.

To get your juices flowing, here’s a short list of the types of gatherings where a Facebook Event could be perfect:

SeminarsWebinarsOpen housesCharity eventsConferences

In the example below of the 500px Facebook Page, they use Facebook to feature their fans.

For the photographers who are lucky enough to be featured, it means tremendous exposure to the Page’s almost-300,000 fans. As for everyone else, this type of post makes them feel part of a community with the possibility that they could someday be featured.

As a photo-sharing service, 500px is a natural fit to share user content on their Facebook Page.

Social media gives companies the ability to easily recognize their customers and fans.

Depending on your company’s niche, there are numerous ways to feature your customers and fans. For example, you can highlight contest winners or encourage users to submit their own photos and videos.

Get creative by using video to connect on Twitter.

You can use Twitter Vsnap to send personalized videos. Vsnap is a tool that allows you to record a video message with a maximum length of 60 seconds. Use this to send a personal video message to a follower on Twitter.

Every new follower Vsnap gains on Twitter is sent a personal video message through the service.

Making these short video messages personable is easy. Look at your target’s Twitter bio to see if something interesting jumps out and use this to craft your message. Or say thanks to someone who shared your content or became a new follower. Or answer a question someone has about your company.

Businesses have already found several creative uses for Twitter’s Vine app, which allows you to take 6-second video clips.

These short videos can be fun to watch and encourage viewers to connect with you further.

Your Vine videos don’t have to only be about your products. Here are some other uses your company might want to consider to connect with your audience:

A tour of the officeIndividual Vine videos for different teamsEncouraging customers to Vine about your business

Let people know who’s tweeting.

Have you ever noticed companies who include the initials of the person tweeting at the end of each tweet? Or companies who include the Twitter handle of the person(s) tweeting in their bio?

Both of these strategies are a great way to make a branded Twitter account feel a little more human and the interactions more personal.

Time lets you know who is responding to their account on Twitter.

The TIME Twitter account includes information on who is authoring the account’s tweets in the bio section.

Be part of the conversation.

Don’t ignore people who take the time to tweet to your company.

The Whole Foods Market Twitter account makes it a priority to respond to tweets.

Sometimes just acknowledging a tweet can make someone’s day—potentially making that person loyal to your brand for a lifetime. If you take the time to tweet, take the time to respond to complaints, compliments and questions in a timely manner.

Use humor to make your followers laugh.

Old Spice is known for their quirky marketing and branding, and it shines through on Twitter as well.

You never want to force it, but humor can be an effective way to make your company seem less robotic. And with the constant stream of information on Twitter, breaking it up with a laugh is always appreciated.

Create and share Google+ Circles your followers will find useful.

One Google+ feature that is sometimes underutilized is the ability to share Circles.

Your company can become a resource for users looking for more people to follow related to your company’s industry. After sharing the Circle on Google+, you can copy the link and share it in a blog post or on Twitter.

This is an example of a recent Circle featuring almost every speaker at SMX West.

Furthermore, this allows your company to connect with the people in the Circle you’ve created and build your audience. They may see the Circle you’ve made and decide to share it on their own profile.

Here are some examples of the type of Circles your company could create and share:

Industry leadersSpeakers at conferencesFavorite writers

Get active in the right Google+ Communities.

Google+ Pages are able to take part in Google+ Communities like any other user: Pages can create, join, moderate and participate.

Chances are there’s already a Community that fits your company’s industry. If so, join the discussion. If not, make a new Community and invite others to join.

To learn more about Google+ Communities, check out this article from Mike Delgado.

Use Google+ Hangouts.

With Google+ Hangouts, your Page can start a video chat with up to nine people. This is a great opportunity to connect with your audience.

This Google+ Hangout with chef Nigella Lawson isn’t just solid content; it’s a fantastic way to have followers interact with The New York Times Google+ Page.

This New York Times Hangout featuring Nigella Lawson is a perfect example. It features a host—Lawson—and three home cooks who wrote in describing how they fared making Lawson’s pasta recipe and why they wanted to be included in the Hangout.

LinkedIn Company Pages can feature up to three groups on their page in an effort to have more people join the group(s).

Much like Google+ Communities, participating in LinkedIn Groups is another opportunity to join the discussion in your company’s industry and answer questions. As an added bonus, more professionals in your field will see your company.

This is a great opportunity for you to get more visibility for your company and to interact with people who may be interested in your products and services.

Your company’s Pinterest boards don’t have to be limited to just company pins. Collaborate with other users to give your account a more personal feel.

For this style challenge, Home Depot invited others to pin.

To invite other Pinterest users to pin to a specific board, go to the board and click Edit. Next to “Who can pin?” type the users’ names or their email addresses (Note: in order to invite someone, you must be following at least one of that user’s boards.) Click Save Changes.

Once the invited users accept your invitation, they’ll be able to pin to the shared board. However, you can always remove the user and remove their pins. Moreover, invited users cannot change a board’s title or description.

Pinterest is just as much a community as any other social network. So remember to make the time to interact with other users by commenting on and repinning their pins. While you’re at it, follow users’ boards that fit your company’s industry so you have a fresh stream of related content every time you login.

Use Foursquare to leave tips.

When a Foursquare user visits a location page, they’ll also see tips from other users.

If your company has a location (or multiple locations) on Foursquare, leave tips at your own locations to show users the personable side to your company. These can be simple, or perhaps even offer an inside joke.

Leaving tips at other businesses in your area provides a way to offer your authority on your industry. Best of all, Foursquare users get insightful tips and tricks.

For example, maybe you own a travel agency and leave tips on the feedback you’ve heard about particular attractions. Or maybe you own a food website and leave tips at popular restaurants.

You’ll find fun facts from the History Channel in the tips section of several landmarks.

In the above image, the History Channel provides some fun facts.

Again, you’ll be actively adding to the community.

Use Foursquare to create interesting lists.

Creating lists of places based on a general theme can help your company be seen by more people on Foursquare.

Lists are something Foursquare users appreciate because they act as a resource that’s easy to save. For instance, your company could create a list of its employees’ favorite lunch spots. Or the list could be the best places for company outings.

The Travel Channel has some food tips galore from Adam Richman.

Travel Channel has a list with the places Adam Richman has visited on the show “Man v Food Nation.” Over 8,000 users have saved it.

If you do decide to create a Foursquare list, login using the desktop version of Foursquare and make it from there. Compared to doing this on your phone, it’s much easier to find and save places to your list with more screen real estate.

Creating a hashtag and encouraging users to submit their photos is a smart way to stand out and be personable on Instagram.

The NBC News Instagram account recently asked users to tag their winter storm photos with the hashtag #NBCNewsPics. After the weekend passed, they chose four of their favorite user-submitted photos and featured the photos as a single image. In the description, they gave credit by including each user’s Instagram username.

By creating a hashtag, NBC News encouraged users to submit content AND was able to feature their favorite user-submitted photos.

Featuring user photos in this fashion on your company’s Instagram account adds to the community. It also shows that you’re on the social network to contribute more than just your own photos. There are several examples of companies doing this, including those in industries like journalism, sports and travel.

The easiest way to feature another user’s photo is through the use of third-party websites like Statigram and Webstagram. Both websites have the option to repost underneath all photos. Before reposting, don’t forget to obtain permission from the user first.

Use These Tips for More People-to-People Interaction

Use these examples to inspire your social media efforts and you’re sure to increase your social media engagement as you connect with more people in your community.

What do you think? What other strategies do you see companies using to connect with their audience on a deeper level? Leave your questions and comments below.

About the Author, Bryden McGrath

Bryden McGrath is a social media strategist at Portent, Inc. in Seattle. He also has a background in news and music journalism. Follow him on Twitter @Bryden13. Other posts by Bryden McGrath »

http://www.jretechnology.com

How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Products

By Mitt Ray
Published April 22, 2013

Is your business on Pinterest?

Or are you still unsure how to use Pinterest to effectively promote your products or company?

In November, Pinterest launched business pages with their new terms of service. This update lets you use Pinterest commercially.

You can promote your products, generate sales and leads and use it for other commercial purposes without any worries.

But first, you may want to convert your personal profile into a business account (or if you don’t have a personal account, just start fresh with one for business).

Here are some tips on how you can take advantage of this update and use Pinterest commercially to promote your business.

A great way to drive sales is to create boards where you pin holiday products. This could be Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Mother’s Day or any other day that is of significance to your audience.

You can use Pinterest to show your audience that you’ve got what they need to celebrate.

The first thing you need to do is create a board based on that holiday and label it with a board name, description and category.

After that, you can begin pinning relevant products from your website to this board. You could also upload the images directly to Pinterest, but in this case make sure the image leads to a landing page on your website where people can make a purchase.

Write a good description to let readers know how they can use your product during this holiday. You can also add the price.

Rearrange your holiday-themed boards so that they’re at the top of your profile page during the appropriate season so they stand out (and don’t forget to add a good cover image).

You could also add a board widget to your website to help promote the board.

Like Argos, promote your products for festive occasions.

A good example of a holiday board is Christmas Gifts for Her, which can be found on Argos’ (a UK home and general goods retailer) Pinterest brand page.

On this board, you’ll find pins of products from their website for Christmas, along with detailed descriptions and labels, which all ultimately lead to a landing page to buy the item. This is a great way to market their products on Pinterest.

Check out the board to see how well it’s been done.

Another creative way of using your Pinterest brand page is to promote your products using a theme. This could be a theme around colors, designs, materials, ingredients, locations or anything else that’s interesting and can be categorized.

After you choose a theme, create several boards based on that theme.

For example, if you choose the color theme, create several boards where you plan to pin products of different colors. Label them accordingly, with different color names and arrange them side by side, so users know that the boards collectively form a theme.

Once you have set up the boards correctly, start pinning products of that color onto that board and add a good description (make sure you mention the color here too). This is a creative way to market your business, as people can easily find products of their favorite color.

This method is also good for search engine optimization (SEO), especially when you mention the keyword (color) in the board title, board description and pin description.

Displaying your products around a theme can increase engagement and drive sales.

A company that is promoting its products around a theme on Pinterest is Debenhams, a chain of stores in the UK.

On their Pinterest page, they have several boards labeled with names of designers like John Rocha, Betty Jackson and Jenny Packham. They also have each designer’s photo set as their board cover.

On this board they share clothes and accessories created by the designer. Fans can visit that board to check out the creations of that designer instead of visiting the website and browsing through hundreds of clothing items and accessories. This can help generate traffic and increase sales.

You can also promote your products in a similar way. Just make sure you choose a title under which you can group many of your products together. And don’t hesitate to experiment with different methods and themes. If something doesn’t work, you can always delete the boards and pins and create new ones.

People like popular products. When they know that a product is selling well and everyone else is buying it, they want to get a hold of it before they miss out. This is one of the reasons why there’s the Amazon bestseller list and the option to look at the most popular products on online stores.

Once your products reach that list and are easily visible to your website visitors, they are likely to sell even better.

You can take advantage of this same idea on Pinterest too and list your most popular products.

First, create a board with a title and description to tell readers this is where they can find your most popular products. After that, pin some images of your most popular products here and add descriptions. You could also add the rank of the product.

Make sure you write everything about the product—include the price, whether the product is a limited edition and add a call to action asking users to check out the product or buy it.

Also make sure you update the board regularly. Remove products no longer available and replace them with hot new items.

Create a bestsellers or a top-sellers board and pin your most popular products to it.

Top 40 Best Sellers is a board on Gourmet Display’s Pinterest brand page, where they pin 40 of their best-selling products for food and beverage displays. This is a great way to further increase the sales of these products.

The board has a good name and a well-written description, which instantly tell you what the board contains. The pins have both an attractive image and a good description and they lead to a page where the product can be purchased.

Another way to use your Pinterest page is to generate leads. First, create some quality content (such as ebooks, white papers, reports, case studies, etc.) that is gated with an opt-in form on a landing page.

Then add a short description about the content on the landing page along with an attractive image that is also the cover image of your file. After that, pin this image onto a board where you share your premium content. Write a brief description about it with a call to action that asks people to visit your website to sign up.

This will increase your landing page traffic and will help generate more leads, which can be used to increase website and blog traffic and drive sales later.

Using your brand page to generate leads can be easier than trying to push sales.

An example is the Free Marketing Resources board on Team MarketingProfs’ brand page, where you will find pins of their free marketing resources. Here, instead of directly marketing their services, MarketingProfs asks its followers to download their marketing materials for free. Many of these resources can only be accessed by providing an email address.

This is a great way to generate leads from potential customers who can be marketed to later. It’s a lot easier than trying to get them to buy your products or use your services right away.

The ultimate goal of your campaign is to generate leads and sales for your services and products. In fact, it would be nice to start generating sales as soon as you set up your brand page, but on Pinterest you want to take your time doing this.

You need to build an audience first. And after you gain followers, you can start promoting your products.

On Facebook and Twitter or other social networks where you share posts every day, you might be able to promote your products more than once daily. But on Pinterest, the best way to promote items is to create a dedicated board where you pin the products you want to sell.

Remember, you want to pin your products only once because if you do it over and over again, you’ll appear to be overpromoting yourself.

When you first pin one of your products, you want to get as many initial likes, repins and comments as possible. This will add social proof to your products, encourage users to check out the product and increase the likelihood of more direct shares in the future.

So focus on building an audience first by sharing content regularly and then pin your products to your page.

Focusing on building an audience first will make it easy for you to drive sales later.

On The Gracious Pantry’s Pinterest brand page, you will find a board called Gracious Pantry Cookbooks where Tiffany McCauley shares pins of her books. Many of these pins have been repinned several times. The number of times the book has been repinned and liked can be found right below the pin.

These numbers add social proof, encourage users to visit the site and repin the cookbook right away. And when she pins something new to this board, she will automatically get repins and likes because she has already built an audience. The board currently has more than 15,000 followers.

So focus on building an audience first and share your products after you have achieved this.

Use Pinterest to Promote Your Business

As you can see, there are several ways you can highlight your products on Pinterest. Have a look to see how other businesses are using their Pinterest accounts and figure out which your audience might like best. Choose the boards that will work best for you.

Have you been using Pinterest brand pages to promote your business? What’s worked for you? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

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What Marketers Need to Know About the New FTC Disclosures

By Sara Hawkins
Published May 1, 2013

Are you confused about the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosure rules and how they relate to your social media activities?

Do you want to know more about what you need to disclose and how to make disclosures on social media to comply with U.S. consumer laws?

In March of this year, the United States Federal Trade Commission released the first update to the .com Disclosures guide.

Here’s a look at the key points in this update relevant to social media marketers today.

Read the .com Disclosures guide for full details.

First, it’s important to understand the environment in which this guide was published.

With the first release in 2000, the .com Disclosures guide was an attempt to narrow the gray area of how marketing and advertising worked on the Internet so companies could maintain compliance with consumer protection laws.

When the initial .com Disclosures guide came out, we were breathing a heavy sigh of relief having “survived” Y2K.

There was no such thing as an iPhone (first sold in 2007), Twitter was 6 years away, MySpace was on the horizon (2003) and many were eagerly awaiting Windows XP (2001).

A lot has changed since the year 2000. Image source: iStockPhoto.

Even more important, a lot has changed since the research that went in to creating the .com Disclosures guide was done back in the late 1990s. More than a decade of technology has come along and how we communicate now is vastly different than it was 5 years ago, let alone 13.

For the past several years, advertisers were trying to overlay new technology onto guidelines that never projected the platform. And in trying to do what’s right, there have been instances where it has all gone wrong.

While the .com Disclosures guide of 2013 does reduce some confusion, it does not eliminate it entirely.

Before breaking down some of the key points, if you read the guide one thing you’ll likely notice missing is how all of this applies to nontraditional businesses. Bloggers, entrepreneurs and startups, for example, may not consider themselves digital advertisers but, in fact, many are.

It's important to know how this will affect your business to avoid confusion. Image source: iStockPhoto.

In addition, many of the examples presented don’t relate to how many online companies market or advertise their products or services. In my opinion, the biggest disadvantage of the update is it’s still heavily weighted toward “big company” digital advertising and does not provide much guidance for nontraditional marketing and advertising programs.

As marketing, brand, social media, PR and digital professionals, what does the 2013 .com Disclosures guide mean for you? With regard to consumer protection laws themselves, not much. With regard to how digital marketing and advertising programs are executed, there will likely need to be changes.

The .com Disclosures guide is not definitive law. Rather, the guide is just that—a guide. For all the times you’ve wished you knew exactly what the law meant, this is your gift.

Consumer protection laws have not changed and the FTC still maintains oversight of most of those laws.

Consumer protection is to ensure the rights of consumers as well as fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. Image source: iStockPhoto.

Truth in advertising laws have applied to every aspect of web and mobile communications since the technologies were developed and as they change. There is no change in the fact that all consumer advertising and marketing must be free from deception and unfair practices.

The guide was designed to offer insight into common consumer advertising and marketing programs that seem to be of greatest concern to the FTC regulators.

Since consumer protection laws apply to everyone who advertises or markets to consumers, so does the .com Disclosures guide. Compliance with the guide is voluntary; however, practices inconsistent with the information provided in the guide can be the basis of corrective action taken by the FTC.

While the FTC has specifically stated that they are not monitoring blogs, websites or individual social platforms, the agency is fielding thousands of consumer complaints daily.

A one-off inconsistent blog post won’t likely be enough to draw the agency’s attention, but a pattern of noncompliance by bloggers may trigger an investigation of a brand’s or agency’s practices.

If you’re working with a brand or agency, pushing their message on your website (whether paid or not), appropriate disclosure will be expected. As a digital marketing or advertising professional, it will be of significant importance to ensure all programs with third parties include appropriate disclosures.

One example in the guide (Example 21) included a sponsored blog post and specifically noted that the blogger, while including a disclosure, should have placed her disclosure differently.

The FTC considers that this blogger should have made the disclosure more obvious. See the Examples section at the end of the .com Disclosures guide for all examples.

While bloggers may be required to place a disclosure in accordance with laws related to endorsement and testimonial advertising, clearly the FTC is including bloggers in this new guide as well.

There are various schools of thought about automating social engagement, but those who use some form of automation will need to review how it’s used and, if necessary, what changes may be needed.

The FTC has made it very clear that the inability of a platform to allow for an appropriate disclosure does not excuse the need for disclosure.

While hashtags allow for easier searching on some platforms, the FTC has not specifically said hashtag use would or would not make a disclosure compliant.

The hashtag is used by many across platforms. Some platforms are adding hashtag trackability. Others are removing it.

The FTC wants to focus on the message, and adding “#” before a word, in their view, is not necessary.

Is it helpful for the brand? Maybe. But remember, the FTC’s focus is consumer protection.

The FTC has clearly stated that if your advertising message and disclosure cannot both be made in the limited number of characters, then that medium may not be appropriate.

The goal of the disclosure is to allow consumers to understand that what they will be reading or clicking on is an advertisement, is sponsored, or involves some type of business relationship that may have influenced the information provided.

In Example 15 of the guide, using the words “ad” or “sponsored” may be sufficient if provided BEFORE the message.

You must make full disclosure obvious on all social platforms. See the Examples section at the end of the .com Disclosures guide for all examples.

For disclosures that are lengthy or unable to fit in a space-constrained platform along with the message, the advertiser may link to a website where the disclosure is clear and conspicuously displayed.

As with all truth in advertising laws, the consumer must know he or she is being sold to before reading something or taking action to purchase. And keep in mind that the advertising or marketing message may require more than one disclosure.

When it comes to digital advertising, there are many variables that play into how a message is delivered. Sites are optimized for different browsers, mobile devices vary in size, apps use different interfaces and yet the exact same information may be shown.

How consumers see the information may impact their ability to determine the truthfulness of the message.

All disclosures should be:

Proximate to the information so the consumer does not have to hunt for itOf at least the same size as the messageIn the same format as the messageAccessible on all platforms usedUnderstandable by the consumer

Check out the full text of the .com Disclosures guide to find out all of the suggestions provided.

Be mindful of technology limitations or quirks.

Many consumers hate pop-ups, so they install blockers on their browser. There are some mobile operating systems that do not read certain scripts. And there are apps that may have limitations depending on whether they are free or paid.

Despite all of these unique characteristics of technology, digital advertisers and marketers must ensure their disclosures are seen by consumers. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to ensure that all providers (be it their own website, social media platforms or blogs) are capable of including an appropriate disclosure.

If a disclosure is included in hover text but a consumer can’t see hover text on a mobile device, this will not be considered a meaningful disclosure. Disclosures that are on subsequent pages on some mobile devices but not on others need to be standardized so consumers aren’t forced to hunt for them.

In today’s online media, it’s not uncommon to find advertising and marketing promotions driven by social media shares or blog posts. While many brand and PR reps want to respect the authenticity of the hired influencer, the fact remains that the advertiser (the brand, the PR company, the digital agency, etc.) will most likely be held responsible if the FTC determines consumer protections were missing and corrective action is necessary.

Bloggers are often unsure what, if any, disclosure is required. Since the consequence will likely fall to the advertiser, the advertiser (whether it is the brand, the PR company, the digital agency, or the like) should feel comfortable providing guidance to any and all parties and platforms about what disclosure may be required and where the disclosure will need to go.

If you want to use a hyperlink for your disclosure, take the time to read pages 10-13 of the guide and seek legal counsel to ensure your link will be deemed adequate.

How many of you have ever clicked on a disclosure link at the bottom of a website? How many have seen a graphic at the bottom of a page you were reading and had no idea what it really meant?

In an effort to be compliant, companies have formed to “help” brands, online companies and bloggers meet FTC disclosure requirements.

Unfortunately, for the average consumer, these custom links or graphics are not meaningful disclosures. If you, an online professional, aren’t always sure what something like http://discl.se/Level6 would mean, then neither does the average consumer.

You can find this example of insufficient disclosure in the .com Disclosures guide.

This is not to say hyperlinks to a disclosure page are always inappropriate. In certain circumstances, such as when a lengthy disclosure is necessary or the disclosure is not integral to the claim, a hyperlink to a disclosure may be acceptable.

For most circumstances that trigger a disclosure, a hyperlink may not sufficiently alert the consumer to information needed to make an informed decision if the link is not accessed.

Relying on hyperlinked disclosures requires the consumer to be sufficiently educated to know they must click for important information.

Read the Guide to Understand “What” Disclosures to Use and “Where” to Put Them

Overall, the 2013 .com Disclosures guide provides insight into what an FTC investigator may be looking for when evaluating digital advertising and marketing programs, claims and promotions.

The FTC recognizes technology is continuously changing. However, enforcement will continue to be scrutinized using traditional criteria, which may not wholly translate to these new and innovative platforms.

While the guide provides detailed insight, what it is clearly lacking is the “when.” It contributes greatly to the “what” and “where” with regard to disclosures, but still leaves advertisers and marketers searching for clear guidance on exactly when one is required to disclose.

What are your thoughts on the new updates to the FTC .com Disclosures guide? Will it make your job easier? Do you think it will be helpful in creating programs for online influencers or working with brand/PR reps as an online influencer? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Disclosure: While Sara Hawkins is an attorney, this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice, please consult legal counsel.

About the Author, Sara Hawkins

Sara Hawkins is a lawyer, blogger and doer. No longer happy waiting for someday to find her, she's finding ways to make her somedays happen. Other posts by Sara Hawkins »

http://www.jretechnology.com