Social Media Snapshot: Pinterest for Business

According to Pinterest.com...."Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes." Users share visual images from the web by "pinning" them on to a series of virtual PinBoards.

It's All About Visual Connections!

So How to Get Started?
FIRST: Our first suggestion is to RESEARCH what your ideal client is pinning. Search the keywords and categories on the Pinterest Dashboard. Create your business boards with your ideal client in mind.
* Provide answers to their questions
* Feed their inspirations.
* Solve their problems.

SECOND: Setup your first boards by choosing topics or categories that reflect your business values, culture, interests, products and services. Tip: Be creative with your board names!

THIRD: Pin ethically. Read the fine print and pay attention to copyrights. When re-pinning, check to see if the pin is linked to a legitimate website. If it hasn't report it or leave a comment suggesting for the original pinner to update the source.

We Suggest a Watermark...
When pinning original content to Pinterest - we suggest you add a watermark of your logo or website to the image to preserve integrity. This way, the image will always stay connected to your website and continuously promote your brand.

Add Prices & Links when Appropriate...
If you are pinning images of your products, add the price into your pin description. Pinterest will add a price banner automatically! You can also add live links to your descriptions which will continue to add brand identity to your pins.

Follow & Engage!
Start pinning across a range of boards but also spend some time following and engaging with other users and boards. By doing so and repinning their content, you will gradually build your own community.

Watch what others are doing...
Again, Pinterest is a very new social platform but there are some brands that are already doing very well. Search around and see what others are doing and how users are responding. Brands like Oprah, McDonalds and Mashable are going strong.

Plan and Execute
Create a plan what and when you want to pin and then track how things go. You may have to try several strategies to find the one that works best for your brand. Click here to read 6 Pinterest Tips from Power Users from Mashable.

Conclusion
Be prepared for learning and change when it comes to Pinterest. It's such a new social media platform that we guarantee you - they're not even close to offering services that they will offer 6 months from now. Be willing to spend the time doing research and creating original content and be prepared to learn something new everyday. It just got Pinterest-ing!

Understanding the Superstitious is Smart Business

Friday the 13th is associated with many elements of superstition; black cats, spilled salt, broken mirrors...but business performance? Many would say no - but in fact, a reported 9 percent of Americans are superstitious about the ominous calendar day and studies show that $800 million to $900 million in business revenue is lost on days like today.

We know that baseball players are superstitious about their favorite bat or pair of socks but business men and women have their own 'lucky' traditions. Whether it's that favorite suit for an interview or reading their horoscope before selling stock - it may seem irrational but according to Stuart Vyse, professor of psychology at Connecticut College, these actions are understandable, especially in times of economic uncertainty.

"In the business world, there is a tremendous amount of randomness in the market and people seek ways to gain control over these events, even though they can't," he says. "What you wear that day, the coffee that you drink--these things can't affect the outcome of the day's business, but people engage in this [behavior] to feel like they've done every possible thing to manage the outcome."

Although Vyse isn't a proponent of irrational behavior, he acknowledges that there are certain psychological benefits, such as more confidence and a sense of comfort, linked to superstitious rituals. "Crazy or not, you feel better having done [them]."

How can Lucky Numbers Work for Business?
You might not believe or buy into supersition but as a business - you need to takes steps to  mitigate losses on days like Friday the 13th. Plus, you can capitalize on positive superstitions.In the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Block and Kramer point out that some successful marketing campaigns based on the number seven, considered lucky in Western cultures, can draw positive attention from customers.

Icelandair, for example, ran a promotion allowing customers to add on excursions for $7 each, provided they booked by 7/7/07. Another was Wal-Mart's "Lucky in Love Wedding Search," which granted seven couples a free wedding ceremony and reception for 77 guests on the lucky date. "That campaign was very successful," Kramer says.

Acording to Entrepreneur.com, hundreds of millions of dollars are lost on Friday the 13th because humans are naturally risk-averse. Although it's not always done consciously, there's a tendency toward less decision-making, Block says. "People don't do as much shopping and don't leave the house--and there's less flying." But by simply making people aware of superstitious behavior, it can bring out their more rational side, reminding them it's just an ordinary day.

Home store Crate & Barrel, Kramer recalls, ran a "Lucky You" campaign on Friday the 13th. "They played off the superstition and got people to come out anyway." Because consumers are not always aware of the extent to which they rely on superstitions, this is perhaps one model that businesses can follow.

Kramer concludes that it's important for business owners to be aware of any superstitions held by their target market. "Then they can both capitalize on [this knowledge] as well as avoid mistakes."

Taking a Vacation from Your Business

It's summer time! It's hot and the kids are out of school which means its prime time for a vacation right? If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, taking a vacation from your business might be well deserved but tricky...even downright near impossible. But we believe in vacations and we believe in you so here's 5 ways to get a break from your business without sending it into a downward spiral.

1. Split Week Trips
Many self employed business owners complain that taking a whole week off adds more stress to the vacation because they are constantly checking email and voicemail. The solution might be splitting your time off between two weeks. For example: Taking off Thursday and Friday of one week and then Monday and Tuesday of the next. Most business owners can manage taking two business days off in a week because you have three days to cushion the blow. Use your first set of work days to prepare to be gone and then use the next week to catch up. This 'illusion' will also look better to vendors and clients because it doesn't 'feel' like you were gone very long.

2. Schedule Business Time
If you just can't get away entirely, plan out your trip to include a day where you have some free time to handle business. Your family might be bothered if you are always checking your email so schedule time on one or two days to handle all emails and voicemail calls. We mean it when we say "Schedule." Limit the amount of time and stick to it! It's a good idea to let your business associates or clients know that you will only be available at that time. Once the time is up...even though it may be tempting to answer another email...walk away. This will ensure that you prioritize what you do during this designated business time.

3. Designate a Temporary Assistant
This may be very difficult for some business owners to do but it can be an extremely valuable strategy...expecially if you don't already have an assistant. If you have employees, pick your most responsible person and ask them to act as your assistant while you're away. Pay them a bonus for extra time spent if appropriate and spend a few hours each week prior to your trip discussing certain tasks that you need them to manage. Most of the time, it can be as simple as designating this temporary assistant to respond to any messages or phone calls with a personalized vacation message.

4. Schedule Ahead
Most of the time, business owners bend over backwards to operate within their customer's time frame however, when you want to take a vacation, you need to actively plan your time. Tell clients and associates that you are unavailable for scheduling on the week you want to take off. Everyone from doctors to contractors to Donald Trump does this type of planning and you can too.

5. Find a Dead Zone
Our last option is for those business owners who don't have the self control to say no. If you cannot say no to your smart phone or laptop while on vacation then your best bet is to find an area that doesn't have cell phone covereage or wireless internet. Use the time to work on your self control so that you can manage your time more effectively.

Believe it or not - It's not healthy to work all of the time. Yes, your business might be all YOU but that is only because you have structured it that way. Take control of your time and energy, acknowlege that you need a break and make it happen! You will be ten times more energized to get back to work if you truly got your needed time away.