What in the world is a content scraper?

Well, it is pretty similar to what it sounds like. It is a service that ‘scrapes’ your website for content. In other words, it takes its loveliness to go over your website and find stuff that it likes. If it likes your stuff, it then posts it to the targeted website with no qualms of claims of plagiarism. And there you have the source of my annoyance. I am a college student in my other full-time capacity. I have issues with someone ripping off my hard work and claiming it as their own. You probably do too, but you can take this as a compliment and foil the thieves in their tracks.

Credit where credit is due, this image was taken from BlindFiveYearOld.

Why is this a problem?

Aside from being extraordinarily irritating, these buffoons (yeah, I said it) can steal more traffic than you are getting. They can use your stuff to attract viewers and make their stuff more popular than yours. You are probably a content creation genius. They steal your stuff because it is good. While that is really nice, it doesn’t help your Google rankings. In fact, it can really hurt your Google rankings. Instead of getting super duper mad about it, though, I have decided to do the writer thing and take to the page.

What do I do about these creatons?

Well, you can do quite a few things about these meandering intellectual criminals. You can use their own technology against them. You can get mad. Or you can hijack their stolen posts for your own purposes.

Get them to take down your stolen content

These sites all have admins. They all have real people behind their supervillianry (I know, I made up that word). These real people are really vulnerable to DMCA complaints. This is a copyright violation that can force these mean people to take down the stolen content that they shouldn’t be using. You can find out who operates this website if there is a contact us link. If not, there are other methods to reveal their seedy identities. You can utilize a WhoIs lookup to find out who the website admin is. You also have options to pay people to monitor this activity for you. There are services that will keep an eye out for content scrapers and kill them in their tracks like the best possible version of ant spray.

Turn their tech against them

This is my preferred method. I am really, truly the maniacal laugh type. I really do enjoy the excellent feeling of outsmarting some really mean person at their own game. How do you do this? A few different ways.

First, internal link the holy crap out of everything you post. I mean it. Make your posts a minefield of internal links. Why? Because the content scrapers don’t differentiate between regular text and links, so it’ll keep the links and you can then get the backlinks from the thief who wanted to circumvent your awesomeness and claim it as their own. Yeah, they’re still claiming the article as their own, and that may be uncomfortable, but you’re getting the majority of the credit through the links.

Second, do what I just did. Write a blurb at the beginning of your piece calling out the fact that you’re the author with your social media links. I find the thievery incredibly awful, but it certainly eases the sting if you get people hitting you up on social media as a result of your social media links at the beginning of your article (continue maniacal laughing if you wish).

Third, make your content as attractive as possible, as usual. Stolen content happens because you rock it out and don’t forget that your voice cannot get lost in this process. It is so important that you remember that your awesomeness is what started this, and should continue to be the focus of your blogging.

Fourth, consider some plugins that will make sure that you get credit for this stuff. We use Yoast to make sure that our blog is tagged at the end with a link back to our own blog. Yoast is really useful for this purpose and gets some points as well for being incredible at SEO. Because Yoast is awesome at all these things, I don’t need any other plugins, but you might want to consider plugins that will help stop content scrapers, although I consider these publishers the meanest fans you will ever see at a concert: Yeah, they stole your time, but they still bought a ticket and sent other people in.

Hijack their posts

Content scrapers are excellent at doing one thing: copy/paste. Copy/paste has never been so sinister. Stolen content is literally nothing but copy/paste. However, you can hijack this content. There are WordPress plugins that will add attribution to these bots and give you the credit that you deserve. Taking over this content is the best case scenario for you. However, these attributions will normally be at the end of the content. I still recommend doing a lot of internal linking in your post to stop these people in their tracks.

Bringing it all together

In the end, it is hard to stop content scrapers completely in their tracks. Unfortunately, it is very common and people will try to hijack your content and publish it as their own as long as plagiarism exists. In the end, the best way to make them work to your benefit is to make sure that your name appears in your stolen content, and as many internal links as possible. You’ll notice that I employed quite a few of those tactics to foil my current opponent.

The post Content Scrapers, Stolen Content, and how to Use it to your Advantage appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Learning how to make a GIF

Creation of a GIF can be accomplished in many ways. The Adobe Photoshop suite will allow you to create GIFs with a set of steps, but there are also many web tools that will permit GIF creation with a few simple steps. Fortunately, there are many applications that can help you create these GIFs and do not cost anything to operate and don’t even require an installation on your computer.

GIFPAL

GIFPAL is a tool that is web based and provides quick and easy GIF creation. GIFPAL will allow you to use your webcam to capture images, or will let you upload already existing photos. Don’t know where to start? No problem! Our friends at GIFPAL have provided links to YouTube tutorials made by some resourceful users. Not only does GIFPAL allow you to create quick and easy GIFs, but it also allows you to draw on and adjust images within your GIF with a few simple mouseclicks. Learning how to make a GIF couldn’t be faster or easier.

imgflip

imgflip is a tool that can help you create both GIFs and memes of your very own. You can upload your own images, link to web images, or link to a YouTube video to create your GIF in this easy to use tool. If you can’t think of any videos to use or images to link, imgflip has suggestions for you to choose that are currently trending. imgflip supports a host of video formats, which includes mp4, wmv, mov, and many others. The downside to this service is that the free version of this service doesn’t offer unlimited upload capacity if you are trying to upload a longer video to edit into a GIF. You are limited to a 35MB file for free GIF creation.

Giphy

Giphy is one of the most popular creation tools for GIFs. This tool already hosts a huge collection of GIFs that are available for use on Social Media accounts. Giphy is a completely free service that has a host of content available to search and share. Not only can you search and share, but by creating an account, you can upload your own images and create your own GIFs that you may keep private until you choose to share them. Of course, as with everything, there are limitations. Giphy will only allow a maximum file size of 100MB and only accepts about 4 video formats as uploads. However, as a web based application, there is no necessity to install any bulky programs on your computer, and with a built in Facebook and Twitter integration, you don’t have to download any files to your computer.

EZGIF

EZGIF is an online image editor and GIF creator. This is an application that helps you to trim and edit your GIFs to appeal to the widest range of users. This toolset is essentially combining the best of all worlds to bring you an all-in-one solution for photo trimming, cropping, resizing, and even more! The toolset includes optimization tools and conversion tools. It is 100% free, but will only allow you to process 60MB worth of video at once, and cannot host these images. Because this tool cannot host your images, you will need to make sure to download any GIFs you create in the tool before you close the page or shut down your computer.

makeagif

makeagif is a web based tool as well. This tool sports many easy to use features that will allow you to inform the tool as to what you’re creating before you even start. The site has tiles that will allow you to upload a video to create a GIF, search YouTube for video to create a GIF, or even use a cool video from Facebook to create a GIF. Our friends at makeagif also allow you to create an account to host your GIFs. That’s right! No need to use up valuable hard drive or server space with large image or video files. You simply create an account with makeagif and they will retain your GIFs for you. Like Giphy, they also have a large database of popular GIFs as well that you can use for your posts.

MemeCenter

MemeCenter is a GIF creator that provides a very barebones suite. However, it is probably the easiest to use tool in the entire bunch. Because it is so simple, there is very little learning curve that occurs with this tool. MemeCenter also allows your GIF or meme to be shared by others, turning you into an amateur GIF artist in mere minutes. If your GIF is intended to spread your brand, this is more than you could ask for. If your memes or GIFs become popular, they will be featured. Get a featured GIF and you’re simply marketing for free on MemeCenter’s website.

Wrapping it up

So, why would you create a GIF? Because you want your audience to relate to your message! Your message will be so effectively communicated with this format that you will see more and more individuals connecting with your brand. Not only are you able to communicate, but if your GIF becomes popular, you can market at no cost. Remember that these aren’t the only tools for the job. There are so many tools out there, but these are by far the best that we’ve encountered. And remember, dlvr.it can pick up your blog posts and Twitter posts and share your GIF to the furthest corners of the internet.

The post How to Draw a Crowd Using FREE GIF Creators appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Why do I need a free video editing software suite?

Editing your videos is incredibly important to viewing. A raw video may look incomplete or unfinished and will cause others to opt for other content because of the finished look.

According to Dreamgrow, video marketing can enhance conversions and sales. In fact, a product introduction video can improve conversions by 80%. Leaving these conversions on the table. However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

We’ve put together a fantastic list of six of the best free video editing software available:

1 – Lightworks

Lightworks impresses as the most widely regarded free video editing software suite for editing and publishing content. Cleaning up content couldn’t be easier on this platform. Fortunately, Lightworks keeps the novice user in mind when they build features for this platform.

• Lightworks is a pro-level tool that has a beginner-level user interface in some features.
• It is such a pro-level program that major motion picture studios have used it to edit productions in their own business.

While some features may be easy to use, others do require a little bit more expertise. So, for the complete novice user, the learning curve may be a little bit too steep. The free version of Lightworks also is limited in its functionality.

2 – Windows Movie Maker (Windows)

Windows Movie Maker is an application that is available for no cost at all.

• This video editor is a great editor for beginners who want to edit shorter films with less detail.
• Because this is a video editor for novices, it does have a less steep learning curve, but also comes with fewer features.

Windows Movie Maker is a very barebones software program and shouldn’t be expected to yield phenomenal results, but can be expected to provide a polished look to your video content. Windows Movie Maker provides the essentials needed to crop video, edit video snippets together, and speed up/slow down footage. These basic effects are generally enough to make sure that your video gets the attention it deserves.

3 – WeVideo

As a cloud based application, this video editing software is not bulky, nor is it difficult to use.

• WeVideo is targeted for the beginner user, as it integrates well with Social Media, YouTube, and Dropbox.
• The video editor has a built in integration with Dropbox, which will allow you to pull video directly from a cell phone or tablet into the video editing software.
• The application is built around a drag and drop interface, which allows beginning level users the ability to move footage around seamlessly.

Not only is it easy to use, but it is also collaborative. With the application being cloud based, you can invite your friends or other editors to view and change your footage. WeVideo also has a YouTube integration, which allows you to bypass downloading the video to your own computer but enabling you to directly upload the video straight to YouTube.

4 -Avidemux

Avidemux has been described by PC World as ‘Quick and Dirty Video Editing‘.

• This is a product that is perfect for beginner editors.
• Any updates that you make to your content will be updated immediately by Avidemux. You don’t end up needing to update anything further.
• The interface for this program is quick and easy to learn, making it ideal for beginners.

The downside to this software is that it only supports one track at a time, not allowing merging or layering of other tracks. For many beginners, this function is not necessary, but for others, it is essential. This software might conflict with the more advanced users’ sensibilities.

5 – Filmora

By all accounts, Filmora is an excellent alternative to Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. The makers of Filmora looked as if they wanted to strike a balance between complicated features that could make a striking video and tools that would appeal to the most novice of film editors. In that regard, they succeeded. Even the home screen makes it as simple as possible to import your videos and edit.

Using their simple interface, you can apply effects, trim snippets of video footage, and add text. These features will give your raw footage the face lift it likely needs. Filmora also boasts the free price tag, which is an impossible price to beat for what it offers. The full, paid version boasts an even more robust set of features available for premium users. At the price tag of free, though, it boasts a plethora of premium features while avoiding the premium price.

6 – YouTube

Last, but not least, we have to acknowledge the video editor provided by YouTube itself.

• YouTube has added a free editor to their software to help you select the most visually striking content for your YouTube video.
• The software offers options that will help you choose the proper cover photo for your post, as well as trim and crop the video that you are uploading.

The obvious issues with this product are that it may not contain your requirements to edit your video correctly. This video editing software is a software suite that is intended for very basic editing.

Let’s wrap it up

Video editing could not be more crucial to your marketing strategy. It is important to use the editor to make your product look great and appeal to your target consumer. Make sure that your content is relevant to your audience, of course, and follow a few best practices to make sure that your content is the best it can be.

And remember, dlvr.it can help you publish your awesome videos as soon as you post them to your YouTube channel.

The post The Best FREE Video Editing Software appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

• Will your next door seat mate be a loud snorer?
• Will they try to make conversation when you’d rather just take a nap?

Or are you the type that doesn’t mind striking up a dialogue at 30,000 feet? If so, the trend of “social seating” might be for you.

KLM’s Meet & Seat lets passengers share parts of their Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn profiles, see the profiles of other participants on their flight and choose seats next to someone who seems like good in-flight company.

But is the thought of using social media to see who is on a flight and choose whom to sit with attractive? Or creepy?

___

Our happy work family is on vacation this week. Some of us may be traveling next to you “socially” or sitting next to you with our headphones on not wanting to make eye contact. Frankly, when I’m flying, I don’t want to be interesting. I want to be left alone to read my book.

Regardless, check out some of our most read social sharing tips from the Social Media Minute:

• Facebook: How to Create an RSS Feed of a Facebook Page and Add More Fans (NEW HACK)
• Instagram: How to Create an Instagram RSS Feed and 3 Ways it Can Instantly Boost Traffic
• Pinterest: How to Find Your Pinterest RSS Feeds
• Twitter: The Unscientific Guide to Determine Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and More
• Periscope: How to Automatically Share Your Periscope Live Stream on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and More
• Which Social Media Platform is Best Suited for My Business?

___

Share with your seat mate or share with yourself.

We don’t care. Just share and enjoy!

Safe travels!

The post Airline Seating Based On Your Social Media Status? It’s Here. [Best of Social Media Minute] appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

What Exactly is Vine?

Directly from one teenager: Vine is a video-sharing app. It’s fun to look at six-second videos from friends and others you follow on Vine. It’s similar to Instagram but for videos. Oh and yeah, once it ends, it starts again. There is a ton of funny, and just plain goofy people on Vine, which makes it fun.

(So, just to be clear, Vine is not about vines, or vineyards or winemaking – after all. It’s about fun, funny and funnier videos.)

3 facts about Vine I learned from the teenagers:

• Vine’s are 6-second video’s
• These 6-second video’s never end (they loop, and loop, and loop)
• It is FUN

Researching later from my computer, I found out more: Vine is not just any video-sharing app. Vine is designed in a way for you to film short, separate instances so they can be linked together for a total of six seconds. Each short video plays in a continuous loop and is viewable directly in Twitter’s timeline or via RSS feeds to Facebook, Tumblr, and other social sites.

Vine is the best way to see and share life in motion. Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see.

The immense popularity of the Vine app among 14-20-year-olds has given rise to notable influencers within Vine. Contributing to the phenomenon of influencer marketing, Vine has seen an influx of brand penetration and marketing efforts particularly directed towards millennials. Many companies have begun to use this platform as an advertising channel, by having popular users endorse products.

I found this excerpt fascinating from ReelSEO.com about teenage Vine star Lele Pons:

For the second month in a row, teenage Vine star Lele Pons, who is perhaps best known for pulling pranks on her friends and family, was the most watched Vine creator, with an incredible 390 million views, or loops, as they are known on the site. Lele Pons, a Miami-based teenager became the first Vine star to reach 1 billion, and then 6 billion loops. The teenage sensation has over 8.4 million followers on her Vine account, generated 390 million views in June 2015, and picked up 342K new followers last month alone.

Along with King Bach, gamer BoxBox, Rudy Mancuso, Thomas Sanders and other Vine superstars are the new Influencers for millennials, Pons can command a good fee for any product or service they endorse. She has already used her Vine channel to collaborate with or promote Ritz Crackers and HP, and belongs to a stable of Viners represented by Gary Vaynerchuk’s Grapestory, a company dedicated to matching Vine personalities to brands such as Virgin Mobile, and GE.

Why Vine?

• Its six-second videos replay on loop—perfect for our ever-shortening attention spans
• 100 million people view Vine content each month
• Users share 8,333 videos every minute
• 74 percent of Millennials report using Vine at least a few times a week

And, the real potential for your business:

• Branded Vines receive 400 percent more shares than branded videos

For great examples of branded Vines, check out the Best Branded Vines of June 2015 from ReelSEO.

A side note to parents:

Is Vine appropriate for everyone?

Not all Vine videos are suitable for everyone, especially children under the age of 13. While there are some clear rules about what kind of videos you can and cannot post, removing a video requires someone from the Vine community to report it as inappropriate. And because Vine does not offer parental controls, there’s no specific way to prevent someone with the app from viewing certain videos.

How to Perfect Your Vine Strategy [Infographic]

The following infographic from SurePayroll and Ghergich & Co. published by SocialMediaToday discusses ways to create and grow your brand on Vine – all in six seconds:

• Stay in the know
• Share breaking news (either brand- or industry-related)
• Hold contests
• Highlight your best fans

Managing a successful Vine account is all about planning, purpose, and clear branding. Below, you’ll find tips to broaden your brand awareness and enhance your social media presence beyond just photos and words.

As you can probably tell, I’m very new to Vine. Please feel free to share any tips or experience so I can pass them back on to the teenagers (and myself)!

The post What Exactly is Vine and How to Perfect Your Vine Strategy to Capture the Millennials (Infographic) appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

The real question is, does your ROI prove your marketing time is well spent? I can see your eyes rolling…maybe this visual will help:

The good news: We have access to more data than ever today.

The bad news: This data can be overwhelming.

There is no metric that, used alone, can determine whether or not your social media efforts are successful.

Curata’s recently published Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics provides a detailed guide to proving the effectiveness of content marketing strategies through various metrics.

Thankfully, for those of us short on time, they summarized 29 of the best metrics by marketing channel (social media, email, website, blog, etc.) and grouped these by type of metric (engagement, retention, consumption, etc.).

Here’s a snapshot of a few of the key categories and elements you should be examining:

Consumption Metrics:

• How many are consuming your content?
• Which channels are they using?
• How frequently and how in-depth is their consumption?

Retention (Subscription) Metrics:

• How effective are you at holding your audience’s attention beyond the first point of contact?

Sharing Metrics:

• Which of your content pieces are being shared?
• Who is sharing this content?
• How/where are they sharing?

Engagement Metrics:

• How does the intersection of your consumption and sharing metrics translate into “engagement”?
• Does your content inspire users to take action?
• What kind of action are these users taking?
• How frequently and consistently are they taking action?

For 29 of the best content marketing metrics, check out the full infographic from Curata.

The post 29 Key Metrics to Measuring Content Success (Infographic) appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Frankly, I thought Foursquare had faded into the sunset. But after reading on Fortune.com that Foursquare believes it can be a startup unicorn, the term for a private company valued at more than $1 billion, I’m wondering where did this sinking ship go right.

The condensed timeline from smallbizdaily.com:

• First, Twitter announced it was partnering with Foursquare – to bring an accurate location-tagging feature to its 288 million monthly users.
• Then Foursquare announced the launch of its own advertising platform called Pinpoint, which promises to target customers in the immediate area of a business with promotions and specially tailored offers for them.

• And then came the rumors that search engine giant Yahoo! was preparing a $900 million dollar buy-out of Foursquare. Is Yahoo Buying Foursquare? Rumors Continue to Swirl.

That’s a lot of activity for a business eulogized as the MySpace of location marketing!

Foursquare is transforming from a social app – one where users fought to “check in” at the local micro-brewery enough times to be considered the establishment’s “mayor” – to a powerful location marketing tool that’s going to revolutionize how brick-and-mortar shops capture more foot traffic.

What does the Twitter and Foursquare partnership mean for you small business?

Similar to the Google + Twitter partnership where your Twitter account has the opportunity to gain a whole new audience and the possibility of having a tweet seen by over a billion people. The Twitter and Foursquare partnership, is a wake-up call. Now Twitter users can tag tweets with a city, neighborhood, intersection or business. With geo-based tweets, the potential is incredible for both users of Twitter and businesses of all sizes. 

Here are a few possible scenarios of what “geo-local tweets” can do for your small business:

1. Enhance real-life social interactions
2. Can help you identify consumer needs and trends and tweak your offering
3. Can help you identify brand advocates in real-time and on location

4-Easy Steps to Get Your Business Up and Running on Geo-Local Marketing:

Step #1: Jump on the Foursquare bandwagon

Is your business listed on Foursquare?

No: Add it

Yes: Claim your listing to get access to Foursquare’s business tools

Once you claim your listing, take the opportunity to see what your customers have already been saying about you.

Step #2: Optimize for Foursquare listing by adding important information about your business. Make sure to include the following:

• What you specialize in
• Daily hours of operation
• Your website and social media links
• Other important services and amenities your customers will appreciate knowing about.

Remember, many of these customers may be new to the area and seeking out your business services for the first time.

Step #3 – Don’t be afraid to show off!

Upload recent photos of your business, menu items, machinery, latest projects, office space, employees etc. – so that users can quickly understand what your business is about and determine if it’s the service they are looking for.

Step #4 – Plan Ahead

Brainstorm social media campaigns designed specifically for mobile customers who find your location on their mobile device. This can include special discounts, coupons or unique perk for checking in.

Now that you’re up on Foursquare, it can’t hurt to test the waters with a geo-tweet to draw in the local foot traffic that passes by your doors.

The post Successful Geo-Local Marketing Thanks to Twitter and Foursquare in 4 Easy Steps appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Surprisingly, the tools to help you are right in front of your face.

These 3 free tools will give you a clear road map for who your ideal audience is.

(***Assuming you are starting with a base of fans and followers but if you need help, here’s a simple social media growth strategy to follow: 4 Easy Steps to Promote your Business on Social Media when you have No Followers.)

1. Google Analytics

If you are using Google Analytics, you already know that it is packed full of helpful data. The audience data provides insight into who is already coming to your website or blog.

Sign in to your Google.com/analytics account > Audience. From there you can drill down into the Demographics, Interests, Geo, Behavior, Technology and Mobile demographics of your audience.

• The Demographic data will help you focus your content on the right age group and gender
• Use the Interest data to focus your blog and social media content on what resonates with your audience
• Review the mobile data to pinpoint any enhancements needed in your mobile strategy. For example, we discovered mobile users were half that of desktop users which lead us to ask why and explore possible changes to our blog.

2. Twitter

Twitter.com/USERNAME > Profile and settings > Analytics

Like Google, Twitter provides demographic, gender and interest data. You can see our Twitter gender data differs significantly from Google. How do you interpret this information? This could help you fine-tune your message and content per social network.

Twitter also provides information about your Top Follower and Top Mention.

• Study your Top Follower. What’s unique about him/her? Do they match your ideal profile? Do you follow him or her already?

• Your Top Mention provides a clue into what social media update resonates with your followers. Create more content just like that!

For additional FREE  Twitter specific data, Followerwonk offers a wealth of data on any account – including your competitors.

3. Facebook

Business.facebook.com/USERNAME > Insights

Facebook has all kinds of demographic data on fans (however, I am disappointed on what they make available). Just like Twitter and Google, you can view age and gender data but Facebook is void of detailed information on interest categories of fans. Quintly makes up for the lack of Facebook data.

• Get a holistic overview of the performance of Facebook pages
• Compare and benchmark every existing Facebook page with one another
• Obtain valuable competitor data to optimize your Facebook marketing activities
• In-depth information about your fans. Get to know where your fans are coming from; analyze their changes and the corresponding distribution.

Bonus: If you are a dlvr.it user, in your stats, you will find the demographics of your active audience across all social media in one convenient location.

Now that you know the gender, age and interest categories of your fans and followers, what’s next? Find more people just like them!

Continue reading:

• How We Grew Active Followers by 3x in 5 Months
• 7 Ways to Boost Social Media and Blog Traffic with dlvr.it
• 9 One Minute Social Media Marketing Tasks for the Busy Person

The post 3 Free Tools to Find Your Ideal Social Media Audience appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

To prove to yourself that blogging is an endeavor worth undertaking, try answering the following five questions without using ‘Blogging’ as your answer:

(excerpts from ragan.com’s Infographic: How blogging boosts your bottom line)

Question #1 – What is one of the best ways to attract new customers?

Answer: Blogging

If you don’t believe this infographic, check out the following two case studies:

Case Study #1: Blogging Case Study: Increasing Website Traffic 1,000% In 8 Weeks 

This case study shows the positive effect of publishing 50 blog posts in 25 days by Todd Giannattasio founder of Tresnic Media.

Case Study #2: How We Got 1,000+ Subscribers from a Single Blog Post in 24 Hours

We had content, but no readers. Here are the exact steps we took to build relationships with influencers and find an audience…

In this case study, Alex Turnbull, CEO & Founder of Groove (simple helpdesk software for small businesses), shares the process he used to connect with influential people and encouraged them to share a blog post.

Question #2 – What affects consumer-buying behavior even more than advertising?

Answer: Blogging

Question #3 – What is one of the most effective ways to get more traffic?

Answer: Blogging

Question #4 – What is one of the best lead sources for your small business?

Answer: Blogging

Question #5 – What marketing activity is 13x more than likely to generate a positive ROI?

Answer: Blogging

Blogging is not a magic wand that will get you 1K+ subscribers on each and every post. However, with consistency and engagement, blogging is a sure bet to drive traffic and increase your ROI.

Here’s the full infographic from Neil Patel at QuickSprout on How Blogging Affects Your Bottom Line:

The post Q&A: What is One of the Best Ways to Attract New Customers? (w/Infographic) appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

The discovery of a previously untapped traffic source engaged us to come up with a strategy to see how we could significantly increase traffic. We’ve documented the steps below.

But first, the results:

Our referral traffic from Quora grew an impressive 3x between February and April!

Why is Quora Awesome?

First, you have to decide if Quora is the right place for you to spend your time. Are your customers there? Quora contains questions and answers for over 500,000 subjects and popular categories including technology, economics, and personal health. You should be able to find a niche to participate in.

Joanne Xu from Crazy Egg explains why social media marketers should get involved:

• Great way to see what issues are puzzling your current and potential user base. Use this information to determine the direction of future content.
• By answering questions related to your industry, you can demonstrate your expertise in the space and improve your company’s brand image.
• You can influence people to start thinking about the problem in a new way—one that considers your product niche.
• As long as you’ve clearly stated who you work for, you can also explain how your product can help solve someone’s problem.

Quantcast estimates nearly 800,000 people access Quora each month. Their traffic has been steadily growing.

Mastering Quora isn’t complex, but it does take the time to build momentum.

Step #1: Follow topics and build your profile(s)

Try a few approaches. Follow narrow and broad topics and fine tune over time. You will get notified when there is a new question on the topics you choose.

Build out your profiles. With each topic you follow, you can create a unique profile that highlights your expertise on that topic. Having multiple profiles is a great feature that compliments a diverse background and further adds creditability to your answers.

Configure your profiles at: 

https://www.quora.com/INSERT-YOUR-USERNAME/about

For example:

Using myself as an example below, you can see I have seven different profiles – one for each topic I follow.

Step #2: Create a Quora blog(s)

We decided to create a Quora blog with the idea of exposing our existing content to a new audience.

For instructions, Quora provides the answer.

Step #3: Engage  

On a daily basis, we performed the following tasks:

Task #1: Answered questions

• Strategy: We pinpointed 2-3 targeted questions to answer that would drive traffic back to our blog. Although our answers were precise, we included a link back to our blog for more information on the subject.

See example below:

• How did we choose which questions to answer? We asked ourselves the following:
  • Do we have domain expertise in the area discussed?
  • Do we have data to back up our answer? How about a blog post as a reference?
  • Are we one of the first to answer the question? We wanted to be one of the first to answer. We noticed this increased the upvotes on our answers.

• Time spent: 15 minutes, Monday – Friday

When I responded to questions in each category, Quora had already populated the correct profile in my response – again highlighting my expertise in that subject area. Most social networks only allow for one generic profile. Having more than one profile is a unique advantage. I can showcase my many talents that expand beyond just my professional activities at dlvr.it.

Task #2: Republished blog posts

• Strategy: When we added a blog post on the dlvr.it blog, we turned the post into a question to repost on Quora. Each Quora blog post included a summary of the main points and link back to the dlvr.it blog for more information.

• Time Spent: 5 minutes

Task #3: Shared answers on Twitter and Facebook

• Strategy: Build awareness to your answers with your existing social media audience. We used smart automation to build awareness of our solutions. When I responded to a question, the answer was automatically shared with our social media audience using Quora-to-RSS.

• Time Spent: One-time set-up in dlvr.it using RSS from Quora.
  

We found that starting with “My @Quora answer to…” was the best format when sharing on social media.

___

What’s your experience with Quora? Do you have techniques that you found helpful? Feel free to share in the comments. 

The post Is Quora Part of Your Social Media Strategy? 3-Step Process to Easily Grow Quora Referrals by 3x appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Before you say, “I’m not a graphic designer. I don’t have the time, experience or talent to make an animated GIF,” don’t panic! They are super simple to make.

What are animated GIFs?

An animated GIF is just a series of still image frames mashed together into a single image. The image continues to loop.

The three static images are combined to create the animated GIF you see below.

Why animated GIFs?

Your fans and followers scroll through endless streams of “sameness” on social media hoping a compelling headline, image or video captures their attention. With a bit of easy animation, you can stop your readers from scrolling and get them clicking on your content. Our eyes naturally are attracted to things that are “alive”.

A few benefits of using animated GIFs:

• Your updates become more visible to your readers
• They make a lasting impression. The brain continues to process an image for an additional period of time after we see it.
• Animations are quickly consumed by your readers vs. a video which requires a bigger time commitment

Word of caution: Don’t overuse GIFs or you risk reader fatigue. Strategically sprinkle them into your social media visual strategy.

How do I create an animated GIF?

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create your own animated GIF. All you need is one of these handy tools and a bit of imagination.

• Makeagif.com: Free (a small watermark is added).
• Giffysnap.com: Free
• Picasion.com: Free

The GIF below is an example of how to make an animated GIF with makeagif.com. GIFs can be created in 3 easy steps.

Tip: If you are using images to create a GIF, it is advisable that all the images be the same size. Your GIF will look more professional.

If you need some inspiration, Marketing Land put together an extensive list of the best-animated GIFs created by brands.

What social networks support animated GIFs?

You can add animated GIFs to your blog in addition to the following social networks:

• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Google+
• Facebook

UPDATE: Facebook now supports animated GIFs.

Facebook and Instagram does not support animated GIFs. You will need to convert a GIF to a video. With makeagif.com, the tool mentioned above, you can also export your GIF as an MP4, which can then be used to share on Facebook or Instagram.

Pro Tip: Share your animated GIFs using dlvr.it. Just upload your animated GIF and share across social media. There is a GIF for that too:

The post Animated GIFs: A Quick Way to Boost Social Media Engagement appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Benefits of Cloud Storage

Before we jump into the various pros and cons of cloud storage vendors, I assume you fully understand the reasons why you need to consider storing files remotely. If not, here’s a question for you:

Consider this scenario: What happens if you don’t back up your data or just plain forget to back up? The potentially unimaginable cost of replacing lost data or even losing irreplaceable data if you did not back up properly needs to be considered. I have had that ‘Oh sh!@’ moment when you realize you may have lost something you spent hours creating. You don’t want to look like this guy:

Storing files remotely rather than locally boasts an array of advantages for both home and business users. Here are the Top Ten Advantages of Using Online Storage Services:

1. Cost: Backing up your data isn’t always cheap, especially when you factor in the expense of the equipment needed to do so – think external hard drives or backup tapes. There is also the cost of the time it takes to manually complete routine backups. Online storage services reduce much of the cost associated with traditional backup methods, providing ample cloud storage space for a low monthly fee.

Amazon Cloud Drive offers unlimited storage to store all of your valuable data securely. Unlimited photo storage + 5 GB for videos and files are free with your Prime membership! They also offer Unlimited Everything to store all of your photos, videos, files and documents for just $59.99 per year.

2. Invisibility: For all intents and purposes, cloud storage is invisible; with no physical presence, it doesn’t take up valuable space at home or in the office.

3. Security: Storing confidential or sensitive information in the cloud is often more secure than storing it locally, especially for businesses. With online storage services, data is encrypted both during transmission and while at rest, ensuring no unauthorized users can access the files.

4. Automation: The biggest issue most consumers and businesses have with backing up is follow through; it simply just doesn’t get done. Online storage services make the tedious process of backing up easy to accomplish through automation. You just select what and when you want to back up, and the service does the rest.

*** See the guy up above. If only he had automated his backup process.

5. Accessibility: From tablets to smartphones, netbooks to desktops, we’re using more devices on a daily basis than ever before, and toggling files between each of these devices can be cumbersome and complicated. Not so with online storage services. You can access your account from any internet connection whether you’re on a mobile browser or your work computer.

OneDrive‘s motto is: One place for everything in your life. Keep all your files and photos in OneDrive. Access and share them from your phone, tablet, and computer.

You can store any file type in the service, including photos, video, and documents, and then access them from any of your Windows PCs or mobile devices. The service organizes your files by type for you, so it’s easy to find what you need.

6. Syncing: Syncing ensures your files are automatically updated across all of your devices. This way, the latest version of a file you saved on your desktop is available on your smartphone.

7. Sharing: Whether you want to share a single photo or an entire folder with hundreds of documents, online storage services allow you to share files with just a few clicks.

When it comes to photos, Dropbox has made a bit of a play to make you want to upload all of your photos there. They’ll give you up to 3GB of space for free just by enabling auto-upload on your computer, iOS, or Android device. The beauty of using Dropbox to organize all of your photos is that they’re easily backed up, seamlessly, in one place.

Speaking from personal experience: I use Dropbox to share board documents with the board of directors of a local charity that I serve on. Member’s age in range from early-30’s too well into their 80’s. It says something about the ease of Dropbox when our “seniors” show up at a meeting with printed documents they were able to access on their home computers in a couple of keystrokes.

8. Collaboration – Online storage services are also ideal for collaboration purposes. They allow multiple people to edit and collaborate on a single file or document. You don’t have to worry about tracking the latest version or who has made what changes.

Google Drive is an excellent example of a comprehensive solution: Part online collaborative office suite, and part cloud storage platform, Google Drives offers everything you need to stay productive.

Speaking from personal experience: We use Google Drive at dlvr.it to collaborate on blog posts, headlines, documents, images, strategic planning, and much more. I highly recommend this real-time collaborative tool.

9. Protection: Cloud storage serves as an added layer of data protection for your precious and irreplaceable files. Backups are kept in a secure location that is physically removed from the originals.

10. Recovery: In the event of catastrophic data loss, you’ll have backups of all your original files so you can restore them with zero downtime.

Google Drive vs. Dropbox

To help compare the numerous services, CNET and PCMag recently updated their guides to the most popular cloud storage services, covering how they work and their strengths and weaknesses. To get a clear overall picture, we put together an easy to read chart from these guides highlighting the specifications and cost of the most popular services:

Confused? I am too.

Here’s a quick discussion of the pros and cons from CNET’s post on OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and Box: Which cloud storage service is right for you?

OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive)

Best for: If you have a Windows PC, tablet and phone, and need to get to your files from any device with little effort.

Where it excels: OneDrive works seamlessly with Windows devices because it’s built into the Windows operating systems running on PCs, tablets and Windows Phone. It’s easy to open and edit files from OneDrive in Microsoft’s other applications, such as Word or the Photos app. Since OneDrive is closely tied with Office, it’s a good choice for anyone who uses Office frequently.

Where it falls flat: If you don’t have all Windows devices, OneDrive doesn’t have as much appeal. There are apps for other devices, but it’s clear that OneDrive is meant for the Windows set.

To use OneDrive, you must sign up for a Microsoft account, which gives you access to Outlook, Xbox Live, and other Microsoft services. Whether or not you want all those extras is up to you.

OneDrive for Business currently (as of early 2015) has a limit of 20,000 files that you can store in your account. Microsoft says it is working to change this, but we don’t have exact timing on when that limit will disappear.

Dropbox

Best for: Simple sharing when you use tons of different kinds of devices.

Where it excels: Dropbox’s greatest strength is that it works equally well on PCs and Macs, Android and iOS. The service is so simple and elegantly designed that it’s easy for anyone to master. Its desktop applications seamlessly blend with your computer’s file system.

Where it falls flat: In my experience, Dropbox’s website design is one of the weakest of the cloud storage services. It’s simple and clean, but you can’t control the way your files are displayed. However, you do get many more sharing options on the Dropbox website, which almost makes up for the bare-bones design.

Google Drive

Best for: Google diehards, or anyone who wants a few office tools with their cloud storage.

Where it excels: Google Drive requires very little setup if you already have a Google account. What’s more, if you use Gmail, it’s easy to save attachments from your email directly to Drive with just a few clicks.

Where it falls flat: While you can organize your files and photos in Google Drive, there’s no way to upload photos from your phone directly to the service – automatically. Instead, Google has an Auto Backup feature in the Google+ mobile apps, which sends your photos to your Google+ profile. Ideally, Google needs to create a central space where I can store and upload all of my files that combines the best of Google+’s photo editing features and Google Drive’s document editing tools.

Box

Best for: Teams of employees working together on projects, and large companies that need a secure place to share documents with everyone.

Where it excels: For business customers, Box is a great choice because it comes with so many tools for collaboration and file privacy control.

Where it falls flat: While anyone can sign up for a free individual account on Box, the service’s endless list of sharing and privacy features can be lost on someone who’s just using the service for personal storage. Because of all those features, it can feel overwhelming to navigate the Box website if you’re only trying to manage a few files and folders.

Amazon Cloud Drive

Best for: Anyone with an Amazon Fire tablet or Fire phone, because it’s part of the operating system. Unlimited Photos is good for Amazon Prime members because you get it for free as part of that subscription.

Where it excels: The best part of Amazon Cloud Drive is that it’s baked into Amazon. If you already have an Amazon account, you don’t need to sign up for Cloud Drive; you can simply sign in.

Where it falls flat: Cloud Drive is different than the others on the list, in that the desktop app doesn’t work with your file system. That makes it less useful in my opinion. You’re better off viewing and managing files from the Cloud Drive website, but you cannot upload files larger than 2GB there.

Apple iCloud Drive

Best for: iCloud is hands-down the best cloud service if you’re already a part of Apple’s tight ecosystem.

Where it excels: iCloud automatically and wirelessly syncs your data to all your devices whenever you add, create or change a file. When it comes to ease of use, iCloud easily outpaces the competition. It’s not so much that the other cloud services are difficult to use (they aren’t), it’s that iCloud has done it the simplest.

Where it falls flat: Access to the service is limited to web browsers and Apple products starting with iOS 8.

Speaking from my experience, I can give personal recommendations for both Google Drive and Dropbox. Easy to use and a great first place to start.

Bottom line: Choose a cloud provider service that’s right for you and your budget, or use more than one; it’s up to you.

___

What’s your go-to cloud storage platform? Why?

We’d love to hear from you.

Please share!

The post Google vs. Dropbox: Which Cloud Storage Service is Right for Your Small Business appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Like many of you, we want to spend our limited time on sources of traffic that produce the best results. Using dlvr.it as an example, our goal is to understand the top sources of traffic coming from social media. The answer can be found in the referral data in Google Analytics. In the three steps listed below, we’ll show you the quickest route to unlock your data.

Step 1. Pull the referral data

Once you are logged into Google Analytics, the referral data can be accessed by clicking on Acquisition > All Traffic > Referrals in the menu on the left of your screen.

Step 2. Create a strategy that works best for your business

It is important to understand which key metrics to use to measure your success. They will be different if you are trying to improve your blog vs. sell more widgets. As stated above, we set out to increase traffic to our blog from the best producing social network. If increasing sales is important, rank the Ecommerce Conversion Rate data (found to the right of the Behavior data) as your #1 criteria.

The Referral data found in Google Analytics looks like the example below. If you don’t understand the terms, click the ‘?’ next to each word.

Using dlvr.it again as an example for ranking traffic sources, we defined the following criteria as being important for a healthy blog:

1. Low Bounce Rate
2. High Average Session Duration
3. High Pages/Session

Step 3. Identify the strongest traffic source

To reduce time and effort, we decided to start with a traffic source that has clear potential and a strong base to work from. Our goal is to increase the Sessions from a source that is already producing quality visits.

In the sample data set below, you’ll notice a few highlights. I scanned each column and highlighted the best source of traffic in each category (Session, % New Sessions, New Users, etc.).

In the case of ‘% New Sessions’, I highlighted two items where the other columns have just one. The higher number represents new traffic while the lower number represents repeat users. Both are important.

It is also important to note that I ignored any internal traffic sources (dlvr.it – our main website for example).

In this test sample, Facebook is the winner. It has the highest repeat visitor rate, the highest Pages/Session and the highest Avg. Session Duration. In our small data set, it is clear that there is work to be done with the number of sessions coming from Facebook.

Next Steps

Now that we know Facebook is our top source of quality readers, our next step is to create and implement a Facebook strategy to attract more readers. We’ll publish the strategy and the results once our testing is complete.

The post How to Weed through Google Analytics Data to Identify Your Top Producing Social Network appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

The rumor bears resemblance to a long-circulating Facebook hoax claiming that the social network planned to delete inactive users unless they liked or shared a specific status or image. Well, according to Snopes.com, the rumor mill is: Mostly True. 

So, what does this mean for your Facebook Business Page?

According to Facebook, there are two primary benefits to removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized Facebook accounts from Pages’ like counts:

Business results: Removing inactive accounts from Page audience data gives businesses up-to-date insights on the people who actively follow their Facebook Business Page and makes it easier for businesses to find people like their followers through tools like lookalike audiences.

Consistency: We already filter out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual Page posts, so this update keeps data consistent.

What’s the bottom line?

According to the announcement, businesses (not personal users) might observe a dip in page likes (not friends) as Facebook purges inactive or memorialized accounts across their network.

Everyone benefits from meaningful information on Facebook. It’s our hope that this update makes Pages even more valuable for businesses.

Now that you can’t blame your lack of traffic on Facebook internal policies, what can you do to increase click-throughs?

If you want more traffic to your Facebook Business Page, focus on getting more shares and likes, right? Although that’s true (Snopes is not able to disprove it), it’s not the only way to generate more traffic. Here are nine thought provoking questions to help get more people to click on your post.

1. What’s the ideal length of your Facebook post?

(a) Under 80 characters

(b) Over 80+ words

(c) Over 100 characters

According to a study from TrackMaven, posts with 80+ words garner 2x’s as much engagement. While this by no means implies every post published should be a novel, it does clarify that updates, that require it, should include context language — Facebook users are willing to read!

But….

2. Why keep link titles under 100 characters?

When you’re uploading a link directly to your News Feed, if the original post has a lengthy title, be sure to click into the title to edit it. Any title above 100 characters gets cut off when posted on your Facebook Business Page, and you don’t want the core message to disappear as a result!

3. What’s up with your punctuation @#$!?

According to the same TrackMaven study published on HubSpotBlogs,

• Posts with hashtags (#) see 60% more interactions on average
• Posts with exclamation points (!) see 2.7% more interactions on average
• Posts that ask questions (?) garner 23% more engagement on average

4. And, don’t forget the silly emoticons. Do they add value? You bet!

According to an AMEX Open Forum study, emoticons can result in a few different results on Facebook:

• Posts with emoticons receive a 33% higher share rate
• Posts with emoticons receive a 33% higher comment rate
• Posts with emoticons receive a 57% higher like rate

5. Did you know that images within your wall posts are clickable?

It’s true! You should consider using an image that contains a call to action versus one that looks like a stock image. According to online retailer Dollar Shave Club,

During a three-week test, the Sign Up call-to-action button delivered a 2.5x higher conversion rate than comparable social placements aimed to drive new user acquisition. — Brian Kim, Director of Acquisition, Dollar Shave Club

6. How many Facebook posts per week is too many? At what point does your posting frequency affect the number of clicks you generate?

From our post on The Unscientific Guide to Determine Best Times to Post on Facebook:

Best Post Frequency: Data from KISSmetrics indicates that .5 posts per day (1 post every 2 days) will achieve the most likes on Facebook

Best Engagement Facts:

• 86% of posts are published during the work week with engagement peaking on Thursday and Friday
• Engagement rates fall 3.5% below average for posts published Monday through Wednesday
• Facebook’s “Happiness Index” spikes 10% on Friday

7. What is Engagement on Facebook Business Page?

Someone leaves a comment on your wall posting. What is the best choice to boost your engagement?

(a) Like the comment

(b) Delete the comment

(c) Respond to the comment

According to independent research by Neil Patel, responding to each and every comment has a huge impact on clicks. Status updates that contained responses received 9% more clicks.

Responding to each and every comment =

Engagement = 

Huge impact on clicks

8. Tell me again, when is the best time to post on Facebook Business Page?

If you ask ten different people, you’ll get ten different responses. You have to keep testing to determine optimal post times. Here are some suggestions to test this week:

Best Days to Post: Thursday and Friday

Best Time of Day to Post: Optimal time is early afternoon in the time zone with most of your audience

Best Times to Mix up Post Times: 

• Publish after work hours. According to the aforementioned TrackMaven study, posts published after hours (5 p.m. – 1 a.m. EST), see 11% more interactions than those published during the day (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.). They also see 29% more interactions than those published before work (1 a.m. – 8 a.m.). This calls on a need to publish our weekly posts at varying times, including after folks have clocked out of work for the day.

• Publish on weekends. In a similar vein, TrackMaven found that posts published on Sundays get 25% more Likes, shares, and comments than Wednesday posts — even though fewer than 18% of posts are published on weekends.

Last question,

9. What have you missed? Where’s the image?

It’s been proven that posts with engaging images generate the most click-throughs.

That’s it. If you start with these nine Facebook tips above, you’re guaranteed to generate more clicks!

The post How to Create the Perfect Facebook Business Page [Complete Guide] appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

I did a little digging to find current statistics on Pinterest demographics. Here are some of the impressive results:

• Women are the significant majority. No surprise here. Business Insider estimates that the gender division on Pinterest is approximately 81 percent female and 19 percent male.

• Millennials use Pinterest as much as Instagram. According to data from the Harvard Institute of Politics, millennials have bumped up their use of Pinterest more than any other social network. This is surprising given the popularity of other social networks including Snapchat and Tumblr.
  

• Median Pinterest user is aged 40. (I started off in college as a Statistics major, so I should know what the means. Quick stats primer: the median is the point where half are over and half under). According to Ahalogy, what this means is that half of all Pinterest users are Gen X or older, a demographic that might otherwise be overlooked. For small businesses and social media marketers, this means that there may be an audience for your message on Pinterest that you may not have considered.

• Half of Pinterest users make $50K+. Here’s the kicker: the household income of half of Pinterest users is $50K or greater per year, with 10 percent of Pinteresting households making greater than $125K (according to Ahalogy). This income profile is very similar to Facebook and Twitter users. You can assume there is a good amount of affluence among Pinterest users.

4 Pinterest Marketing Pro Tips

Digging further into Pinterest for Business, I wanted to learn how a successful small business uses Pinterest and if it is possible to be “discovered” using Pinterest tools. Here are few excerpts from the experts with great Pinterest marketing advice and tips:

Business Showcase #1: Allrecipes (Industry: Media. Pins about: Food)

We curate relevant and timely content to fuel a dialogue around cooking. By cross-pollinating among Pinterest, allrecipes.com, and email marketing, we create a seamless experience that allows us to connect more deeply with our existing community and reach new audiences. – Esmme Williams, VP of Brand Marketing

Tool: Add the Pin It button to all of your images

The Pin It button lets people save your content back to Pinterest. You can add the (free) button to all of your site’s images. The button is also available on WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and Wix, plus iOS and Android apps. Learn how to add the Pin It button to your site’s images.

Read more on how to: Include Full-sized Images when Cross-posting Pinterest Pins on Twitter and Facebook

Pro Tip: Add the Pin It button above the fold

After noticing a big surge in referral traffic from people on Pinterest, Allrecipes designed a new page template where the Pin It button is above the fold adjacent to recipe photos and videos, which made it easy to share recipes. Allrecipes saw dramatic results: within three months, more than 50,000 recipes were pinned resulting in 139 million Pinterest impressions, and clicks on Allrecipes’ Pinterest content increased more than 900%.

For St. Patrick’s Day, I just searched Allrecipes for slow cooked corned beef and cabbage. Here’s the screen shot with more then 12K+ Pins on the recipe. Impressive and yum!

Business Showcase #2: Artifact Uprising (Industry: Small Business. Pins about: Photography)

Artifact Uprising is a small business that makes tangible goods from digital photos. After one of their Pins took off, the company went from basement startup to multi-million dollar company seeing triple digit growth in less than 18-months. The Pinterest marketing tip that transformed this small company:

Unlike other analytics or social media channels, Pinterest allows us to see what other categories our followers are interested in. For example, analytics showed a strong overlap between people who like Artifact Uprising’s Pins and those who also spend a lot of time on DIY projects. That insight led to Artifact Uprising focusing efforts on targeting DIY followers and blogs, which has been successful. – Kate Thurmes, Chief Creative Officer

Tool: Pinterest Analytics. Pinterest offers their own analytics for businesses. You can use these insights to find out what people are pinning from your website, see what pinners like, what gets most repined or most clicked as well as other interesting information. Use the data to focus on the Pinterest marketing tactics that are driving the metric(s) you are after.

Pro Tip: #1 – Try Promoted Pins.

“Our company has always wanted to focus on awareness and Promoted Pins has given us a way to scale on an easy-to-use platform that we’ve been looking for,” Thurmes said. “We have learned more about our customer base and how to target and segment them from Promoted Pins than from any other media platform.”

Pro Tip: #2 – Add beautiful, high quality images that are a mix of contextual product shots, interesting use cases and inspiring lifestyle photography. Read more on how to: Automatically Post Photos from Pinterest.

Business Showcase #3: Moorea Seal (Industry: Small Business. Pins about: Products)

Pinterest is a huge source of traffic and sales for both our online store and storefront. I wouldn’t have opened our online store in the first place if it were not for Pinterest and the massive following that was  constantly asking where they could purchase all of the beautiful products I was Pinning. – Moorea Seal, Founder

Tool: Test Rich Pins. Rich Pins, also known as ‘Super Pins’ or ‘Enhanced Pins’ are a fairly new addition to Pinterest marketing features for business. These enhanced pins include extra information right on the Pin itself. There are currently six types of rich pins:

• App Pins: Includes an install button, so Pinners can download your app without ever leaving Pinterest. (For now, App Pins are compatible with iOS apps only.)
• Product Pins: Includes real time pricing, availability and where to buy. Pinners also get notifications when product Pins they’ve added drop in price.
• Recipe Pins: Includes ingredients, cooking times and serving info to get Pinterest cooks excited to hit the kitchen.
• Article Pins: Includes headline, author and story description, helping Pinners find and save stories that matter to them.
• Movie Pins: Includes ratings, cast members and reviews to help Pinners learn about new flicks.
• Place Pins: Includes a map, address, and phone number.

If your content falls within these categories, you can add additional contextual information (as an example you can add the price to a product) which will populate in Pinterest pins. To get started, you’ll need to prep your website with meta tags, test out your Rich Pins and apply to get them on Pinterest through Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator.

Pro Tip: Add Pins that are natural, personal and lifestyle focused. Also, collect and promote images from your followers and customers.

“The most successful images are beautiful and memorable—not just because of the product but because of thoughtful styling and environments.” Moorea Seal stays on top of promoting new products on Pinterest with regular photo shoots, plus they also collect and promote images from their followers and customers.

Have you setup your Pinterest business account? Just reading the success stories alone, should make you add Pinterest as a key ingredient in your social media mix.

—
Have a few Pinterest marketing tips? What works for you? We would love to hear from you.

The post 4 Pinterest Marketing Tips That Will Improve Your Visibility Now appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.