4 Ways To Reach Out To Bloggers On Pinterest

by Shelly Gustafson

Visually inclined bloggers have found a home on Pinterest - where they have an outlet to easily post their favorites photos and videos as well as interact with other like-minded bloggers and fans.

But can PR and marketing teams use Pinterest directly to effectively reach out to these influential individuals?

The answer thus far is both yes and no.

Yes, because Pinterest simply gives more insight to the blogger’s world and interests rather then simply reading their blog. Perhaps you’ll find through combing through the various pins and boards that an influential mommy blogger has a secret love for gardening or is on the search for healthy recipes for her kids.

However, reaching out to a blogger through Pinterest should be handled with extreme care. Pinterest thus far has developed as a very simple concept, much like Twitter did, and marketing and commercialism is still finding its place among the shuffle.

This, of course, does not mean you can’t utilize Pinterest to get you and your product noticed by these bloggers in a more subtle way. Below I’ve listed a few ways to slowly integrate yourself into these blogger’s world via Pinterest:

1) Get involved yourself. Join Pinterest and start your own boards with your interests and ideas on display.

2) Follow, Follow, Follow Similar to Twitter you can follow too many people on Pinterest and end up being overwhelmed by your feed. When you are starting out its incredibly important to start following the right people and for PR and marketers the right people are often the influencers in their field.

But don’t limit yourself to following a couple bloggers – look at who they follow and what interests them as well. Do they have favorite companies that they follow and interact with or perhaps other bloggers that you can add to your influencers list?

3) Repin / Like / Comment Pinterest offers three options for someone to show agreement or appreciation for another users contribution and all three of them end with you being listed in the individuals Pinterest update.

• Repin 
• This option should be used when you really like someone’s pin and want to add it to your own personal boards. It will remain there until you remove it however so use with caution.

• "Like" 
• The pinterest equivalent of the “retweet” a like on Pinterest shows a little less commitment that a repin but will still add you to the bloggers daily pinterest feed. 

• Comment
• Commenting on a pin will allow you to be associated with any repins that other individuals may do, so it can give you an even bigger reach. 

4) Contact Via Email 

Once you’ve establish yourself on Pinterest and feel you have a good feel for the bloggers style and interests reach out to them via email. Mentioning that you enjoy their boards on Pinterest can only help your cause and may even jog their memory back to some of your repins/likes/comments. 

Marketing to Daddy Bloggers

by Shelly Gustafson

While Mommy bloggers continue to be a marketing trend, many fathers are now jumping on the blogging bandwagon with Daddy blogs. Coming in after Mommy bloggers in many ways presents a creative advantage – no one wants to be a one-trick pony in the marketing game and Daddy bloggers have the unique opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Mommy bloggers before them.

This past weekend this new group showed up in full-force for the first ever national Daddy blogger conference - Dad 2.0 Summit in Austin, TX.

Notably, however, the power of Daddy bloggers was heard even before the conference kicked-off in the form of an attack campaign in response to Huggie's “The Dad Test” Campaign (view one of the ads here).

“The Dad Test” came with this tag line: “To prove that Huggies diapers and wipes can handle anything, we put them to the toughest test imaginable: Dads, alone with their babies, in one house, for five days.” 

The comical concept stuck just the wrong cord with this newly influential group that is fighting to have their voice heard and recognized.

Chris Routly from www.daddydoctrines.com, went as far as launching a Change.org petition called “We’re Dads, Huggies. Not Dummies.” It drew over a thousand signatures. And other dads sent emails, tweets and letters to Huggies expressing their disappointment with the stereotyping.

Reacting quickly to the complaints, Huggies has responded by not only revamping their entire campaign (see their facebook for the new “Dad Friendly” version) but also scored brownie points with the dad’s at the summit by attending the conference and addressing the complaints in-person.

Stereotyping in advertising is nothing new but it’s important to look at a campaign from all angles before sending it out in the world. In this case, both Huggies and dads seem to have come out ahead in the end.

The Time Has Come: Transitioning Facebook Brand Pages to Timeline

by Shelly Gustafson

22 days and counting. Time is quickly running out for brands to make a seamless transition from traditional brand Facebook pages to the new Timeline Facebook Brand Pages. The drop date when Facebook will automatically switch all pages is Friday, March 30th. Brands better plan and adapt now, because there is no way around it.

Top three changes with Timeline:

Photos Front and Center
Graphic-friendly brands rejoice. Timeline allows for additional graphics and large beauty shots to take over your main-page and attract new and old fans alike (Top display photo is a maximum 851x315 pixels or a minimum of 399 pixels wide).

Highlighting Content
Not all content is created equal. A huge benefit on the Timeline design is that admins can now highlight content they want to showcase (larger photo, top billing etc.). Page admins can use this feature strategically to get the most out of fan comments and great posts.

Admin Panel
It’s never been easier to administer over a Facebook Brand page. Rather than taking you to a separate page, the admin panel simply drops down for easy access when needed. Among the panel is a listing of new likes, snapshot of reach, and post volume.

While timeframe may be daunting there is still time to create a beautiful page. Here are a few tips to get you started: 

1. Check out what other brands have done already. Several brands have jumped the gate and gotten their designs out early. Check out their pages for ideas before you commit to anything yourself (a few examples are: Coca Cola, Ben & Jerry’s and Starbucks). 

2. Don’t wait for March 30. You can choose to update to timeline anytime between now and then if you are ready. Additionally, you can utilize the preview button to create your page and tweak it before the deadline hits. This great feature allows you (and your admins) to test out ideas and designs before your page goes live (just make sure to not hit the “publish now” button until you are ready).

3. Plan out your main photo. What are you hoping to display to visitors with one glance – usefulness, lightheartedness, playfulness or seriousness? Whatever you wish to convey create an image that imparts that and test it out for feedback prior to launch. 

4. Tabs are gone but apps are here to stay. Everything will be cleanly housed on the main page and apps will be housed on the bottom right side of the cover photo (only four will be automatically viewable at a given time though more can be accessed when clicked). In other words, pick the four that are the most important to you and grow from there. 

5. Create an editorial calendar for the next month. While all social media should be in part determined by what is happening in the moment, it is always a good idea to have at least a minimal plan. This will keep the updates going when you hit your busy season and can no longer dedicate hours to content creation.

At Axiom we strive to not only be on the cutting edge with our own in-house social media but to guide our clients through this often daunting and ever changing landscape. If the process is too daunting for you at the moment we encourage you to reach out to a designer, social media expert or marketing team you know and trust rather then pulling the plug on your existing page.

And check out Techcruch’s article for more great ideas on managing the transition.

Are Your Tweets Worthwhile?

by Shelly Gustafson

A recent study from a joint team of researchers out of Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Institute of Technology found that the average twitter user thinks ¼ of the tweets in their twitter stream aren’t worth reading.

The official study took place over 19 days and had almost 1,500 twitter users rating just fewer than 44,000 tweets of users who they were following. Participants were able to not only judge the tweets of those they follow but also submit their own tweets for judgment. 

Three rating options were available:

• Liked/Worth reading - 36% of tweets
• Okay/no strong opinion - 39% of tweets
• Disliked/Not worth reading - 25% of tweets

Notably tweets that were well-liked included information sharing, questions/soliciting feedback and conversation, and tweets that had an element of self-promotion. Disliked tweets included updates on one’s current mode and activities as well as tweets that tied into conversations with others. 

Clearly the study shows that twitter users quickly moved from the original slogan of “What are you doing?” and have fully embraced the more all encompassing slogan of “What’s happening?” Whether the newly minted “Yours to Discover” slogan will continue this trend remains to be seen.

While it’s easy on a personal level to simply unfollow certain users, for business and client work it’s important to take into account what current followers find informative and interesting. Many businesses focus too much on increasing followers and forget the importance of providing thought-provoking content to the ones they already have.