The Social Media Mermaid

April 16, 2014

Pinterest vs. Tumblr

tumblr-vs-pinterest

image from x

When Pinterest came along, I remembered that I wasn’t sure if I had room for another platform in my life. A silly thought, but I guess it’s true. We only really use a social media network when we “get something” from it. So what does Pinterest have over Tumblr or vice versa?

According to Wikipedia:
Tumblr, stylized in its logo as tumblr., is a microblogging platform and social networking website founded by David Karp and owned by Yahoo! Inc. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users’ blogs, as well as make their blogs private. Much of the website’s features are accessed from the “dashboard” interface, where the option to post content and posts of followed blogs appear.

Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that people use to collect ideas for their different projects and interests. People create and share collections (called “boards”) of visual bookmarks (called “Pins”) that they use to do things like plan trips and projects, organize events or save articles and recipes. The site was founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. It is managed by Cold Brew Labs and funded by a small group of entrepreneurs and investors.

 

As  a user, I was slightly confused in the beginning of using both platforms because the same image would pop up on both sites. However, if you realise the potential of both networks it becomes clear that they are not as similar as one would have thought.

Ryan LaSala has written a great article about the same thing, pointing out that both platforms underlie the principle of personal curation, which is very to the point. However, they should not be viewed as competitors.

When it comes to business use of both platforms, it has to be said that Tumblr has a bigger history of follower engagement. Yes you can leave comments underneath pins on Pinterest, but it’s just not the same. I have seen posts on Tumblr that went “viral” because of a certain comment and not because of the original post. It is also more multimedia oriented: You can post quotes, plain text, gifs, videos or just images. It allows for a real all round experience, while Pinterest is sort of limited to pictures. So this is definitely something to keep in mind.

As pointed out in my last post, target audience is something to think about. Tumblr has a very young audience and Pinterest has a more female and slightly older audience. Susan Guneluis described both platforms very well in her article on Sprout Social, so make sure to check that one out for more information.

There is a lot to say about the two platforms and some social media advisors say you can either chose one or go with both platforms (well what else is there?), but I would advise that it really depends on what you make of it.

As always, try not to do anything halfway!

April 3, 2014

Pinterest for events?

Personally, I think Pinterest is great and hopefully this shines through the recent blog posts. It is useful in so many ways, not just personally, but great if you want to grow your business or organization.

Something I have stumbled upon recently is the use of Pinterest for events, or the promotion of events.

The different steps are something like this: Create a board for the event, pin the flyer graphic, link to a Facebook event, sometimes even create a raffle.

What annoys me about this is that I think Pinterest is not as “current” as Twitter or Facebook, which makes it very hard to keep your followers on things such as events. I have phases where I check my Pinterest dashboard every day, but sometimes it gets so overwhelming that I don’t check it for a whole week. Your event might as well be over by that time, if you have tried to promote it on Pinterest.

 

If you really think that Pinterest is a great way to promote your kind of event and that your followers will actually learn about it through Pinterest, keep this in mind:

  • Make it visible on other platforms and don’t solely rely on Pinterest. Create a Facebook event, put it in a tweet, show a picture of you organizing the event on Instagram. Try to get people excited!
  • If you make a board for the event, don’t just pin one picture advertising it.
  • Try to create buzz around the event, and show this off in your pins. Make it a whole thing and pin inspirations for the event, show who is coming, what food will be there, the city it’s in, the progress of making it happen…This way people will actually follow that board.
March 27, 2014

Advice from a Pinterest user herself.

pinterest

Now there is a lot of advice out there on how to master Pinterest, how to use it efficiently for your business and so on. A lot of it is common sense, some of it is related to marketing strategies. I think there is something important to add to this, something that I don’t see a lot of times: Advice from an actual Pinterest user.

I will take myself as an example here.My Pinterest account is only for private use, I use it to pin hairstyles, fashion pictures, travel inspiration and food stuff. I am an easy target for businesses that fall in to this category: If I see a beautiful necklace I will buy it, if I see a recommended restaurant pinned, I will go there. It’s really that simple for me. I am open to suggestions and act based on these visuals.

It’s obviously harder for non-profits to achieve that sort of outcome. What they want is different: They try to get followers that support their mission, are loyal and will hopefully act on their desire to help.

So here are a couple of tips from myself: A Twenty something that is open for suggestions and willing to make changes to her life.

1. Have really good pictures.

There is almost no other way of actually standing out on Pinterest. Kick their butts with your amazing pictures! This doesn’t really take that much, most of the smartphones take really good pictures and filters make pretty much everything look adorable.

2. Have a good description underneath.

I think a lot of us are very lazy on Pinterest and never really change the blurb underneath when repinning pictures. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but it does matter if you wanna come up for certain searches! Try to mention your city, important keywords etc.

3. Be persuasive, empathetic and sympathetic.

This is a very general statement, I admit that. However, what I love to see on Pinterest is friendly pins, full of love and inspiration, creative ones and smart ones. Charm them off their socks with your pins and followers will definitely be interested!

March 1, 2014

Why Pinterest can be amazing for your business

pinterestPinterest can be a great tool for businesses. It is basically online scrapbooking, but not limited to that. It has over 70 million users and if used right, can become a great tool to build a community and connect with your consumers/customers/followers. A lot of people use Pinterest for recipes, workout tips, fashion or travel inspiration, but it businesses can take advantage of it even if their business is not related to these areas. The great thing is that any pin can be linked to a website, which is great for driving traffic to your website. Pinterest is the best platform to do this, even better than Twitter and Facebook!

Not only has Pinterest a great guide for businesses on their website, they also have a extensive FAQ as well. It shows you how to get started, gives advice on how to start pinning and how to use the free web analytics. They also have several case studies to explain how other companies are using Pinterest, which is a great start and full of inspiration!

Here are just three general tips to consider when thinking about including Pinterest in your online presence.

1. Even if your business or organization is not all about visuals or if you don’t have products that are easily pinable, you can still create your own visually attractive pictures that will lead to your original content. (Look at this example from this great article) Make it easy for people to find your pin and content!

2. Go with the flow- be creative and incorporate seasonal things to your pins! Giveaways for Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas will always be ‘in demand’ and a trending topic, so take advantage of that!

3. Even on Pinterest you can get engaged with your community. Don’t just follow people that are following you, but answer comments underneath pins, reach out to fellow organizations or your local community and you will create a great relationship with them.

February 19, 2014

How non-profit organizations can use Instagram

nonprofit instagram

An example of how Charity Water uses their Instagram account! (from here x)

 

In the last post I talked about things that non profit organizations should consider when using social media. The conclusion was that social media is useful for everyone if done right and so today I would like to talk about Instagram.

Yes, Instagram is probably mostly used by teenagers and tweens to show off their lunch, kittens or feet, but it can also be used to promote your business.

The fact that Instagram can only be properly used on your phone is something that definitely adds to the spontaneity of it, but that does not mean you can’t also plan it strategically.

It ties very neatly in to Facebook posts or even Twitter, which makes it perfect for non-profits that are visually oriented.  Not just that, it also allows you to be very creative and raise awareness of your company. Instagram has over 130 million users that are easily reachable if you do it ‘right’.

If you are new to Instagram, a good first step would be to show your (future) followers who you are and what you do. Posts that show why you do it can also inspire people to do the same and join your cause.

Getting people to follow you is not much different than in Twitter for example. Find like minded people and follow them, get engaged, leave comments and also encourage participation in your own posts. Instagram is not all serious, so it is allowed to have fun while showcasing your work or statistics for example.

Mashable wrote a great article on how non profits companies are using Instagram for their  purposes. All of these organizations are using Instagram to visually show off what they are up to.

Julia Campbell also explained how non profits can use Instagram. An important fact that she mentions is to show the impact that your organization is having. She says:

You are changing lives, saving the environment, finding homes for animals, preserving historical buildings, saving children. Whatever your mission, make sure that some of your Instagram photos show this impact – whether it be a smiling face, a cleaned up beach or an empty food pantry after the holidays.

 

I think that this is a great advice for any non profit organization. Show the actual work that you are doing day by day and people will definitely be more likely to get involved.

 

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