Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

5 Pinterest Pinning Tips: Don’t Be a Pinhead

Patsi Krakoff — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:01:12 +0000

Don’t Be a Pinterest Pinhead
5 etiquette tips for pinning on the world’s favorite social pinboard

It’s true that Pinterest is fun—designed to be a simple, beautiful way to pin all your favorite ideas, products and places on the Web—but it’s also true that it’s powerful. With a registered user base that includes over 10 million and grows every day, Pinterest represents great potential for influence. That’s why, to avoid serious copyright infringement or even just the simply bad manners that are possible on this popular social pinboard, it’s vitally important to practice good Pinterest etiquette.

So whether you pin for pleasure or pin for business, here are 5 key tips to make sure you’re doing it right!

Always pin from the original source: This rule is first because it’s most important. Always, always, always pin from the original source. When you pin an image that doesn’t link to its original source, you are essentially stealing credit from the creator of that image. This kind of careless sourcing is no small matter—it’s drawn some of the biggest controversy Pinterest has ever seen. Any time you pin (or repin) anything, make sure it directs users to the original site where that image was posted—otherwise you risk infringing on copyrights, upsetting the original author and giving yourself a bad name.
Write teaser descriptions: Every time you pin an item, you have the opportunity to write a short description about it that will appear on your board. Because clicks are the currency of Pinterest, it’s crucial you write teaser-type phrases that draw users in but also that you don’t write descriptions that give all the information away. If you pin a recipe for black bean brownies, for example, don’t copy and paste the entire recipe into the description—simple write the name of the recipe, maybe naming the person who created it, and then let users click through to learn more.
Like and comment: Interaction is what makes a social network social—so participate in the Pinterest community by liking and commenting on pins that catch your attention, repining images that you find inspiring. This helps build connections with others as well as engender goodwill. Plus, it’s fun!
Show respect to users: When it comes to interactions, Pinterest is no different than any other spot on the Web—when you comment or respond to comments, always show respect to other users. This means no harsh language, no name-calling, no rudeness. Treating others how you wish to be treated goes a long way, both online and off.
Report violations: Part of the way Pinterest polices its site from inappropriate content is through the help of users. On its etiquette page, the network asks users to report any content that violates the site’s Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy—this includes nudity, as well as content that promotes harmful behavior—by pushing the “Report Content” link on a pin. So when you see something inappropriate being pinned, help the network out by reporting it.

Following these five etiquette tips will spare you the biggest and most common Pinterest problems—but is there anything I missed? What other Pinterest etiquette have you found to be important?

Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Web development company with clients in diverse industries, from the makers of fire retardant clothing to providers of a leading merchant processing service. Check out the Straight North Blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter!

Pinterest: 3 Reasons To Take Note

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:09:34 +0000

Even if you’ve never been on Pinterest, you’ve probably heard of it—this hot social network is drawing attention everywhere, from newspapers and magazines to television and political campaigns. Since beginning just a few years ago, it has become the fastest website in history to hit 10 million visitors a month—buoyed to success by loyal fans who spend hours on the network each day.

So what’s all the fuss about? What is this latest social craze? Why does it matter?

1. Pinterest Is Visual Bookmarking. To put it in a nutshell, Pinterest is a super simple way to visually bookmark what you like on the Web—products you’re interested in buying, recipes you want to try, outfits, craft ideas, articles, infographics, etc.—all through pictures that link back to their original sources. As a new user, you set up boards (like folders) named for categories of your choosing; then, when you see something you want to bookmark, you pin it into its category and have it neatly organized to find again. As you pin, you build stunning, pretty-to-look at boards that hold all your favorite places online.

With an attractive and user-friendly interface, it easily solves a felt need for individuals—how to organize info online.

2. Pinterest Is a Community. Visual bookmarking is handy, but what makes it so powerful is the social aspect: not only are you pinning products and sites for yourself, but also for your entire network of followers to see—even as they’re pinning likes for you to see. Pinterest profiles are public, meaning anyone can view your pins while you can view theirs, and there’s no limit to connections that can be made.

When a user pins something on Pinterest, it can be repined by another user, which can be repinned by another user—leading to the kind of exponential sharing and high referrals that marketers dream about. Time Inc.’s Real Simple magazine, for example, already sees more referrals from Pinterest than Facebook.

3. Pinterest Is Hot. You can’t argue with the numbers: when a network draws 12 million monthly unique visitors and 10.4 million registered users, it’s worth paying attention to. Called “white-hot popular” by the New York Times and “the Web’s hottest new social network” by a Minnesota newspaper, Pinterest is appealing to a diverse audience—one that grows by thousands of new users every month.

While there are the obvious personal benefits of using Twitter for your own online bookmarking and networking, the sheer volume of Pinterest users alone also represents great potential for business. Millions of people are using Pinterest every day—so when marketers find a way to tap into that audience, they find a way to boost their brand, just like companies such as Whole Foods, Martha Stewart, Nordstrom, Minted and the Travel Channel are already doing.

With such a simple interface, thriving sense of community and wild popularity, it isn’t going anywhere. So looking at all of these factors, all of us have to ask ourselves: How might it be of benefit to me and my brand?

What potential do you see in it? Is it chiefly a fun online pastime, or could it be a powerful marketing and relationship-building tool?

Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago marketing firm with clients in diverse industries, from the makers of leather safety gloves to specialists in broadcast video equipment. Check out the Straight North Blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter!

Content Marketing: Stories are Key

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:42:41 +0000

If you want your content marketing messages to be remembered, you must engage the emotional memories of your readers. Memory formation happens in two ways:

1. You say or do something that makes an emotional connection.

2. Something happens that closely resembles a previously established emotional connection.

What results is a neural network of associations that get triggered by a hot-button stimulus. Everything we retain in memory is because it’s gained an emotional place in our brain. At some point, something was important enough because it was emotional. That’s what hot-buttons are… we feel as if someone has poked us.

As a content marketing professional, you have words and visuals in your quiver of tools. How do you poke someone and push their hot buttons?

Stories are key. Negative stories can get people’s attention, but can also leave a negative aftertaste, if not followed by positive stories. I’ve talked about this before, and here’s a graph to illustrate this:

► Grab the audience’s attention ► Stimulate desire ► Reinforce with reasons

What else can you do to poke someone’s hot buttons? How else do you make an emotional impact?

Humor is great, but that’s like the old Steve Martin joke, “How do you avoid paying taxes on a million dollars? Well, first you get a million dollars…” Knowing humor works doesn’t tell you how to be funny.

But one thing is for sure, telling a good story that has a negative part, a crisis, and a turnaround positive solution will make an emotional impact.

One of the hallmarks of all social animals such as human beings is the presence in the brain of special neurons which allow us to feel what someone else experiences, just as if we were in the story ourselves.

I was on vacation at the beach last week, sipping lemonade under palm trees with my husband and not thinking about much of anything other than my gin rummy hand and what time was lunch.

This story doesn’t have any point other than to ask you if your brain “went there with me.” Most people easily allow themselves to be transported to a sunny relaxing state when certain words are mentioned.

It illustrates that even small stories can generate emotions. We can learn to use more emotion in our content marketing. Without it, we can’t expect to be remembered.

As for selling more widgets through emotional story-telling, that’s the art and craft of content marketing, isn’t it? It’s not easy, but it’s creative and you can do it.

5 Uses for Your Business Blog

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:43:45 +0000

Maintaining a business blog is time-consuming. However, if you have clear objectives in mind, the effort very well could be worth your while. As you establish your blog, define your goals to determine whether to keep it alive. Below are five common uses for feeding regular content into a business blog. (photo courtesy digitalart)

1. Raw Sales

For retailers and service providers, the most obvious reason to host a business blog is to peddle products or services. You want to show what you have to offer, and a blog is a great way to advertise deals to engaged customers who are clearly in the mood to buy and interested in your products (they are reading your blog, after all). If this is your intent, post product reviews, tell your readers about new products you’re expecting. Your blog works as an extension of your website, so provide more information than customers would receive from the product page. Let the reader feel as if he or she is getting the inside scoop.

2. Company and Industry News

Businesses of all types use their blogs to keep customers and clients in the know. If you’re hosting a company blog for communication purposes, include posts about company and industry news. These posts are especially useful for businesses catering to a tight niche. They also keep customers returning to informational business sites. These efforts help to establish a lasting relationship with customers who will return to a site if they know they can get up-to-date information.

3. Customer Service

You’re doing business during a time when consumer concerns can spread like wildfire by way of social media sites. Blogs commonly are used to assess the damage and to contain it. If you sense a situation getting out of hand, you want to be the first to address it. A company blog gives you the platform necessary to correct misinformation or to take responsibility for a company blunder on your own terms. Unless you’re in the business of goof-ups, this likely won’t be the sole purpose of hosting a blog, but it can be a benefit.

Damage control is not the only customer service function of your company blog. You can connect directly with consumers by way of user comments and feedback. Invite user feedback. Let readers know that you review responses and take them into account as you make business decisions. Your blog can be the voice of your company, allowing you to relay information in a more personal way.

4. Recruitment

Find qualified people to work for your business by recruiting applicants via your blog. Announce open positions and find people who are already aware of and interested in your company. Your blog can help you filter through the endless lists of recruits you might encounter by advertising through secondary online job listing sites. Most businesses won’t host a blog for this purpose alone, but blogs do not have to be uniform. Post relevant company information, and mention job openings as they become available.

5. Web Traffic

Anything that gives your business a marketing edge can’t hurt. When Google and other search engines crawl sites for relevant information, they want fresh content. You might not have a reason to swap out copy on your actual site on a regular basis, so blogs are an opportunity to continuously replenish your site. Use relevant keywords in blog posts, and track whether it’s working by using website analytic applications.

If you’re unsure of the purpose of your blog, it might be time to reassess why you have one. Don’t waste company time maintaining a blog that accomplishes very little for you. Consider each of the purposes mentioned above, and ask yourself why a blog is necessary in the first place. If you have any reasons to host a company blog other than the ones mentioned above, please feel free to leave a note in the comments section below.

Guest writer: Chris Peterson is a copywriter for Straight North, a leading Chicago, IL Web development company. He specializes in B2B and B2C marketing, with experience in informational blog posts, press releases, and website content that emphasizes Search Engine Optimization. Follow Straight North on Twitter and connect with Straight North on Facebook.

Online Persuasion: Seeing Through the Eyes of Customers

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:37:55 +0000

There’s an important shift in content marketing tactics that affects professionals who want to get found, get known and get clients online. And that shift means a different mindset.

Not too long ago I came across a great blog post. There was a picture of a pair of glasses lying on a bench with this caption: Don’t you wish you could see through your customers’ glasses?

What if you could live in their shoes for a day? Or, track their brains as they go online to your website? What makes them click? What makes them take action?

Here’s where you should start thinking a little differently when writing content for the Web:

Smart content marketers are using persuasion tactics that appeal to emotions rather than reasons. They know that emotions not only guide our decisions and actions, they determine whether or not we buy.

When successful web writers create online content, they appeal to the senses and the emotions. They:

Grab attention through outrageous headlines and images
Appeal to basic human wants, desires
Tell a story of one person
Use emotional hot buttons
Use persuasion triggers
Motivate action with fear, scarcity, urgency

The most effective content marketing occurs with a mixture of both rational and emotional tactics. That’s because people use the emotional parts of their brains to make what they consider rational decisions.

Much of the time, in a split second, people process incoming information (text, images, sounds) subconsciously through the emotional centers of the brain, tag it with an emotional reaction (positive, negative, neutral), and prime the cortex to either resist or join in with your message.

Buying decisions come after a positive emotional reaction that triggers one of our primary motivators. This may include the desire to belong, to have status, to be powerful, or loved.

It’s only several seconds after this happens subconsciously, (7-8 seconds?), that we interpret with the rational parts of the brain. It’s almost always a process of justifying our decisions based on logical reasons. But the emotions come first, the “reasons why” are tacked on after the fact.

To persuade others, you need to address both your audience’s logic and their emotions. You can’t do that unless you can see through their eyes.

Emotions play a more powerful role in what makes people click than facts, numbers and a rational assessment of your products and services. When you aim for the heart, the mind will come along with you.

Vivid descriptions, metaphors, analogies, images and stories are among the tools you can use when writing content for the Web.

P.S. There’s a reason I put a picture of a dog with glasses on this post… A pair of glasses alone won’t connect with feelings as much as a pair of glasses on a person or a child will, and I wanted to grab your attention by using an image that was out of the ordinary. (photo courtesy freedigitalphotos.net)

It evokes curiosity and hopefully a bit of humor as well. Think about how the images you use on your blog posts can connect emotionally to your readers.

Business Blogs and the Parisbas Tennis Open

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:09:26 +0000

Is your blog like my tennis, a hit or a miss? Are you writing posts that are clear winners for your readers? Are you serving valuable, relevant content within the lines of your readers’ needs?

This week I’m watching the world’s best players battle it out on the courts at the Parisbas Tennis Open in Indian Wells, California. I’ve noticed a few things that applies to content marketing.

Persistence and control is the name of the game. With me, I get impatient in a rally, and with a burst of aggression I’ll end the point with a whopping drive… clear out of the court.

I know people who blog like that. They write 600-900 words every few weeks, then wonder why they aren’t getting search traffic.

Blogging for your business doesn’t work that way. Steady as you go, writing at least twice a week, at least 350 words, focusing on the key words that drive results for your business, mixing information with stories, always keeping the reader in mind.

Business blogging is like tennis: you want to keep the ball in play. The “ball” is the conversation you have with your ideal clients, your readers. What problems can you solve for them? Keep the dialogue alive. You can’t do that when your blogging is inconsistent.

If you want to get found on the Web, you need plenty of content that’s relevant to your readers. The more you create new content, and publish on your blog, the better the possibilities your ideal clients will find you.

Get found, then get known by your readers. You are priming the pump towards getting new clients. Persistence pays.

If you’re an executive coach or leadership consultant who’s too busy with clients to manage your blog and content marketing tasks, consider outsourcing. Click here for information over on my site, Content for Coaches. I can help make your newsletters, blog, and Web pages rank high with both search engines AND your clients.

LinkedIn Power Tips: Give Before You Receive

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:24:01 +0000

If you’ve noticed, LinkedIn is quickly becoming the social networking site for professionals to connect and do business. Maybe Facebook is better left for your family and friends? Just wondering… I’ve invited Chris Buffaloe of SerenityVA.com to share tips on using the LinkedIn recommendations feature. (photo courtesy jannoon028)

The value of referrals, recommendations, or testimonials cannot be underestimated. Recommendations are similar to testimonials of your good name, good product(s), or expertise. They enhance your credibility as an expert similar to how quality content, quality presentation of that content and frequency of content enhances your page rank and authority status for your website. They also raise your credibility.

Recommendations in LinkedIn are social proof. They tell a LinkedIn (LI) candidate that the person is qualified or recognized as a valued colleague that has or will add value to your business. As you interact with connections, you become more familiar with their areas of expertise and perhaps are able to use this knowledge in your business execution.

Once you can recommend a connection, you proceed with some expectation that they will reciprocate. However, do not expect that all people that you have recommended will in turn write a recommendation for you. As you proceed in building your connections, keep in mind that your connections are your referral sources – focus on those contacts that have the potential to directly (or indirectly) enhance your business or expertise.

After all, one of your goals in LI is becoming a recognized expert in your field. A good place to find contacts that will give you outstanding recommendations are your satisfied customers. Go through your customer base and connect with everyone who has purchased your products; multiple sales recipients are better.

The best way to receive a recommendation is not to ask, i.e., the best recommendations most often come from a good one that you have written for someone. They are the next step of engagement after you connect with someone on LI. It is a quid pro quo of sorts, but don’t write one for someone just to get a reciprocal recommendation.

Be sure that you can personally vouch for them. As such, be very clear about what you’re recommending. Don’t forget your keywords when you are writing! Search engines love keywords!

As you evaluate your LinkedIn strategy, make sure you include a profile of your ideal connection and how you can get a recommendation from them. Make sure that you have clear goals and objectives.

A good review for being successful using LI can be found in Wayne Breitbarth’s best seller, The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success or by viewing Joan Stewart’s Webinar, Your LinkedIn Power Formula.

Christine Buffaloe of Serenity Virtual Assistant Services provides a wide range of administrative support services specializing in social media.

3 Networking Tips with LinkedIn Groups for Business

Patsi Krakoff — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:54:02 +0000

LinkedIn is today to working professionals what Facebook was to college students when it first launched: a networking tool with a specific audience and purpose in mind. Facebook has since degenerated to an all-inclusive social media outlet for friends and family, but LinkedIn still retains its reputation as an online social networking service for the working world.

As of last month, LinkedIn reported an astounding 131,200,000 members, with 12% of those being entrepreneurs. While many users leverage LinkedIn during job searches, the users who really derive the most value from the network are:

Entrepreneurs
Salesmen and women (10% of all users)
Academics (9% of all users)
Other professionals

In facet, LinkedIn benefits anyone whose livelihood depends on staying current with new technologies and trends, and keeping an open line of communication with a powerful network of successful peers.

LinkedIn Groups

One of the features that keeps these working people connected on LinkedIn is the Groups feature. The LI membership base is a veritable ocean of users, but with Groups, you can shrink that ocean down to small pools of relevant people with whom you can:

1. Learn

LinkedIn is unique in that it allows senior executives, professionals with decades of experience, to connect and discuss best practices, new strategies, or anything else important. Leaders from every industry and the brightest minds in academia and consulting are on LI, and with Groups you can develop a context for you to open dialogue with them. Group discussions will generate some of the best ideas out there, ideas that wouldn’t be possible without the collaboration that LI Groups offers.

2. Interact

Within Groups, you also have the opportunity to interact with members of the industry community in new and targeted ways. As a group moderator you have the ability to:

Build specific member communities with corresponding or complimentary perspectives and prompt discussion about important topics. Joining in these conversations also gives you access to experts and others who often can give you the edge you’ve been looking for, just in conversation.
Highlight and direct attention to conversations or members you think are noteworthy or especially insightful. By positioning yourself as an essential link between two important people, you will form constructive relationships with both parties.
Generate a following that grows as rapidly as LI itself. Especially in conjunction with other LI features, such as LinkedIn Today, you can really engage your audience and begin great conversations.

3. Share

When someone in your group makes a particularly great comment, or if you come across an article that you think would be great conversation fodder, you can share that content with the entire group instantly, and you can manage the way the group grows with moderator tools for membership and discussion. Getting feedback on shared content, and encouraging group members to search for and share content as well is a great way to develop new ideas, again made possible by the Groups feature.

So join a group, start a group, moderate a group — whatever you do, get involved and get the ideas flowing in your professional network.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, students, teachers, money saving, and movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5@gmail.com.

The Pros of LinkedIn vs. Facebook for Professionals

Patsi Krakoff — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:33:00 +0000

You’re probably already on Facebook, sharing photos of your kid’s first birthday party and links to your favorite articles, recipes and videos. After all, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. But when it comes to using social media for your business, do you really want your professional network colliding with your personal life? (photo courtesy Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot)

There is, of course, the option of creating a Facebook page solely for business purposes, which is a good way to separate your personal and professional networks. These types of Facebook pages, however, are often most successful when running a B2C business, and your clients consist of consumers who use Facebook on a regular basis.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, is great for B2B service providers looking for a more professional social media platform. It’s a social networking site designed for the career- and business-minded professional. Users range from recent college grads to CEOs, all looking to expand their professional network so they can improve their career or business. (You can also have a business page on LinkedIn, as Patsi does here for Content for Coaches.)

Here, we’ll examine the benefits of LinkedIn vs. Facebook for professional service providers, such as executive coaches and lawyers.

Keep your personal life personal. Your clients don’t care to know what you had for breakfast this morning, and you probably don’t want them to see photos from your recent trip to Las Vegas. While Facebook offers a window to your whole life, LinkedIn is strictly for professional use, so the content you post is relevant to your specific field.
Find companies, talent, clients and jobs. With a constantly growing database of user profiles, company profiles and job postings, you can use LinkedIn as a professional directory to connect with new clients, reach out to prospects and hire great talent. No one uses Facebook to post their resume – that’s what LinkedIn is for.
Control your public profile. With Facebook, depending on your privacy settings, any of your friends or followers can post and tag photos of you, comment on your wall, and tag you in status updates. This takes a lot of the control out of your hands. With LinkedIn, only you can update your profile and status messages.
Don’t worry about privacy issues. One of the biggest complaints that people have with Facebook is its confusing privacy settings, which are constantly changing with each new Facebook “makeover.” Privacy settings on LinkedIn, however, aren’t typically an issue — if your profile is only geared toward other professionals, you’re likely not posting anything you wouldn’t want to share in the first place.
Write and receive recommendations. Rather than the random and even spammy comments that typically litter Facebook pages, your LinkedIn profile can include recommendations from former and current clients and respected colleagues. These reviews can strengthen your position as a leader in your field. In addition, you can write recommendations for others to further connect and network.
Stay up-to-date on the latest news. A unique feature of LinkedIn is LinkedIn Today, which gathers the most shared news on the site all in one place. You can browse through the articles that have had the most shares and Tweets across the Web, so you can stay updated on current news. You can also customize your LinkedIn Today page and LinkedIn front page to show news more relevant to your industry.

If you’re finding it exhausting to balance both your personal and professional networks on Facebook, think about giving LinkedIn a try.

Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Internet marketing agency with clients ranging from electric gloves and protective clothing providers to specialists in automotive lifts. Check out the Straight North Blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter!

The Ladder of Emotional Values: Pleasure Reigns

Patsi Krakoff — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:17:15 +0000

What emotions are people seeking to satisfy online? What can we understand about human motivations and values in order for content marketing to work?

Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs tells us we are motivated to satisfy our basic needs first (food, shelter, clothing), before we seek to obtain satisfaction for social, intellectual and spiritual needs.

A similar hierarchy of emotional values exists. As incoming information from web and blog pages enters the brain and is processed, our emotional centers assign values to offers.

Brain science, along with studies on decision making from behavioral economics, has shown that people often don’t use logical reasoning. Instead they go with their gut reactions. They make decisions based on feelings.

Later, when that leads to a buying decision, people justify their actions with rational logic and intellectual “alibis.”

At the lowest level, people have a desire for security. The next thing they seek is comfort. At the top of the ladder, people will pay the most to satisfy a desire to experience pleasure.

Although these values are all emotional, rationality plays a part. Online, an offer must work properly for consumers to feel secure. A marketing offer also provides comfort through ease of purchase, and also by providing reasons to defend the purchase to friends and family. But rationality is never the deciding factor.

At the top of the pyramid, rationality completely takes a back seat to emotional pleasure and indulgence. This is where content marketers employ every means possible to appeal to the senses, the thrill of the aesthetic beauty and the joy of being immersed in the experience being offered. This is where greater differentiation and profitability become evident.

At the top of this ladder, all rationality drops by the way side as the prospect/reader/visitor lets themselves become immersed in a pseudo-experience of the product/service/offer. This is where content creation prowess must do everything possible to provide a virtual pleasure experience using:

Photos
Videos
Music
Faces of people enjoying the offer
Stories of clients/cases/examples
Metaphors and analogies
Quotes and testimonials
Persuasion triggers and emotional hot buttons

It’s no longer enough to have a unique selling proposition. According to Dan Hill in Emotionomics, companies must develop a unique emotional value proposition to provide emotional value to their consumers. This is key to success.

The only way to differentiate a company’s products and services is through adding emotional value. Otherwise, your offers will not stand out above the crowd in an increasingly commoditized world.

You might well ask:

How do I discover and offer emotional value to my target audience?
In what ways can I assure readers and visitors that my company will provide security and comfort… and pleasure?

These are crucial questions to be answered as you create content that appeals to emotions.