On being cool with Not-Yet-Amazing

I had been hesitant to start this blog because I knew that I would need a good amount of time to conduct research to create really insightful posts like those on Business of Fashion or this great blog. Recently, I had some free time and took a refresher course in Advanced Social Media Marketing at NYU (highly recommended!). For a class project, I chose to give my blog a jump start and I am glad I did. I do have a lot to say and a very unique point of view.

payday loans

I saw the quote above by Seth Godin today and it reminded me of how easy it can be to fail to act for fear of not being the best. This one really resonates with me because my perfectionism can make it quite traumatic when I start a new thing expecting to be an expert and disappointment ensues. Time and time again I have experienced that is is 100xs better to just do it, be kind to yourself, allow imperfection, embrace failure than to fail to act. Easier said than done but for me, luckily, it has gotten much easier with age.

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Why I love Tobi.com

I found out about Tobi.com about a year ago after seeing a very inexpensive and stylish Tobi clutch in a Refinery29 piece. I have been hooked ever since. I love the whole concept behind the website.

Tobi.com is an online retailer specializing in trendy womens fashion. The price points are low and they add new items 6 days a week. In addition, for the first week that an item is on the website it is offered at 30% off. They send out daily email campaigns showcasing the new arrivals at 30% off. Also when you join Tobi.com (by providing your email or signing up through Facebook) they give you 50% off your first order. If you tell 5 friends and they sign up on Facebook or by email you get another 50% off coupon code. The Tobi.com app sends and update to your Facebook newsfeed if you add an item to your cart. And my favorite social integration… at the foot of  the homepage they have a simple Facebook comment box where users can sign their praises or woes like “this website is why my bank account hates me.”

I have made multiple purchases from the site… sometimes 30% and 50% off is just too good a deal to turn down. All my transactions were smooth and pleasant. I have recommended Tobi by word of mouth and via Facebook and email.

It is obvious that the social and email strategy was part of the business model and may have even preempted the design of the website.

Knowing your marketing strategies at the outset and letting them influence design is the way to go when it comes to digital retail. 

This foresight makes me a big Tobi.com fan and I would be begging to work there if only they were on the East Coast.

 

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The top 10 websites like Pinterest

If you are getting traffic from Pinterest and want to expand into other discovery shopping social networks. Here are a few of the best:

Wanelo-

With a name standing for “want, love, need” Wanelo is a social shopping website that get ”1.3 million visitors a month” according to an NYTimes article from Jan 2013. Each image takes you directly to an e-commerce site where you can by the item, no blog intermediary allowed here.

Indulgy-

Dark background, bigger images and less pins per page  than Pinterest so it is easy to focus on each image. Brands using it: Nordstrom and Blue Nile

Svpply -

Has a simple, one column feed. Lots of menswear and has a design edge. You can mark items as want, collect or own.

Fancy -

The Fancy features neat and quarky products. This was one of the first discovery engines to come out but has recently made an interesting development in monetization by accepting payments rather than forwarding shoppers on to a 3rd party site.

Luvocracy -

Another attempt at monetizing discovery engine traffic. How it works? If you see something you like you can “buy” it via Luvocracy at the lowest price they have on record. They scour the internet for the product you like and give it to you at the lowest possible price. They act as the intermediary between you and the online merchant. This business model seems a little inexact I am tempted to try it to see what the shopping experience is actually like.

Lyst -

It is like Pandora for fashion. You follow content from top brands, retailers and personalities, you can also create and share your own lists. It aggregates all the fashion items you may be interested in, based on your previous selections, into once space.

Weheartit -

A cute photosharing platform founded in Brazil had over 600,000 monthly pageviews as of July 2012.

Lover.ly – Brides

A beautiful photo and inspiration sharing platform geared towards brides and the bridal industry.

FFFFOUND! – Designers

One of the first visual bookmarking tools, FFFFOUND! is mostly used by designers and artists.

Dribbble  – Designers

Graphic designers showcase and share their work on this social network.

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New study shows brand engagement on Pinterest is primarily user driven

A recent AdWeek article, based on a study by Digitas and Curalate, said that 70% of brand engagement on Pinterest is driven by users. That means that the majority of brand activity of Pinterest happens independent of brand profiles, it comes from users pinning from the websites, blogs, social media, etc. “Fashion/retail brands that see 82 percent of their engagement come straight from the community.”

This is revelatory study because it shows…

…as much effort if not more should be put into the brand content geared towards Pinterest than the brand’s Pinterest profile.

TIPS:

Create pin-worthy content and share in a way that is easily pinned by your community!

Identify influencers with active Pinterest networks and collaborate on creative content to get girls pinning.

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Digital coupon users to top 100 million in 2014

eMarketer estimates that 96.6 million US adults will be digital coupon users by the end of this year, with the figure expected to top 100 million in 2014. This number reflects only half of adult internet users so there is a huge opportunity for growth in digital couponing.

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Pinterest Contest Best Practices

Is a Pinterest contest or sweepstakes in your marketing plan? Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

  • People are on Pinterest to discover, share and remember so make your content relevant to these key behaviors.
  • Define your goals. What do you hope to achieve: get more followers? Increase website traffic? Promote a new product? Make sure your contest is aligned with your goals and you have the necessary measurement tools in place before launching.
  • If the budget allows use a Pinterest contest tool like Piqora.
  • Be clear. Simplify the entry process as much as possible and spell it out in easy language. For the pins that promote your contest make them clear and easy to read, avoid tiny print because it will be nearly impossible to read in the Pinterest feed.
  • Test and optimize pins. Create several creative examples to promote your contest on Pinterest. Test them out and see which gets the most repins and click throughs.
  • Make your creative stand out! Make sure the prize is highlighted. Extra long pins are highly visible.
  • Interact with participants by commenting and liking their pins during the contest.
  • Promote your giveaway to your existing social media audiences on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.
  • Promote your giveaway with a sponsored post, Facebook ads, online ads, email, or in-store.
  • Analyze your results.

Above is an example of the creative from a Gilt.com contest on Pinterest. It revolved around one of Pinterest’s hottest categories: weddings. There is a potential for a strong emotional response as women pin together their dream wedding inspired by the designer gown featured on Gilt. Because of the personal nature of the task and because pins are often aspirational, the resulting wedding board is likely to remain on many profiles, rather than being deleted after the contest finishes. A simple search showed over 500 “My Gilt Wedding Style” boards on Pinterest and the contest finished over 6 months ago.

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Who is doing it right? on Pinterest

IN BEAUTY: The Beauty Department:

The beauty department is a online beauty publisher founded by Lauren Conrad and her glam squad in 2011. The girly, fresh design and celeb insider beauty tips made the site really stand out. They publish beauty how-tos with a step by step photo demonstration. These visuals made for great content on Pinterest. The images are quite long, taking up a lot of real estate on the Pinterest page, attracting more eyeballs. The Beauty Department provides professional advice on everyday beauty techniques to interest a wide variety of women such as, “Bronzing 101″ and “How to find the perfect foundation color.” They also use celebs in their demos. The contemporary design, long format images, relevant content and celeb collaborations lead to massive amounts of repins.

IN DESIGN: The Perfect Palette

The Perfect Palette’s Pinterest profile feature boards and boards and boards of inspiration in every color under the sun. The content is geared towards brides and party planners and is organized by color. This is a great resource because of the vast amount of pins and the smart way it is organized.

IN FASHION: The Glitter Guide

TheGlitterGuide.com, launched in 2011, has quickly established itself the online destination for all things girly and glamorous. With a faithful following of almost 1 million followers on Pinterest they average 100 – 200 repins per pin.

CELEBS: Lauren Santo Domingo

LSD is lucky to have a continuous supply of her own street style photos shot by top photographers to share on her Pinterest profile. But what is most interesting is her curation of other fashion, art, photography and design content. Her personal style shines through on every post, which is not an easy feat.

IN TRAVEL: Jetsetter

With 4.5 million followers, Jetsetter is arguably the top travel brand on Pinterest (by comparison Conde Nast Traveler has only 20K, Travelocity has 2K). Boards like “Daily Moment of Zen”, “5 Minute Getaways”, “Bucket List”, and “Crazy for the Caribbean” are great ways to categorize and recategorize the massive amount of getaway images they have. Remarkable beaches, views and cultural sights are very popular content on an aspirational website like Pinterest. By giving followers many places to discover new vacation spots, resort deals and breathtaking imagery they keep followers coming back.

Follow me at pinterest.com/flemingworks

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New social shopping feature added to Google+

Brands can now reward their Google+ audiences with special coupons or promotions through Google Offers.

The Google Offers platform, which launched about a year ago (after Google’s 6 billion offer for Groupon was turned down), provides a deal of the day database at google.com/offers. You can search offers by location, type, or brand. You can also sign up for daily email updates, much like the Groupon/Living Social model.

Yesterday Google added a new feature which allows brands to easily share their Google Offers with their Google+ followers.

Facebook has been allowing small business share offers with their fans for several months but the searchability and email benefit to the Google+ offers allows brands to cast a wider net. Also Google for Business walks brands through the set up process providing smaller businesses with much needed insight and technical support.

Photo via: Thenextweb.com

 

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Pinterests adds new sharing capability

 Photo courtesy of Cnet.com

You can finally send Pins to your fellow Pinterest users. Pinterest rolled out a new feature today, the send button, which makes it possible to share pins within the Pinterest platform. Before, pins could be shared by email, Twitter or Facebook only. You will also get email updates if you friend repins or likes the pins that you share with them. Excellent!

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6 tips for large brands: how to get more traffic and sales from Pinterest

In my last post, I provided some tactics for businesses on how to increase their presence on Pinterest. Larger companies that have a budget for promotions would do well to spend wisely on partnerships and advertising to benefit their pages. Here are a few suggestions:

 

  • Partner with a top pinner (IMHO someone with +100K followers) on a campaign. Many top pinners are bloggers. Check their website for contact information and send them a personalized email explaining why you would like to collaborate with them on a Pinterest campaign. Do your homework. Scan their boards and blog to make sure their content is aligned with your brand. Don’t rely on them to come up with a great idea. Bring your campaign idea to them but be open to their input, they know their audience best. There is also an agency called Hello Society that specializes in connecting brands with top personalities on Pinterest. They even have packages where you can engage the support of multiple pinners on a campaign for a set fee.
  • Partner with a publication on a campaign that directs traffic to your boards or profile. A clever sponsored post can direct traffic to your boards and help grow your audience.
  • Encourage Pinterest sharing on your website. Make sure that your website has pin it buttons on all product and images.
  • Encourage your designers to create content that is Pinterest friendly. For example, if you are a haircare brand, do a how to shoot and combine the images into one tall image that will really stand out on Pinterest.
  •  Use Pinterest to trend watch and for product development insight. If a particular product is blowing up on Pinterest use that insight for future designs. Pins, like great trends, have a very long life. I have pins from 2 years ago that are still getting repinned daily. A wide variety of shoppers are represented on Pinterest from the trendsetters to those that hop on once a trend hits the mainstream.
  • Experiment! Pinterest is a forgiving platform so don’t be afraid to take risks.

If you are interested in getting specific feedback on your brand’s Pinterest profile email me at morgan at flemingworks dot com.

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