CDG Interactive Blog

With a phenomenal growth rate in the last 6 months to 3.3 million users and counting—and a mostly female user base—the young photo-based social network Pinterest has suddenly grabbed a lot of attention.

As a result, brands and businesses are wondering how (and whether) they can use Pinterest for marketing. Some initial case studies are showing the way.

But first: what the heck is Pinterest, anyway?

How Pinterest Works

An online version of a pinboard or wall corkboard, Pinterest allows users to organize photos into collections called boards, each of which can be categorized by type of image.

Photos are added to Pinterest either by uploading them or “pinning” them from a website using a browser bookmarklet (snippet of code).

As on all social networks, users on Pinterest can follow other users. The main page of Pinterest presents a feed of all of the images that have been pinned by users you follow, which you can then “like” or easily repin to one of your own boards. (This activity may feel familiar to users of Tumblr which has a similar ease-of-use for resharing content.)

Individual “pins” can also be commented on. When they’ve been pinned from an originating source, there’s a link from the image back to that website.

How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Business

There are a variety of specific ways to use Pinterest, from holding contests to conducting market research and creating boards of photos from a property for sale. (See the articles in the Further Reading section, below, to read some great case studies.)

No matter what specific use is best for your business, a few principles apply when marketing via Pinterest.

• Don’t just promote yourself. This is a best practice for all social media, but it pays to remember it here. Pinterest provides a unique opportunity to build an image around your brand or business, so look for complementary pins that connote the same ideas as your business. Bergdorf Goodman’s pins both product images to trend boards and book covers to a board called “The Books on Our Shelves.”
• Showcase your image content. Seems obvious right? But it’s not just about beautiful photography you took or of your products. NBC’s Today Show, for example, pins photos of travel destinations it has featured on the show.
• Be strategic with your boards. Group pins in ways that appeal to your audience(s). Reaching moms? Have boards for kids’ items, parenting advice, mommy quotes or any other subject matter relevant to them, and to you.
• Engage with users. Keep in mind that people on Pinterest may already be pinning images from your business. When you find them, comment on them, repin them to your own boards, and follow the users.
• Show your process. Use Pinterest to brainstorm ideas with internal teams, letting followers (and potential customers) in on the process. They’ll be more invested in the final product you create at the end.

Further Reading About Pinterest

These articles provide a wealth of specific uses, individual use cases, and companies to follow on Pinterest once you join.

• “7 Creative Ways Your Brand Can Use Pinterest,” Search Engine Watch
• “Chobani Yogurt Tickles the Tastes of Pinterest Addicts, and So Can Your Brand,” Fast Company
• “Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips,” American Express OPEN Forum Blog
• “Online Pinboards: Is This the New Way to Facebook?” Search Engine Watch 
• “10 Tips for Playing on Pinterest,” Let’s Lasso the Moon blog

Your Turn

• Are you on Pinterest yet?
• How are you using it, and why?

Wondering if Pinterest is right for your business? CDG Interactive helps companies like yours choose the best social media channels to support their marketing strategies. Contact us today to get started.

A new evolution of this feature

Rather than collect links throughout the week and wait until Friday to share them, it makes more sense to share them as we find them and when they are most timely for our readers.

From now on, you will find shared articles and ideas on the CDG Interactive Google + page throughout the week, so we invite you to join us there.

At the end of our post last month on “5 Things To Know About Google+ Pages for Business,” we wrote “participating in Google+ [is] almost a necessity for search engine optimization. Ignore it at your peril.”

Just weeks later, you can scratch “almost” from that sentence. Google+ matters for SEO, period.

Why Google+ Matters for SEO

Earlier this month on Social Media Examiner, author Kristi Hines presented a convincing case for the impact a robust Google+ presence has on search results for her name and business: her rankings in the search results were not only affected by having a Google+ profile, but were actually different for people who were following that profile on Google+.

In other words, you rank more highly in Google when your logged-in Google+ followers search for keywords related to your business.

Then on Jan. 10 Google announced an actual integration of information from your Google+ social graph into its search results which it calls “Search, plus Your World.” (“Search, plus”—get it?)

Now you’ll get what it calls Personal Results integrated into your search results when you’re signed in to Google, including information that was shared only with you—via Google+ of course.

As Mashable explained the next day in the aptly titled “Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut,” “Google+ circles, photos, posts and more will be integrated into search in ways other social platforms can only dream about.” (And by "other social platforms," they mostly mean Twitter and Facebook.)

Oh, and Google+ profiles are now part of the search query box when you’re signed in. Type in someone’s name and matches through your Circles on Google+ will pop up first.

What You Can Do About It

Hines’ Social Media Examiner article has good, step-by-step instructions on how to leverage Google+ to your advantage, both for your own profile and your business’s page. We recommend reading through them carefully.

The bottom line is this: If your business is not on Google+, now is the time to start. Even if you only have a few minutes a day to spend, give it some attention.

The “Search, plus” integration is only going to get stronger.

Need help sorting through the brave new world of Google+? Let CDG help you navigate the waters. Get your life line today.

If you like, put a pin in it

Pinterest is the new rage in social media as participants “put a pin” in images, ideas, and concepts that inspire them. Others can follow, like, comment and re-pin. Unsurprisingly, businesses aren’t far behind, wondering how this can work for them. Open Form offers tips for brands interested in Pinterest. And a jewelry maker shares her own experience on how she has successfully used Pinterest to generate interest in her bracelets.

Twitter can’t fix your debit card

Many of us turn to Twitter for customer service assistance – especially when faced with baffling phone tree menus. But according to the New York Times, tweeting your bank won’t help at all and will likely get you referred right back to that customer service phone number.

Learn an instrument online

Can’t find a teacher that plays the ukulele or the bagpipes near you? Never fear! Now you can take music lessons online. Now that people have better bandwidth at home, it allows for better video chats and music lessons with teachers anywhere. Students can take master classes without leaving their own homes and adult students can find teachers available when they are.

Listen with your friends

Facebook is rolling out a new music service that allows you to listen along to the same music on their online music service (such as Spotify). Just look for the musical notes in the chat sidebar and you’ll have the option to listen along. We’ll reserve judgment as to whether it’s creepy or cool.

CDG is looking for some new talent - specifically a new senior designer and a user experience architect/designer. Know someone or want to apply? Send your resume and links to jobs@cdginteractive.com.

Senior Designer

CDG Interactive is looking for Senior Designer to join our award-winning creative team. We’re looking for someone with a strong creative perspective, a drive to innovate, and the ability to work collaboratively with clients and co-workers. 5+ years of graphic design experience and formal design training is required. 

As senior designer, you’ll be responsible for conceiving, designing, and executing innovative visual environments for landing pages, banners, email campaigns, interactive demos, microsites, mobile website and full website builds. You’ll need the flexibility and imagination to develop a range of concepts and designs for projects, and the ability to exercise creativity within constraints (i.e., respect client brand guidelines, technical requirements, etc.) .

Also required: right-brain/left-brain balance, as you’ll work with creative, marketing and technical types to ensure your design is transformed into an effective interactive execution.

Skills:

• Black-belt mastery of Photoshop, Illustrator & related programs.
• Orange-belt understanding of Dreamweaver to create presentation postings. Understanding of Flash, After Effects, and Video production is a plus.
• A sense of humor as big as—or preferably larger than—your ego.
• An overall understanding of web production and the capabilities within digital channels.
• The curiosity to learn, discover, and grow as a digital designer.

User Experience Architect/Designer

CDG Interactive is also searching for a seasoned User Experience Architect/Designer to round out our award-winning creative team. The ideal candidate will possess confidence and ingenuity developed over 5-10 years in the interactive industry. We expect you to challenge conventional wisdom and help us develop brilliant interactive environments that delight the end user.

Initiative, enthusiasm, and experience working with large corporate clients/organizations are a must. A background in design or experience in a creative environment is a plus.

Skills:

• Think creatively to transform the caterpillar of functionality into the butterfly of amazingly usable graphic interfaces.
• Possess in-depth knowledge of user experience rules and best practices-and have the guts to break them when you need to.
• Quickly understand a range of client organizations and their business and organizational challenges. Our clients are like snowflakes. Respect their uniqueness.
• Collaborate enthusiastically and effectively with clients and the creative team. (Passion is great. Arrogance, not so much.)
• Be a believer in CDG and what we're trying to do. Help us create interactive environments that break ground, blaze trails, and achieve great things.

About CDG:

CDG is recognized as an industry leader in the creation, implementation, and marketing of interactive environments that enable our clients to grow their business. Our innovation efforts are focused on achieving our clients' goals through user-centered design. In all aspects of its work, CDG seeks to help our clients deliver high value to end-users.

Working at CDG, you’ll find we’re serious about what we do, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Perks and benefits include: generous vacation leave, health insurance (with flexible spending account), Metro-accessible office, casual dress code, free soda and snacks, and the best-looking co-workers in the DC-Metro area. Interested? Send your resume and a link to your online portfolio to jobs@cdginteractive.com.

How to Transition From One Creative Agency to Another

Looking for the right creative agency can feel like looking for the right mate. You need mutual respect, shared goals, and above all, chemistry. And like romantic relationships, your relationship with a creative agency can run its course.

We have several clients who have come to us fresh from a breakup with another creative agency. We’re always happy to welcome new clients who are “on the rebound,” but we can also offer tips on how to make your break up as painless as possible for all parties.

Tips for Leaving Your Creative Agency & Starting with a New One

• Talk to your agency. This is the first and most important step! Let your agency know what your plans are. Your account team can then help you plan for the transition, from website hosting to social media account ownership—and all of the other little details you might miss if you try to do it on your own.
• Plan for your website transition in advance. If part of the transition includes moving your website from one hosting company to another, or even just moving the DNS for your domain name, plan ahead. There are a number of implications for such moves, from search engine optimization (SEO) to analytics accounts tracking to transferring files, like PDFs, that are hosted with your site. The tech teams at the old and new agency may even need to have a conversation to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
• Bring your files. Especially if you want the new agency to work with your existing creative—and especially if it’s in Flash—you’ll want to provide the original source files, such as Photoshop, Illustrator or Flash. The more your new creative agency has to re-create, the more expensive it is for you.
• Allow for some wrap-up time. Even after you’re fully ramped up with your new agency, there will be some loose ends that pop up. Allow for at least 30 days of final maintenance time with your old agency in case they need to hunt down a last file or answer questions.

If you follow these tips, you’ll make it much easier for us to hit the ground running with your account and start turning out great work on your behalf.

And if—GASP!—it’s us you want to leave, well then follow these tips too. We’re professionals, and we know that not all client relationships last forever. Just be up front with us and we’ll help you transition to your next relationship.

Your Turn

• What steps do you use when you start a new agency relationship (or end an existing one)?

CDG works with new clients every day. Contact Us to get started on fresh new work for you!

[Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos]