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
• Update 1.30.12: "Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers," Mashable

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.

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.

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]

I first passed the Google Analytics Individual Qualification test in 2009; since the certification is only good for 18 months, that means I was up for requalification this year.

I took the test—and passed it—again this November. (Yay!)

Here’s what I’ve learned after 2 years and 2 different test-taking experiences.

Test Basics

As before, the test is priced at $50 and your Individual Qualification is valid for 18 months. But now, you must score 80% or higher (rather than 75%) to pass.

Also as before, you’ll have a total of 90 elapsed minutes to complete the test’s 70 multiple-choice questions, and you can pause and come back within a time period of 120 hours (5 days).

As you go through the questions, you can right click to strike through any answers that are obviously incorrect. If this functionality was available before, I don’t remember it; I definitely found it helpful for some of the trickier questions.

If you’re uncertain if any of your responses, mark those questions for completion later. This puts them into a list that you can review before submitting, or at any time during the test.

If you don’t pass the test, you can re-take it again—but you have to wait 14 days and pay another $50.

• Learn more: Google’s FAQ on the IQ test.

Test Prep

The best way to prepare remains by reviewing the extensive series of Conversion University videos. This time, I took some notes as I viewed them so I’d have them available for reference as I took the test.

Example Test Questions Content

Once again, the set of questions you’re presented with will vary from person to person. So knowing the exact list of questions one person was asked will not tell you what questions to expect on your own test.

Having said that, here are some examples of the question content from the test I took:

• Why you wouldn’t see CPC data in your reports, and how to configure a profile to see only CPC data.
• How and why to use virtual pageviews, and the use of _trackPageView().
• Attributes tracked when manually tagging an AdWords campaign.
• A word problem on filtering that described the way a site constructed the URLs for its product pages and then asked which set of filters would produce the desired result.
• Using Urchin and Google Analytics together.
• How to track custom search engines.
• What a high bounce rate on a landing page associated with a keyword suggests.
• Goals: how many you can have, how they’re tracked.
• Best practices for creating profiles vs. accounts for multiple clients.
• Tracking the number of transactions vs. tracking the number of goal completions on an e-commerce site.
• Understanding $Index.
• How Google Analytics tracks visitors and the difference between first-party and third-party cookies.
• Filter order and whether it’s important.

Looking at this list, you can see that the test content covers the major areas of functionality and concepts for Google Analytics.

So imagine you are creating the IQ test for someone else. What questions would you ask? You can get pretty close to the real thing by watching the Conversion University videos, looking at the subject matter groups they are arranged by, and then making a list of the main topic items for your questions.

What to Watch Out For

Google is in the middle of transitioning Analytics from the old interface to the new, entirely redesigned version. As of this writing, account owners can choose which version to view, but the new version will become the only option in January 2012.

The test question material didn’t rely on the version of the interface you’re using in order to determine the right answers to the questions.

However, the Conversion University videos are still using screen images from the old version.

If you think you’d find this confusing, you may want to wait to review for the test until Google has updated the videos to reflect the new Analytics UI.

(And we’re still waiting for an official graphic badge that Individually Qualified analysts can use to promote their now-certified Analytics expertise.)

Your Turn

• Have you taken the Google Analytics Individual Qualification test recently?
• What did you find most challenging?
• What would you change about the test?

Find out what your website’s data is really telling you about your site performance. Our team of Google Analytics Individually Qualified experts can help. Contact us today.

Now that Google+ Pages for businesses have been up and running for a month, we’ve had a chance to get some hands-on experience.

While it’s still early days—Google plans to continue rolling out features, such as page analytics and the ability to schedule posts—we’ve already learned a few aspects to watch out for.

5 Things to Know About Google+ Pages for Businesses

1. You need a Google+ individual profile first. Very similar to the way Facebook Pages work, you must first have an individual Google+ account and profile before you can create a page. But unlike Facebook, as of right now a page can only be controlled by the profile account that created it. In other words, there can only be one administrator—and that control can’t be passed to another Google+ account. How to create a Google+ Page for business.

[Update 12.20.11: Google+ now allows multiple page administrators.]

Tip: Be very careful in choosing which Google+ account to use when creating your Google+ Page.

2. Profiles can follow anyone first; Pages can’t. On Google+, groups of users you follow are organized into lists called Circles. Following another G+ user is called “circling” because you follow them by adding them to one of your Circles.

When you are using Google+ as an individual, you can circle any other Google+ user. But as a Page, you can only circle users who have already circled you. Add People to Google+ Page Circles.

Tip: Promote your Google+ page once it’s created by adding the G+ badge to your site and sharing the Page link through your individual Google+ profile as well as other social media channels, like Facebook and Twitter. Once others have circled you, you can begin to circle them back.

3. Unlike Profiles, Pages can’t “+1” everything. The +1 button is Google’s version of Facebook’s Like button. When acting as a Page, you can’t +1 another Page or content from the Web. You can +1 another individual user’s posts.

Tip: Make sure you understand the differences between what Profiles can do and what Pages can do.

4. You must choose the Page category of Local Business or Place to associate your Page with your existing Google Places listing. This is the only category that asks for location information, such as country and phone number. When you enter your phone number, Google looks to see if it matches an existing Google Place listing and use that information for your Page.

Note: Right now, it doesn’t appear that your Place is then linked back to your Page—but don’t be surprised if Google integrates or even combines these features in the future.

Tip: If your business has a Google Places listing, choose “Local Business or Place” as the category for your Google+ Page.

5. Once your Page is created, you can’t change its category. As of right now, once a Page is created you can only edit the following information:

• Business name
• Tagline (the line of text immediately under the business name)
• Introduction text
• Contact info
• Website
• Links to other sites

And of course you can upload photos and videos. Here’s what CDG Interactive’s Page looks like—and circle us while you’re there!

Tip: Think carefully about the category that best fits your business before you create your Page. If you want to make a change later, the only workaround is to create an additional Page in that category and then delete the original. Less than ideal, to be sure.

None of these current shortcomings, however, are a reason to avoid creating a Google+ Page for your business. Many of them will be addressed in the weeks and months to come. More importantly, Google is increasingly incorporating both the +1 button and Google+ content into its search results—which makes participating in Google+ almost a necessity for search engine optimization. Ignore it at your peril.

Are you bewildered by Google+? We’ll guide you through. Contact CDG Interactive for help creating your Google+ Page—and a presence for your business on any other social media channel, from Facebook to YouTube.

As we’ve written about before, QR codes are rapidly expanding in adoption and use by mobile marketers. Just how widespread are they?

Let’s take a look at a day (and more) in the life of QR codes …

I open my pile of unread mail and among the catalogs and credit card offers I’m delighted to see I’ve received a Save the Date wedding announcement for friends of mine. There’s a QR code on the announcement; when I scan it with my phone, it adds the wedding to my calendar and also directs me to a microsite with the wedding registry.

I see they’re registered at Brookstone, so I decide to go to my local store to look at something from their registry. In the store, QR codes next to the product let me access videos and product reviews from other customers.  

My friends are getting married in another state, so I have to travel to the wedding. When it’s time to depart, I check in to my flight on my phone; the airline issues me a mobile boarding pass that will be scanned at the gate for totally paperless ticketing.

After I park at the airport, I scan the QR code in the bus kiosk to alert the shuttle driver that I’m there so he can come to pick me up.

As I walk through the airport, I scan some of the QR codes on the store windows to access specials at restaurants and lounges.  

I get to my destination and while I’m waiting for my bags, I notice a poster ad for a local restaurant. I scan the code to see their specials and another to call and make a reservation.

As I head around town, I don’t have to worry that my travel guide is out of date, because QR codes next to restaurant and attraction listings direct me to updated reviews, pricing, hours and information. I can even access Google Maps with specific spots marked for excellent photo opportunities.

It’s a great wedding and I’m glad to see my friends so happy. But when I get home I have just one thought—how can I incorporate QR codes into my next marketing campaign?

To see several of these examples and more, check out CDG Interactive’s presentation “Real World/Digital World: 11 Ways to Bridge the Gap With QR Codes” on SlideShare.

Your Turn 

• What are your favorite examples of QR codes?
• Are you using QR codes in your marketing campaigns?

Amp up your marketing efforts by reaching mobile customers with QR codes. CDG Interactive can put together an effective marketing strategy using mobile, social, search and more. Contact Us to learn more.

[Image of Save the Date card with QR code from QReate &Track.]