Business Archives - Page 4 of 11

How to Make Pinterest Pins (that don’t suck)

If you’re just getting started with Pinterest, or if you’re creating your own branded content on Pinterest, it’s essential that you create your own Pins that CONVERT. There are a TON of Pins on Pinterest daily, but great Pins stand out! Taking your time to create valuable Pins will help you reach your ultimate goals: Getting interested folks to click and share! Useful Pins also help build your audience, grow your traffic and eventually lead to sales (if you’re using it for your business).

How to Create the Best Pins for Pinterest

Creating multiple Pins for one article is a good way to test which one works best. I call this the A/B testing for Pinterest. You’ll discover that some Pins outperform the others by leaps. Once you figure out why a Pin outperforms others, you will be able to create more using that same formula. Sometimes it’s the content, and sometimes its as simple as the colors and fonts you use.

Pinterest is HUGE for women-focused businesses, and it’s only getting bigger. Jumping in now and learning the tricks of the trade will work in your favor to get your business in front of millions. Literally, millions – for next to nothing. In fact, my Pinterest Pins currently reach 146,000 per month with over 8,200 engaged users.

How to Create the Perfect Pin

The first step is creating the right size Pin that captures viewers easily. You have to use a portrait size like the one shown below. An ideal Pinterest Pin size is 735 w x 1102 h. Sometimes I even use 800 x 2000 to change it up a bit on my boards. If you aren’t a graphic designer with mad Photoshop skills, that’s OK! You can use platforms like Envato, Canva or Placeit to assist in creating your graphics.

example

Create Headlines That Grab

Use headlines that quickly tell your end user what they are getting, and use easy to read text that works well on a desktop or a mobile device. Many people are using their mobile devices for their searches and Pinterest is one of the #1 search results, especially for images. So make sure your text stands out on mobile. Feel free to mix up the fonts but do so sparingly, and never use more than 2 typefaces at a time. Stay away from fonts that are hard to read.

Use Bright Colors

Obviously, I love bright colors. Bright pink is my fave, but yellow and white with pops of red or orange can work nicely also. Use images that are clean and bright, professionally shot. Keep in mind, most of the Pinterest audience is female, so appeal to their senses.

Using Free Stock Photos

If your brand isn’t at a place where you’re shooting all of your own images for banded content, that’s OK. Just use royalty-free or totally free-use stock photos. Some of my favorite sites to find these are 123RF, Shutterstock and Envato. For totally free images, try Pexels and Unsplash.

The Correct Vertical Sizing

As I stated above, creating a Pin that is within the parameters of the Pinterest vertical sizing model is essential. All the Pins stack into columns and vertical images, so it flows better. In just looks nicer on your own boards as well. Great Pins that flow are easier for others to see and share!

The standard and ideal Pinterest Pin size is 736 px wide x 1128 px high or 735 px wide x 1102 px high

Include Your Brand Identity or Logo

If you’re creating your own branded content and Pins, please add your logo and website to the bottom! This is crucial when building your brand or promoting your blog or products. Plus, seeing your branded content often builds your reputation, trust and eventually, your client base.

Give Value First

Firstly, create a Pin that is attached to VALUE. People won’t care to click on or share anything that doesn’t offer value. Get specific on what your article, post, service or product will do for them.

A great example is this Pin below:

It’s cute, creative, easy to read and tells me how I can easily make $3,000 every month. I may not click thru right away but it certainly is repin worthy, isn’t it? Give your viewer value first but also DELIVER on that value – make sure your headline has integrity. Everyone HATES clickbait.

SEO Optimization

Optimize your headline title, info and use keywords and phrases that match to your Pins’ content. For example, if you’ve just uploaded a Pin that corresponds with an article, title the Pin with the same header and include keyword search phrases and yes #Hashtags that match your pin content and even subjects and people you’re wanting to target. A great example of this is shown below:

How to create the perfect Pins for Pinterest

This Pin checks all the “great job!” boxes. It includes: an easy headline to read, the Title matches the content, included an SEO-optimized description and added relevant hashtags! ?

Not Sure What You should Pin or write about? What Content is Currently Trending on Pinterest? Check this tip out:

Pinterest makes it easy for us to find out what’s trending so we know what to write about, photograph and then Pin! Viola! How to get to this? On the Search bar on Pinterest, place your cursor over the text field and it will pull down suggestions. This is what’s trending. 😉

Happy Pinning, loves!

Did you like this article? I’d loooove it if you Pinned it! ?

Pin Me:

How to Get Clear on Your Brand Identity

Are you having a brand identity crisis? A lot of people, whether just starting out or not, reach a place where they question their brand identity. They aren’t sure what their message is, or they feel “all over the place.” Here is a quick exercise to help you get clear on your brand message and identity.

Getting clear with your brand identity can be simpler with the right questions

5 Steps to Get Clear on Your Brand Identity

It’s not always easy to see the big picture, and not everyone has the tools necessary to create the brand they envision in their head. Many times they are so busy building their products or service that they neglect the other aspects of their brand. Or, maybe they just aren’t sure how to get there. So how do you get crystal clear on your brand?

When working with clients, there are multiple stages we go through, but the FIVE main questions I always recommend asking yourself are this:

1. What is the overall message you want your brand to convey? In other words, how would you like your audience or the general public to perceive you upon first impression and as a continued experience?

2. List 3 attributes you’d like associated with your brand. For example, youthful, hipster, cutting edge, educational, fun, informative, entertaining, laid back, Southern charm, clean, simple, etc. Only list 3, any more than that and your brand message may get garbled or confusing.

3. What need are you filling in the market, or your market segment? Be clear and very specific on what you’re bringing to the table. What solutions, skills or service do you offer? What value are you giving to them?

4. Who is your #1 ideal customer? Think about who your ideal customer is and make sure your brand identity and voice is speaking to them, specifically.

5. Where do you want to go? In other words, get a mental picture of where you see your brand in 1-3 years. This will help you narrow down and focus your branded content. It will also help you to build a more solid roadmap and marketing plan.

I personally struggled with brand identity when I first started off as a consultant and freelancer. Even with a strong brand building and design background, I was struggling to see and manage my own brand. Crazy, right? Not really. Sometimes it takes another set of professional eyes to help you see what you can’t see.

Branding is built the same way across any widget, person, product line or service. Once I made that connection and translated what I knew about building apparel brands into my own brand, it got a lot clearer.

One client I worked with struggled with branching out beyond her yoga class business. She wanted to embody a full mind, body, spirit and wellness brand and position herself as an influencer of such. Once we knew where she wanted to go, we were able to tailor her content, posts and even website to point toward that message and goal. By creating a professional brand identity package and doing the work associated with her end goal, we were able to position her brand seamlessly.

The five questions exercise above is part of my branding methodology and will definitely help you get really clear on your brand message and goals. It will also help you to create a consistent brand message across your social platforms, and create your value proposition in the market.

Getting clear with your brand will also help you to achieve consistent and cohesive messages with your social media posts and ad creatives. Once you know what content consistently lives on your platforms and within your brand house, you won’t stray from it, and your audience won’t be confused and “tune out.”

Connect with me on Facebook ?

This is the Only Way to Use Facebook for…

I’m not gonna beat around the bush. Your unsolicited business posts, adding your friends and family to your business groups and bizarre marketing copy created by the pyramid scheme you’ve just signed up for is not much fun for your friends and family on Facebook. It might look something like this:

Not only is this kind of marketing bad for your image, but it’s not actually helping your business grow the way it could. More on that in just a bit.

In the past, I’ve been guilty of too much marketing of my products (not MLM) on my personal Facebook page. Back in the day, I thought tapping into my inner circle was a good idea for business. And in some cases, that can be true. Especially if you’re building a brand of your own from the ground up. But, the strongest clientele you can build will love your product, not just buy because they feel obligated.

Below is an example of someone who burned a few bridges after an MLM scheme went sour:

If you’ve been guilty of trying to rally your inner circle to buy your stuff, you have a free pass. Until now. ?

We love you, we will support you in any way we can, but we want to hear from you on Facebook, not your business. And, to be totally honest, we don’t always want or need that new skillet, lip balm, whitening toothpaste or household cleaner you’re trying to hock from the latest MLM company.

If you want to actually grow your business, there’s really only ONE way to use Facebook for business (without annoying your friends and family)

Here’s How to Use Facebook for Your Business

Have a personal (main) Facebook profile account with your friends, family, long lost elementary school pals, etc. Feel free to share your baby and dog photos, comments, likes, post updates, etc. Keep that personal stuff THERE. Make sure you have your posting default preferences set to ‘Friends Only’. If you choose to post as ‘Public’ make sure you are OK with the world seeing that post. Most people like to keep their status updates to ‘Friends Only’ for privacy reasons.
Keep your business and brand separate from your personal page. (Or, have a marketing manager create and manage a business Facebook Page for you and stay off Facebook completely if you want.)
Create a Business Page through your personal account and post all of your business-related stuff there. Yes, you may occasionally post personal photos. People who follow your business will like to see the personal side of you, behind the scenes and the process.
Do not invite your friends to Like your Business Page. (Unless, of course, they are your best friend or, in my case, my siblings who will Like whatever page I ask because that’s just how we roll.)
Do not add Friends or Acquaintances to your Group page, either. You may send Invites or Requests to Like, but adding them without their consent is assuming and rude.
Keep your business separate from your personal Facebook page. Nobody on your friends and family list wants to feel like you’re always selling them something. This may ruin the trust and respect you have with them.
Add your Business Page link on your profile. On your personal Facebook profile, under ‘Work’, by all means, add “Works at My Bad Ass Self (a.k.a Your FB Business Page)” and if people want to click there to follow your biz page, awesome. Otherwise, don’t bother your friends and family unless they ask. It’s annoying and inauthentic to your relationship with them. You wouldn’t call all of them on the daily and say “hey, you wanna buy my sh*t?”
Post on your personal page about your busine only when it’s more personal. If you have a genuine request such as, “Hey, I’m looking for a legit test subject for my new face cream. I’ll give it to you for free. Any takers?” feel free to post this on your personal Facebook status. Your friends will probably come out from the rocks they were hiding under real quick. ?

Why You Gotta Keep ’em Separated

The reason it’s so important to keep your business stuff separate from your personal Facebook page is this: when you spam your friends or rely too heavily on them for sales, you aren’t actually targeting your audience or reaching the right people. Secondly, you may lose your mojo when your friends and family don’t respond to your sales pitches. This is not a demographic you can rely on, and it doesn’t necessarily provide the right outcome for what you’re selling. Just because they aren’t responding, doesn’t mean your product sucks.

?A much better solution is to create a strong brand message with a professional logo, graphics and a few well-converting (targeted) Facebook ads to attract your perfect audience. Work on growing your fan and client base from your business page. You will also be able to track your metrics on a business page. You can see how well you’re growing, learn about what works and what doesn’t. You’ll gain a lot of insights you won’t get by just marketing to your friends through your personal Facebook page. Take your business seriously and your clients will see you as a serious business.

Lastly, but not to be taken lightly, Facebook may shut your personal account down if you’re using it for business. So, get that Business Page started right away to avoid Facebook penalizing you.

The bottom line is this: Treat and respect your relationships on social media the way you do in real life. Respect the platform. Respect and honor your business, too. Take it seriously and the reward will pay off. I promise.