MariSmith.com

10 Pinterest Tips and Tools To Help Grow Your Business

Mari Smith — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:16 +0000

[Cork board image via Shutterstock]

[Guest blog post by Lilach Bullock]: With 48.7 million users, Pinterest is one of the top online social networks. Yet many business owners are still not sure about Pinterest; they are afraid to venture into more than one or two social networks, preferring instead to stick to the social media king and queen: Facebook and Twitter.

However, Pinterest is practically made for businesses – especially product-based businesses. It’s probably the only major online social network where people actually expect (and actively look for!) images of different products, with the price tag included, and many of these users are also ready to buy. Although this alone makes Pinterest perfect for businesses, here are a few other stats that definitely sustain this theory:

pins with price tags included get 36% more likes than those that don’t,
69% of Pinterest users have found at least one item that they’ve bought or wanted to buy,
80% of users are women (I know, from personal experience, us women love to buy stuff!), and
the average American Pinterest user spends 1 hour and 17 minutes on the website.

I would go as far as to say that Pinterest is a new type of social online shopping experience that is most probably here to stay.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, Pinterest is great for product-based businesses, such as those in the retail industry: fashion, food, furniture, art of all kinds etc. But, this doesn’t mean that services can’t get great results as well. I work in the services industry and have been using Pinterest successfully to market my business and my blog.

[Cork board image with note paper and push pin from Shutterstock].

As Pinterest gets more and more users every day, lots of different tools and features pop up to help businesses grow, by making it easier to increase your traffic and leads. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Pinterest:

1. Set up a Pinterest Business account

First things first, you should consider opening up a business account on Pinterest. This isn’t completely necessary, but it’s definitely recommended if you plan to sell products via Pinterest. Simliar to Facebook, a Pinterest business page will make your profile look more professional and more credible.

2. Use tools to help

As a huge fan of social media tools, I was very excited to see lots of developers creating their own tools for Pinterest. Without them, I would probably not be able to keep up with all the different social networks I have to use in order to make sure my business gets noticed.

There are tools for anything you might need:

try Piqora for a more complete Pinterest dashboard (including analytics and pin scheduling),
Pinstamatic if you want your boards to be more fun and exciting,
use Pinpuff if you want to calculate your influence, and
check Repinly regularly to keep up to date with the most popular pins and boards.

If you are thinking of opening up your own Pinterest store to sell your products, take a look at Shopinterest – you’ll be able to set up shop in a matter of minutes.

3. Check Pinterest Analytics regularly

In order to get the best results, you need to check your analytics regularly. Pinterest offers its own analytics (I’ve found that the stats are not the most up-to-date). This allows you to track how many people have been pinning from your website and how many people have viewed your pins. You can also get a glimpse into what’s trending on Pinterest by checking the “most repinned” list. With this information you can then create better boards and start pinning more relevant pins to your target audience.

4. Make your website “pinnable”

If you want people to start pinning from your website (which is an incredibly efficient way of spreading the word about your business) then you have to make your website and blog very visual. It can be challenging to find unique and “pinnable” images on a regular basis.

Many amateur and professional photographers license their work with the Creative Commons license, which means that you can use theses images so long as you provide credit and don’t use the images for commercial purposes. The great part is that these images are often more interesting and exciting than regular stock photos, while also being free! Make sure that you always give credit where it’s due.

Start by browsing these sites for sources of images:

Flickr (be sure to check the copyright of images)
Photo Pin (this site has a terrific selection of Creative Commons licensed images)

For paid royalty-free stock images, check out:

5. Get the ‘goodies’

You’ll find all you need to improve your pinning at Pinterest Goodies. Start by getting the Pin It bookmarklet. This handy tool will enable you to pin ANY image or video that you like on the web.

Another essential goodie is the Pin It button for your own website, which will allow your readers to easily pin anything they like from your website.

I also recommend that you get the Board Widgets so that people will be able to start following your boards directly from your website.

6. Know your audience

As with all other social networks, if you want to raise your engagement you have to do some research in order to understand your audience. You’ll get a feel for what your audience likes to pin and what types of boards they are most interested in. With that information you will then be able to create better boards that your audience will want to follow and share with their friends and followers.

7. Pin to win!

Contests are great promotional tools and Pinterest offers the perfect medium for running a contest. If you’re just starting out on Pinterest and you want to get some likes and followers quickly, then running a contest might be the perfect solution. There are many apps that you can use to run a contest; some of my favorites include Woobox and Votigo. Make sure you read Pinterest’s Terms of Service first so your contest doesn’t end before it’s time.

Example Pinterest contest: Martha Stewart Collection at Macy’s

Example Pinterest Contest: Martha Stewart Collection at Macy’s

8. Engage

If you want people to engage with you, then you have to spend some time engaging as well. By regularly liking, commenting and pinning, you stand a much better chance to get more likes and comments from others as well as more followers. Make sure you stay true to your brand and pin only what you feel represents your business well.

9. Create infographics

Infographics are a great way of raising engagement and follower numbers on Pinterest. Among all your pins and repins, some original content–especially educational content–will give you an extra edge. And since Pinterest is mostly visual and image-based, infograhics are the perfect solution. You’ll find plenty great online tools to easily create infographics such as visual.ly or infogr.am.

10. Check out the competition

Checking out the competition is always a good idea so you can get a feel for what you have to do in order to be successful. Start by looking at Nordstrom – currently the most successful brand on Pinterest in terms of followers (over 4.4 million). And, of course, review what your direct competition is doing in terms of creating engagement, gaining followers and getting more leads.

Are you using Pinterest for your business? What results are you seeing? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below – we’d love to hear from you!

About the author: Lilach Bullock is a business owner, social media consultant, internet mentor and founder of Socialable.co.uk. Listed on Forbes.com as one of the top 20 women Social Media Power Influencers, Lilach is one of the most dynamic personalities in the social media market. She’s the co-author of Images that Influence (Number One in its category on Amazon). Journalists regularly consult with Lilach, and she is often quoted in newspapers such as Forbes, Prima Magazine, The Sunday Times, Social Media Today and BBC Radio 5 Live. She is a keynote speaker at business and marketing seminars, teaching about online marketing. When Lilach isn’t working she enjoys spending time with her family and is an avid fan of Zumba.
Follow @lilachbullock

Facebook Relaxes Page Cover Image Rules: Use This Tool to Test 20% Rule

Mari Smith — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:06:43 +0000

Facebook recently (quietly) changed its Page Guidelines around Cover Images. Previously, you could not have any price or purchase information, contact information, references to Facebook features, or calls to action. Now, you can.

The main rule that remains in place for Cover Images is that you cannot exceed 20% text. Why is this? So that the News Feed remains visually appealing and isn’t covered in giant text-based advertisements.

Not sure what 20% text looks like? See below for a nifty tool to test whether your cover image (or any fan page cover image!) adheres to the 20% text rule! Just pop in the fan page ID (the part after the facebook.com/), click load Cover-Photo, then click the areas of your image containing text:

Got Facebook questions? Come join my community of over 470,000 Friends, Fans and Followers! Just click the Follow and Like buttons below to connect with me on Facebook!

Cover Image examples

By way of example, here is a cover image I threw together as a demo (top screenshot) and how it looks after going through the 20% test tool (lower screenshot). My simple calculation was 851 x .2 = 170. Everything to the right of the white vertical line is 170 pixels (with one excerpt on the left as my logo). One critical component when including calls to action on your Cover Image is to make sure you have the actual link in the description part of the photo, e.g. this is the narrative I have: Please take a just a few minutes to complete this 2013 Social Media Survey and get instant access to my latest FREE Special Report: 10 Facebook Marketing Do’s & Don’ts as a thank you! You ROCK! http://bit.ly/mari_survey

After putting my cover photo to the 20% text test!

Here is HubSpot‘s revised cover photo. Of course, with a call to action like this, you have to be sure to include the link you want your visitors to click through to! HubSpot’s narrative for this image is: Download “16 Companies in ‘Boring’ Industries Creating Remarkable Content” here: http://hub.am/14caEHw

Facebook’s revised Page Guidelines

As you can see from the screenshot below, the rules have been significantly relaxed. Though the newest Page Guidelines revision date now states March 6th (the day before Facebook’s last press conference when the new News Feed design was unveiled), the change of date was made retroactively on March 20th.

Facebook’s revised cover image rules

Just as an aside, I posted the above screenshot with the new cover image rules (thanks to a heads up from Grandma Mary and Social Identities) on my Facebook fan page on March 19th, and it’s since become my MOST popular post of all time with an organic + viral (not paid) reach of 137,024. This surpasses my previous most popular post from September 24, 2011 with an organic/viral (not paid) reach of 133, 431. Though it’s taken me 18 months and twice the fans, it’s good to see the reach numbers up so high again.

Permanent change?

(Of course, we never know if anything is “permanent” on Facebook!) InsideFacebook, HubSpot and MarketingLand were among the first to blog about the change to Facebook’s cover image rules. However, not everyone was in full agreement as to whether this change was official and/or permanent.

It seems that Facebook’s Manager of Small Business, Australia and New Zealand addressed a local conference stating that the cover image rules had not been changed officially and that they would be reverting back to the original terms of service within a couple of weeks. Hm, say whaat? This caused a great deal of frustration and confusion among local social media experts and business owners presenting this information back to U.S. based counterparts. Despite the fact both InsideFacebook and HubSpot stated in their respective articles that they had verified the change was official and permanent, I also reached out to my Facebook contact, who confirmed there had been a change in the rules:

“Reason being is that with the new news feed design change, Page like ads take the cover photo from a Page, so we relaxed the rules a bit.”

Cover images in new News Feed

Yes, that’s right. Not only will your Page like ads showcase your cover image, when the shiny new News Feed rolls out, whenever someone likes your fan page, a portion of your cover image will go out into the News Feed of that person’s friends. This is something to get excited about and to keep in mind when designing your future cover images. Along with the new relaxed rules, you’ll want to get strategic about what you place and where, given only a portion of the cover image seems to display in the News Feed. (Just as soon as we find out the dimensions, I’ll be sure to update this post and announce on my fan page). Actual cover image dimensions are the same: 851 by 315 pixels.

Facebook page cover image displays in new News Feed

So, how will you make use of the new relaxed rules? Have you already updated your Facebook fan page cover image? Please do share in the comments below and feel free to post a link to your page to let us see!

14 Ways To Get More Facebook Shares [INFOGRAPHIC]

Mari Smith — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:20:11 +0000

Share is to Facebook as retweet is to Twitter. It’s all about how VIRAL you can get your fan page wall posts. Of course, you want plenty comments and likes on each post — this activity certainly helps boost your post visibility in the news feed of your fans. But, if you can craft the majority of your wall posts in a way that inspires your fans to say:

“Wow, I just *have* to share this with my friends!”

…then you’ll begin to notice a nice uptick in shares. Shares have more weight in the news feed. Basically, Facebook’s algorithms determine that the more people share a post and make it go viral, the more people want to see it. Makes sense.

In this fun INFOGRAPHIC, prepared for me by the good folks over at ShortStack, you’ll find 14 different ways to help boost your Facebook visibility and inspire more SHARES!

Plus, for examples of profiles/pages that consistently get large numbers of shares, check out folks like Roger James Hamilton (see this post), Robin Sharma and, of course, George Takei … and do subscribe to my Facebook Lists: Facebook Candy to Inspire, Inspirational/Spiritual, Facebook Experts & Resources.

You can download a PDF version of this infographic here.

ShortStack, a self-service custom app design tool used to create Facebook apps for Facebook Pages, websites and mobile web browsing. ShortStack provides small businesses, graphic designers, agencies and corporations with the tools to create apps with contests and forms, fan gates, product lines and more.

Let’s Show These 46 Awesome Leaders Some LOVE!

Mari Smith — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:00:53 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day! Do you absolutely LOVE your customers? And all the people in your extended community, too? I sure do! In fact, I’d like to celebrate this global day of love by showing some *LOVE* to these special peeps in my community. Everyone in this group of 46 heart-centered entrepreneurs from around the world is creating passionate change in their own way.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

It is an honor and privilege to lead this group in my year-long coaching club, the Business & Beyond Club. We’ve been working together since December 2012 when my club first opened, and we’ve all formed a special bond and camaraderie. We meet on a regular basis via webinars and we enjoy a very active private Facebook Group. Plus, we’re convening at a live in-person event in San Diego in April, 2013. Very exciting! Watch this space for continued growth among members.

The Compound Effect

One of the first books I encouraged club members to read is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Darren shares many powerful principles about creating true success through daily habits that compound over time (vs. “overnight success” which is a myth!) In the book, he outlines a weekly Accountability practice, which we’ve implemented in the Business & Beyond Club in triads. Everyone also read Simon Sinek’s amazing book Start With Why where the message is about connecting to your deepest purpose and passion and letting that drive you on a daily basis (vs. your what or how!)

She Loves You

I invite you to browse through this list of committed business owners, connect with them on Twitter and Facebook… and tell them Mari says, She loves you!

1. Andrew West – Spain

Cofounder of the Obsidian Retreat. A weight loss and type 2 diabetes retreat near Benissa, Spain. Voted by the Sunday Times as one of top 20 Health Retreats to visit in the world.

Follow @ObsidianRetreat

2. April Woodcock – Connecticut, USA

Touching Clients specializes in Online Marketing for Small Businesses including Social Media Marketing.
Follow @TouchingClients

3. Barbara Phillips – Washington, USA

Nurse Practitioner, Practice Owner, NP Business Coach, Founder/CEO of NPBO
Follow @barbaraphillips

4. Carissa Pelletier – California, USA

Kiddya.com is a social network that makes it easy to Connect and Share with other GrownUps and find kid-friendly Activities and Events. Tweets by Carissa.
Follow @kiddyadotcom

5. Catherine Hedden – California, USA

Films About Me helps you make Superstar Quality Videos that people watch! Emmy awared™ winning Director, David Gumpel and Social Media Marketer, Catherine Hedden.
Follow @filmsaboutme

6. Cathie Denehy – Australia

Business Divas aims to Connect you with other like-minded business owners, Inspire you with real stories and triumphs, and Educate you with the latest business.
Follow @AussieBizDivas

7. Debbie Horovitch – Canada

Specializes in services for advertising agencies, traditional & digital media/content producers and charity fund raising events and galas – especially those including celebrities of fashion, technology and pop culture worlds.
Follow @Sparkle_Agency

8. Dianne Summerville – Australia

Provides seminars teaching investors how to generate cash-flow with pre-foreclosed and foreclosed properties in Australia.

9. Domenic Chiarella – Connecticut, USA

7of7 Best – a new community for resources and brainstorming to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. We all start business for many reasons; the top one is that we are following our PASSIONS.

Follow @7of7BEST

10. Elizabeth Cruz – California, USA

VRT Services, Inc. offers the most respected and knowledgeable registration and titling services in the industry.
Follow @lizcruzfirst

11. Emma Burford – United Kingdom

Powered by a Mum who loves to support all online businesses. The #Directory where #Mums and #Business connect via #Social #Networking!
Follow @MumsBusinessDir

12. Fin Wycherley – Scotland

Business Journalist, Inbound and Content Marketer builds online communities via engaging content and newsjacking.
Follow @FinWycherley

13. Haraya Del Rosario – Philippines

StraightArrow is a company facilitating the outsourcing of creative processes to achieve the highest levels of creativity, quality and efficiency.
Follow @StraightArrowPH

14. Inga Spouse – United Kingdom

Specializes in providing simple, manageable steps on how to make your website work better: Websites Working Wonderfully.
Follow @IngaSpouse

15. Jacob Sapochnick – California, USA

US Immigration Lawyer based in San Diego. Blogger, Speaker, Social Media Expert, and Avid Tae Kwon Do Martial Artist.
Follow @VisaLawyerBlog

16. Janice Clark – West Virginia, USA

Proud mom, Social Media Strategist and Virtual Solutions Provider. Providing calm expertise in a world of chaos.
Follow @Janice_Clark

17. Jill Shearer – Nevada, USA

Un-complicating internet marketing. Less talk, more totally doable tips, waaaay more fun. Dog lover, tennis fan, traveler and co-founder of AdoptAShelter.com
Follow @JillSaintclair

18. JoAnne Funch – Minnesota, USA

Marketing Consultant, Social Media Manager and Trainer. Specializing in teaching people age 40-60. Passionate foodie.
Follow @Joannefunch

19. Karen Smith – Florida, USA

Online dream store for a Lil Princess. Created by a mom with moms and grandma’s in mind to have a one-stop shop where you can find amazing gifts, costumes, party favors and bedroom decor for Baby, toddler , kids and Tweens.
Follow @HolisticU

20. Katharine McMahon – New York, USA

Guiding Strategic Business Growth, mainly for small and medium-sized businesses. Passionate about all areas of marketing and how it impacts business performance.
Follow @marketingbykat

21. Katia Millar – Canada

Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer of Positive Fabulous Women – connecting & inspiring women to a life of purpose & passion so they can totally rock it!
Follow @KatiaMillar

22. Keri Jaehnig – Ohio, USA

Specializes in social media marketing and public relations for business brands, non-profits, and public figures. Helps formulate and customize marketing strategies.
Follow @connectyou

23. Kim St. Andre – Texas, USA

Expert in Psychic Mediumship Development. The Soccer Mom Psychic Medium.

24. Leslie Pringle – Canada

Coins For Classrooms exists to support the work of credible educational organizations in economically disadvantaged areas of the world by bringing them school supplies.

25. Loryn Wilson – California, USA

Social media marketing agency that helps businesses create greater brand awareness, stronger brand loyalty, increased word of mouth, improved understanding of customer needs and better faster consumer feedback. Strategy Management. Ad Buys
Follow @silvrsocial

26. Lucy Capo-Miller – Florida, USA

A custom-curated collection of immaculately formulated scents made with only the rarest plant and floral essences and organic ingredients.
Follow @NaturalPerfume

27. Meretta Pater – Canada

Dedicated Mompreneur and Wife. Holistic Realtor® in training, Real Estate Assistant & Property Manager (RE/MAX®) & Feng Shui Enthusiast.
Follow @MerettaPater

28. Micheline Green – Arizona, USA

Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids

29. Monique Ramsey – California, USA

Founder of Cosmetic Social Media specializing in MD marketing. Certified Social Media Strategist.
Follow @moniqueramsey

30. Nicol Garwood – United Kingdom

Business Strategist, specialising in Social Media. Offering Law firms a unique way to identify, engage and retain more profitable clients using social media.
Follow @NicolGarwood

31. Nicole Amsler – California, USA

Entrepreneur, marketing strategist and implementer. Expertise in building marketing programs, improving effectiveness and optimizing ROI.
Follow @Reniquity

32. Pamela Gail Johnson – Texas, USA

Founder, Secret Society of Happy People. Where Happiness Meets Reality. Blogger, Author and Speaker.
Follow @AskPamelaGail

33. Ramanathan Somasundaram – India

Ambitious entrepreneur, #Software and #SocialMedia. Providing social media content, social media management services, and social applications.
Follow @vsocialize

34. Renee Baribeau – California, USA

Known internationally as The Practical Shaman and Shaman to the Stars, Renee specializes in transforming the mundane into the magical.
Follow @practicalshaman

35. Richard Martin - United Kingdom

Supplier of Energy Saving Infrared Heating, Solar Installations, Energy Monitors and Eco Cooling.
Follow @radiantinfrared

36. Roseann Higgins – Arizona, USA

President SPIES: Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective - professional matchmaking service by executive recruiting. One marriage/long term relationship every five weeks since 1994!
Follow @roseannhiggins

37. Rhana Pytell – California, USA

Live true to you! The delightful, personalized health and wellbeing application for women. Support, community and important reminders.
Follow @QSelfCare

38. Sally Thibault – Australia

Speaker, Author and Media Commentator on Asperger’s Syndrome, Bully-Resilience, Teenagers & Social Media. Books: David’s Gift, Asperger’s, Bullying & School, Wise Mothers
Follow @SallyThibault

39. Shawn Abel – Texas, USA

InteractABEL Social Media offers small and medium-sized companies turnkey strategies to connecting with customers through the burgeoning opportunities of social media.
Follow @interactAbelSM

40. Shelley Miller – California, USA

Home exchange expert, writer, speaker. Sharing tips on how to travel the world and stay for free! France, Italy, Hawaii? You CAN afford a dream vacation!
Follow @HomeExchangeKey

41. Simran Singh – South Carolina, USA

The 11:11 Magazine & 11:11 Talk Radio are focused on Energy, Truth, Growth, & Wisdom. 11:11 is the wake-up call to look at life and become more conscious.
Follow @1111Magazine

42. Susan Beebe – New York, USA

Lighthouse Marketing, Inc (LHM) is a full service marketing and advertising agency.
Follow @Lighthouse_mkt

43. Teresa Denney – Oregon, USA

SPDconnect empowers parents to find the help they need for their sensory child. Join in!
Follow @makesenseofspd

44. Teresa Pangan – Iowa, USA

Helping professionals stand out and get known by building their business and personal brand.
Follow @TeresaPangan

45. Tracy Williams – Alaska, USA

Enriching Lives through Social Media & Motivational Coaching. Also Residential Real Estate Biz.
Follow @alaskatracy

46. Vicky Kendrick – Idaho, USA

We provide a wide selection of only the freshest, highest quality flowers and plants, creative floral designs, and innovative gardening ideas.

I trust you enjoyed this virtual tour of amazing leaders and have made some new friends. Please feel free to leave any comments below… and do share this post on your social channels, too. Let’s keep the love flowing.

Biggest Moments In Social Media Marketing — Wins and Fails

Mari Smith — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:44:58 +0000

As the worldwide social media audience continues to grow, the impact of brands’ wins and fails are amplified that much more. If you create a big win, your victory is awesome. But if you fail, your mistake gets played out on the biggest virtual public stage.

We can learn a lot from the companies that roll out successful campaigns that are well received. But how about the fails? It seems to me that the erroneous-tweet type of fails are downright human error and lack of good judgment. But the fails that are well-intentioned campaigns that end up bombing could be a lack of deep understanding of audience demographic and deep understanding of (extended) audience relationship with the brand. Of course, even if a campaign goes over well with the exact target demographic, the naysayers can easily jump all over a brand’s campaign with their $0.02 and create a viral negative meme.

When a brand screws up with their social media communication, does it affect your relationship with that brand? Do you go out your way to avoid buying that brand’s products? I know I certainly have. Every employee of a company is a brand advocate; each person is representing what the brand is about. For example, one time I came across some very snarky tweeting by a fairly senior member of staff at one particular company and it really turned me off the entire company. Hm. What’s the solution? I say investing in better company-wide training and cultivating the most awesome company culture. That’s a whole other subject.

Meantime, take a look at this fun infographic for some fascinating facts and stats on examples of what worked well in social media and what didn’t. Click the image to view the infographic full size.

Source: Biggest Moments in Social Media 2012

Did you learn data here that is helpful for your own marketing? What else would you add? Leave a comment below!

Microphone Tips For Recording Great Audio In Your Videos

Mari Smith — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:00:13 +0000

Here’s another fun video tutorial for you in our Year of the Video series! This one is all about how to ensure you have excellent AUDIO when recording your videos. There’s nothing worse than coming across what appears to be an excellent video that you really want to watch… but it has terrible audio quality. Most people will click off in a nanosecond!

In fact, people will long forgive bad video quality (e.g. grainy, wobbly) but they won’t forgive bad audio. With the inexpensive microphones available today, there’s no reason not to capture top quality audio… even from your smartphone!

In the video below, Emmy award® winning director David Gumpel and his wife Catherine Hedden from Films About Me share their top microphone tips to help you record better videos. Be sure to listen to the whole video for David’s NUMBER ONE tip for audio! It’s a goodie.

Recommended microphone – for smartphones too!

David and Catherine recommend this affordable mic: the Audio-Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone. It comes with little clips and a windscreen and is a mere $17 from Amazon.com!

Audio-Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone. Just $17 on Amazon!

You will need an ADAPTER to use with your smartphone. David recommends this one:

Smartphone microphone adaptor

You can find links to the recommended microphone and smartphone adaptor – along with other cool gear – on Films About Me’s Pinterest page.

NEW! Video marketing training course

Learn directly from Mari, David and Catherine in our brand new online training course called Video Success Secrets – runs February 12th and 14th. More details here.

Related Post:

Top Lighting Tips For Recording Quality Videos

Got video questions? Feel free to post here and we’ll do our best to answer you in a timely manner! And/or come post on Films About Me‘s Facebook fan page!

2013: The Year of the Video – free webinar, instant replay

If you missed our mega webinar on January 24th, you can still catch the replay! We had 8,500 people registered and several thousand people from around the world joined us live! The feedback was awesome. You can get instant access to the replay here.

Think Like Zuck: 5 Secrets Marketers Can Learn from Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Mari Smith — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:00:39 +0000

[Guest blog post by Ekaterina Walter]: In 8 years of existence, Facebook has fundamentally changed the way we connect and communicate online. It is the world’s largest social network and probably one of the most addictive.

We cannot imagine our lives without Facebook—it created a sweet addiction of 24/7 conversations and information flow that we apparently all craved. We check Facebook before we go to bed and first thing in the morning when we wake up. It allows us to show the world our own unique identities. It offers us an opportunity to tell our stories, stories that can be heard at scale. It allows us to build global communities and rally around causes we are passionate about.

Our News Feeds have become our personalized digital newspapers. And instead of picking up a phone, we log into Facebook to see what our friends are up to, check out pictures they recently posted, look at product recommendations (or complaints) they shared, or see what music they are currently listening to.

For the first time in history, brands are building global communities on Facebook on a scale never heard of before. Coke, Starbucks, Red Bull and many others are getting more visibility and engagement within their Facebook communities than they were ever able to harness on their other forums. Intel’s community around the world, for example, exceeds 23 million fans spanning over 50 countries, and it is such a privilege to touch so many people every day.

In my book “Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg” I reveal the simple five-part formula the upstart Facebook CEO used to change the world–and how any business leader can apply it to his/her own company: Passion, Purpose, People, Product, Partnerships.

Though the book focuses on business secrets of success in general, today I would like to explore how marketers can use just some of the same principles in building of their own strategies and approaches and offer my tips on the ways they can do so.

1. Unleash your passion

No matter what you do, you have to be passionate about your customers. Only when you have your customers’ interests in mind you will be successful in inspiring loyalty. Customer-centric mentality will also spark some of your best ideas.

Some of the best things you can do to show your customers you care is to:

reach out to them often within your social communities and to ask them what types of conversations/content they would like to see you bring up/post. On our Intel Facebook page we love to ask our customers open-ended questions and run in-newsfeed polls to make sure as our community grows we stay truly connected to them and know what their passion points are.
co-create with your customers. San Francisco-based apparel company ModCloth not only allows its customers to vote on the items their stores should carry, but it has taken the concept of co-creation to a new level by creating an entire collection of user-generated designs.
respond creatively and in real-time. This holiday season REI, for example, created custom video responses to consumer’s inquiries on Twitter regarding the best holiday gifts. I myself was a recipient of such a video and was not only pleasantly surprised, but have to say developed quite an affinity for the brand as a result of that.

2. Lead with purpose

Whatever you do, you have to be clear about your purpose. We live in the economy of attention deficit and consistent influx of new shiny tools. As a marketer, if you don’t know your purpose, your reason for being, your core objectives, it’ll be easy to get lost in a sea of tasks and strategies that may not be fully relevant. To stand out from noise, you have to be focused, disciplined and have a clear idea why you are doing all the things you are doing.

Take a look at your strategy and ask yourself the following questions:

What is your vision? What are your objectives? What are your priorities?
Do you have listening/monitoring tools in place? Do you have formal listening approach? And if yes, what are the conversations that are happening around your brand and how do you want to influence them?
Who is your target audience and where are they engaging?
Who are your customer advocates who are mostly engaged with your brand?
Are your internal social media practitioners aware of your brand story and your brand voice?
Do you know what your digital presence looks like across the web?
How well does your current digital presence represent your brand? If not well, what are the steps to create the unified and meaningful brand presence for your company? What will it take to maintain those communities?
Based on the basic native network insights, which channels drive the most traffic and engagement? Which are the least successful?
Is your strategy scalable globally? Are you taking into consideration the needs of local markets as you craft your company-wide approach?

3. Take risks

In a lot of ways we are all still new to this digital landscape and to the mentality of a two-way marketing rather than one-way broadcasting. In some ways, it might still feel strange to let go of the control of your brand and fully engage without fear. But I promise you that the risk of not engaging is greater that the risk of participating.

So I urge you to take risks in whatever you are doing. There are no written rules and if you are truly passionate about your customers – let go of the fear. Some of the most amazing conversations around your brand might come from you jumping in and trying new things. I’ve seen this time and again. Of course, I have also seen some mistakes being made (and made some myself), but that was only a very small percentage.

When we first launched Intel’s global communities, we didn’t know the best ways to engage our advocates. So we just started experimenting. We tried engaging our communities in multiple ways. We posted pictures taken inside the Intel’s campus, we talked about Olympics and Valentine’s Day, we asked for stories, we said thank you when we reached key milestones, we bragged about our special products, we offered challenges, we crowd-sourced photography. We tried everything our small team could think of to see what content will resonate and what will spark more conversations. And we got better at it as we grew our communities and tracked our progress along the way. We learned and we grew with our customers. And that is the most beautiful thing.

So take risks, try things out, and watch your customers inspire you and vice versa.

4. Don’t just market products, inspire movements

As marketers we often times tend to focus on acquiring new customers and generating broad awareness of our company and our product. But my philosophy is that if you engage your most passionate customers and your employees – those who are already familiar with your brand and love it – and you do so in meaningful and inclusive ways, you will be able to create a movement, not a campaign.

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will influence the adoption by the majority of the society. Imagine what this does for brands. Imagine if you give a platform to your 10 percent of passionate customers to co-create, engage, and spread word-of-mouth. Imagine if they know that you not only listen and participate, but give them the power to co-define your brand and thank them for amplifying your messages.

So, instead of chasing the numbers of fans and followers, focus on the quality of your content and relevance of your message.

5. Partner with the right people

The right people are those people who share your passion, live your values, and strive for the same purpose. Those are the people who will see the changes coming when you miss them and help you look in the right direction. These are people who not only have the right skills, but the right attitude as well.

As a marketer, when you build your teams or choose the vendors to partner with, partner with those who have the same passion for your customer as you have, who value authenticity, and those who are not afraid to take risks if they believe in something. Build the team with complementary skills: those who are passionate about human interactions (community managers), those who are passionate about data (analytics), some who know traditional media and some who know social media (because the two married together are much stronger at reach and amplification), and some who might not have any of those skills but have innate curiosity and unlimited desire to learn. Then empower them to create, guide them when necessary, and watch amazing things happen.

About the author: Ekaterina Walter is a social media innovator at Intel, a speaker, and an author of the book “Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg”. Walter was named among 25 Women Who Rock Social Media in 2012. She sits on a Board of Directors of Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). You can find her on Twitter: @Ekaterina and her blog EkaterinaWalter.com.
Follow @ekaterina

Now it’s your turn — did you get value from this post? Please do share your thoughts on Ekaterina’s five-part formula in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

Lighting Kit

David and Catherine recommend this lighting kit from FloLight that comes with three light fixtures and three 6′ light stands. This is the kit we used in the video above. Please do share any questions or comments you have about this or other equipment in the comments below!

FloLight Fluorescent Lighting Kit

Gear We Use

Also, be sure to follow this Pinterest Board by Films About Me, sharing their latest cool gadgets, toys and equipment they use in their own video creation.

FREE Live Webinar – January 24th

You’re invited to join David, Catherine and myself on a free LIVE webinar on January 24th where we’ll discussing in-depth how to regularly create quality video content, distribute your videos effectively for maximum impact, and create measurable results including improving your bottom line. You’ll learn about a whole range of equipment, and we’ll explore a variety of options for video style, including your very own web-TV talk show. Plus, we’ll discuss how to map out a proper social media marketing plan to set yourself up for the best viral distribution. Find out more here, or just pop your name and email address in the fields below so we can save your seat for you!

New Year 2013: One-Word Theme of ABUNDANCE

Mari Smith — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:00:41 +0000

At the end of each year, I like to select a single word as my main theme for the coming year. I’ve found this practice to have a profound effect in all areas of my life. Sometimes the results are not obvious right away. But, as the year progresses and I reflect back on all that I created and experienced, the one-word theme is always prevalent.

Over the years, each one-word theme seems to build on the previous ones:

2008 – FOCUS: This was a breakout year of focusing almost exclusively on positioning myself as a leading Facebook marketing expert.

2009 – INFLUENCE: I examined who and what was influencing me, and ended up choosing to leave my marriage and create a new life… which caused the floodgates to open even wider in my business. This was also a big year of building out my own influence and reach.

2010 – TEAM: I moved away from employing seven virtual assistants, hired two incredible local assistants and built a much more robust team.

2011 – COMMITMENT: This word made me step up my game in all areas and deepen my commitment to myself emotionally and spiritually, which paved the way for an amazing 2012!

2012 – GROWTH: You know the saying, “Be careful what you ask for?”

2012 – The Impact of Growth

When I chose “GROWTH” for 2012, I mainly intended it for my business expansion. However, I also know that in order to successfully grow our outer world, we absolutely must grow our inner world… otherwise, any external growth cannot be sustained. Our inner world literally has to be a “vibrational match” in order to create certain levels of achievement.

I’ve loved working with my high-level business coach, Anne McKevitt, throughout 2012. Anne’s support has helped to boost my brand, expand my positioning, grow my product line and create many successful launches this year. For sure, it’s been a year of extreme GROWTH.

Plus, throughout the second half of 2012, I re-attended several programs led by my spiritual teacher, Esperanza Universal at the S.O.U.L. Institute. The results of my continued inner discovery have helped to bring even more clarity to my journey and where I want to “steer my ship” in 2013.

2013 – Focus on ABUNDANCE

a·bun·dance | 1. an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply. | 2. overflowing fullness: abundance of the heart. | 3. affluence; wealth: the enjoyment of abundance.

I’ve chosen “ABUNDANCE” for 2013 primarily to reflect my intended state of mind: to know and trust that there is always an abundance of resources for EVERYTHING. There is time and space to accomplish (and enjoy!) everything I want in my business and personal life.

I want to be “time abundant.” Time is the great equalizer. Everyone has the exact same 24 hours in a day, yet it’s how we manage our priorities each day that counts.

My intention is to ramp up my mastery of time-management (or, more realistically, self-management) in order to feel in a state of flow, ease and grace. As opposed to feeling rushed, pushing hard against the clock to meet deadlines, and allowing certain personal priorities to fall through the cracks. Also, to check in with myself – what is the purpose of pushing and rushing and sacrificing? Success is a journey, not a destination!

I know I can be of far greater service to much more people around the world when my own cup is filled up.

I intend to spend less time in front of the computer and/or tied to my mobile devices… and more time in nature, with friends and enjoying creative pursuits. As a result of taking more “time off,” I know I’ll end up being MUCH more productive, efficient and successful during my designated working hours.

As for time, all men have it in abundance. — George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon

This is all going to take dedicated effort, at first. I have all the right systems and support in place. And now, as mentioned above, it’s the inner game that requires the most mastery. To know that I deserve to take time off, I’m worthy of being supported 100% and of delegating to my highly competent team, and that I can’t possibly do everything myself even when I want to! Lol.

Business Abundance

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life. — Wayne Dyer

My theme of Abundance will impact the flow of opportunities. I’m fortunate to receive a decent number of speaking and consulting invitations nationally and internationally. However, throughout 2012, I was deliberately mindful about staying closer to home and focusing on further expanding my online products and presence. I did very little U.S. travel and just one trip abroad. But in 2013, I’m casting the net wider again and already have many bookings on the calendar including to Canada, Bulgaria, the UK … (and Australia in the pipeline!)

And, my year-long coaching program – BUSINESS & BEYOND CLUB – kicks off with 50 amazing heart-centered entrepreneurs. I’m honored to guide this group to greater business growth and social media marketing success throughout 2013.

I do have plans for more Facebook marketing products (from beginner to advanced), social media training courses, live events, private consulting, and done-for-you social media services. The latter is already very popular and I predict will grow exponentially in Q1 2013 when my agency officially launches. Stay tuned! (Meantime, email smservices@marismith.com to inquire about our three levels of service packages).

For live events, on April 6th, 2013, I’m hosting a one-day social media marketing IMMERSION open to the public, for a nominal fee. (Registration page opens early January). Members of my Business & Beyond Club and alumni of past Intensives get to attend this event as well as an exclusive mastermind the day before, April 5th. (This live Immersion event is timed to coincide with those folks also attending my friend Mike Stelzner’s Social Media Marketing World on April 7, 8 and 9).

And, each January, I like to host a mega flagship free webinar. 2012 was all about Facebook marketing and I was tempted to do a repeat, v2.0. (I will host more free Facebook marketing webinars and offer more Facebook training courses in Q1 and Q2 – stay tuned). However, I’ve chosen to focus on video marketing for the signature January webinar, and am featuring special guest experts, Catherine Hedden and David Gumpel of Films About Me. On Thursday, January 24th, you’re invited to join us streaming live for an information-packed webinar called 2013: THE YEAR OF THE VIDEO! (Click here to save your seat).

Got Facebook questions? Come join my community of over 485,000 Friends, Fans and ~~subscribers~~ Followers! Just click the ~~Subscribe~~ Follow and Like buttons below to connect with me on Facebook!

Planetary Abundance

I’m excited to see what unfolds in this coming year. I see 2013 as a year of true Abundance in all areas of my business and personal life. And, in fact, with the incredible energetic shifts we just experienced throughout December 2012, I feel that the whole world will begin to experience more abundance.

Life is a field of unlimited possibilities. — Deepak Chopra

Enjoyed this post? Tweet to let me know – just click the button below (opens in a popup, you’ll have a chance to see and edit the tweet!):
Tweet to @MariSmith

Now it’s your turn! How do you define Abundance?

And, do you choose a one-word theme for the year?

Please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!

Facebook Single Column Timeline Design Rolls Out

Mari Smith — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:00:23 +0000

As reported by TheNextWeb, among others, back on October 31st, 2012, Facebook began testing a new Timeline layout with a single column of posts.

And now, the new design just rolled out on my personal profile. Awesome!! No more eyeball ping-pong bouncing back and forth to read content. Presumably, Facebook is still conducting tests on certain profiles. But, my guess is this new format is imminent for many more users. I doubt it’ll take as long to switch from the old layout to the Timeline layout as that was a major overhaul. (Read comments on this new layout on my Facebook post here).

I’ve marked up a screenshot below with an overview of all the most prominent changes. If you know of any additional ones, please do share in the comments below! To view the image full size, just click on it.

Organize and hide profile sections

I rather like that you can now organize various sections of your profile as you wish. That is, except for About, Friends and Photos – they have to stay in place in that order. I was surprised to see many sections resurrected that I’d long forgotten about… like Books and Notes. Fortunately, it’s easy to hide sections that you don’t want displayed.

Tweak your cover image

It’s possible many lovely custom designed cover images will need to be altered slightly now given a) your name is now in white OVER the cover image, and b) your profile picture sits slightly lower. The overall dimensions of the cover image remain the same: 851px wide by 315px tall. However, the cut out for the profile photo is now 17px from the left edge and 64px from the bottom. (Previously, it was 23px from the left and 104px from the bottom; fan pages remain as those dimensions… for now!).

Followers

As reported by Mashable, among others, on December 5th, Facebook announced that it would be changing the label of “Subscribers” to “Followers.” Just makes more sense, really. A Follower can see your personal profile posts in their news feed that you publish to PUBLIC. (FYI, anyone can see any public content on your profile anyway. Following someone just means you’re more likely to see their posts in your news feed). Basically the same as a fan (Like) on your fan page. Except, ahem, it’s not 100% of your Followers or Fans (or Friends) who see your posts in their news feed. That’s where promoted posts come in. We’ll leave that for another blog post.

Highlights?

I am stumped by the new “Highlight” feature. Previously, starring a post would make it appear “double wide” across both columns. Now, the post just gets a little bookmark flag in the top right corner and nothing else seems to happen. My guess is there is a section coming called Highlights where all your starred posts would appear for quick access. Thoughts?

New single column Facebook Timeline layout – click to enlarge

Fan pages next?

I predict that before long, fan pages (Business Timelines) will also get the new single-column layout.

Got Facebook questions? Come join my community of over 482,000 Friends, Fans and ~~subscribers~~ Followers! Just click the ~~Subscribe~~ Follow and Like buttons below to connect with me on Facebook!

Search please!

I don’t know about you, but my most wished-for feature now is a rock solid SEARCH… and not necessarily for Facebook sitewide (though that’ll be nice when it comes), but I’m talking about the ability to search for content on my fan page and others’ fan pages. You know, like a good search feature on every blog on the web?? Just sayin!

Do you have the new single-column Facebook Timeline layout yet? (Personal profile). Whether you have the new design or not, what are your thoughts on the features (as illustrated in the screenshot above)? Please share below: