Monthly Archives: March 2013

How to Use Pinterest: Tips from the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.

Start “Pinning” things you find “Pinteresting” on Pinterest!

What is Pinterest?

Launched in March of 2010, Pinterest is an online bulletin board where users collect and categorize images by “pinning” them onto various boards. Pinterest can be used to discover new recipes, create an online wish list, find inspiration for weddings or other events, plan trips, showcase blog content or share photos and information about an organization or businesses. Users collect and share images that they find interesting or “Pinteresting.”

How to join and use Pinterest:

1) Visit http://pinterest.com/ to join Pinterest.

You can create an personal Pinterest account using an existing Twitter or Facebook profile, or with your email address.

(If you are creating a Pinterest account for your business, company or non-profit organization, be sure to sign up for a Pinterest business account.)

2) Follow at least 5 boards on Pinterest.

Browse categories from Animals to DIY & Crafts and Health & Fitness to Technology and select boards that look interesting to you. The more boards you follow, the more new and interesting content you will be able to see.

3) Confirm your email address with Pinterest.

Check your email for a link to verify your Pinterest account and login information.

4) Start learning the basics of Pinterest.

Pin – a single image or video that you share on Pinterest. You can pin images from around the web or upload images from your computer.

Board – a collection of pins that relate to one another. You can have public boards, which anyone on Pinterest can view or secret boards, which are only able to be viewed by you.

Follow – following someone on Pinterest allows you to subscribe to their pins. You can follow individual boards or every board a person has.

Home Feed – the constantly updating visual list of pins from the people you follow.

Pin Etiquette – Pinterest outlines “a few simple rules to help you pin with care.”

  • Be respectful.
  • Be yourself.
  • Give credit.
  • Stay alert (Pinterest frowns upon hateful pins or pins that contain obscene images. If you see a questionable pin, click “Report Pin” to flag the pin for official review.)

5) Get your Pinterest Goodies.

Pinterest offers apps on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. With the Pintrest app, you can pin things from your web-enabled laptop, tablet or smartphone.

The “Pin It” button allows you to easily pin things you find on the internet by saving the “Pin It” button to your web browser’s toolbar.

6) Engage with the Pinterest community.

Upload unique images that show what you or your organization can do, say or create. Comment on other people’s pins that you find inspirational or helpful. Repin content that you find interesting to your own boards.

Check out existing Pinterest accounts from Bloomington organizations and businesses:

http://pinterest.com/chamberbloom/

http://pinterest.com/visitbtown/

http://pinterest.com/bloomingtonbrew

http://pinterest.com/bbcbagel/

http://pinterest.com/bloomingplays/

http://pinterest.com/bloomingtoncctr/

 

 

Proactive Crisis Management

You find out that a video has been uploaded to YouTube that refutes your product. What do you do next? Where do you start?

No matter how much effort you put into increasing your brand perception, incidents may occur that challenge your business’s product or service.

An example of such a media crisis occurred in 2004, when a BIC Pen brought the company, Kryptonite Locks, to its knees. A video of a BIC Pen breaking a Kryptonite lock went viral after its update to the site YouTube.  Kryptonite Locks didn’t respond publicly on social media networks until a week after the original YouTube post was published. A week equals eternity on social media. Thus, it isn’t surprising that critcis bombarded the company. Kryptonite Locks could’ve lessened the blow of the incident if it had a social media disaster plan in place, and acknowledged the situation sooner.

Nowadays, social media allows issues to become viral. So why wait until after a crisis occurs to take action?

Think proactively and plan for a crisis before the incident occurs.

The first step of instituting a disaster plan is ongoing monitoring and tracking of the sentiments of customers and stakeholders. Listening long before a situation escalates may help avert the crisis from even staring or spiraling out of control. If Kryptonite Locks monitored its social media network, the company could’ve acknowledged the negative sentiment and decreased the media attention.

Possible software and tools a business may want to utilize to monitore its social media platforms are: Klout, Peer Index, Alltop, Ad Age Power150, and Twitalyzer

Additionally, institute strategies for different channels that may cause the crisis. Anticipate situations that may occur, and know where the occurrence is covered in the company policy. Actions cause reactions, which in turn cause another action. Therefore, you must have a system in place to keep actions and reactions positive and moving toward a resolution.

When making a social media crisis plan:

  1. List all of the brand’s communication channels
  2. Pre-craft unique messages for each channel
  3. Then decide what messages are appropriate for certain situations and what channels would be better to use

Although planning for all possibilities may be taxing, it will prove worthwhile in the end. 

Adapted from “Social media and public relations: Eight new practices for the professional” by D Breakenridge