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How Your Company Can Capitalize on Pinterest

You cannot ignore Pinterest if you try. Everywhere you look is a headline about the exponential growth and popularity of the social-sharing website, how to get invited to be a Pinterest user, and what to do after you are officially a “Pinner.” 

I admit my first encounters with Pinterest were not positive ones. My brother’s self-indulged fiancée spent hours on the site “pinning” wedding rings, dresses and boot socks. Yes, boot socks. All during the last meeting of the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M on Thanksgiving. Let’s just say this doesn’t bode well in a UT alumni household.  But, with time (and a newly registered account), my eyes were soon opened to the endless visual candy that the site provided, and I was not alone. 

The social network exploded late last year beginning in August when Time Magazine deemed Pinterest one of the, “50 Best Websites of 2011.” Since then, Pinterest’s unique visitors increased over 329% by December and garnered more traffic than Google +, You Tube and Linked In combined. The site clearly proved itself worthy of the attention and marketers took notice of the phenomenon.  

Why should you and your company care about this virtual bulletin board? Because your customers and consumers care and are actively sharing information on the site. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting;” a.k.a an intimate window into users’ lives, desires and purchase decisions. To a communicator it is a gold mine of customer insight and a focus group served on a silver platter. 

While you can experiment and create your own rules when you launch your company on Pinterest, there are some basic guidelines to follow and others to avoid: 

Pinterest Do’s:

Be Engaging
Like all social networking, you must engage users through relevant content and provide valuable information your target demographic cares about. Also, follow users who have similar interests and re-pin images of users that are relevant to your brand.  One idea is to have a board reserved solely for user generated content. This is one more way for users to engage directly with your company and shows them that you care about their participation and feedback. Most importantly: Listen – a key component to know how to engage.

Be Consistent
Promote a lifestyle that your audience enjoys and strives to maintain.  You must use the site as an extension of your brand, messaging and stay on-point with your company personality and that of your customers. Don’t stray from what people already love about your company, enhance it!

Be Fun
This is, after all, a social bulletin board and a positive environment. Be light-hearted and inspire users and also your employees to participate. Have a contest, crowd-source for ideas or give users some inside scoop to your event, office or next big product. 

Pinterest Don’ts:

Don’t Over Self-Promote
Users will quickly tune out if your sole purpose is to push product and direct to a shopping cart. Visual catalogs are great, but not if that is the only content you provide. While Pinterest should absolutely be used to direct traffic to your site, don’t overwhelm people or push them away by only talking about your products. 

Don’t Limit Yourself
Pinterst content isn’t just limited to images; you can post videos as well. And hashtags aren’t just for Twitter anymore, you can use them on Pinterest to categorize posts and also help boost search results. And don’t forget to add a “Pin Button” to your site. Make it easy for users to connect and share content. 

Don’t Forget to Watch for Innovative Ideas and Best Practices
The best way we learn in advertising, PR and marketing is from each other. When in doubt, shop the world for ideas and adapt to make them your own. Take notes of what has succeeded for you, for other companies and also what has failed. There is no right or wrong with Pinterest and there is no cookie-cutter plan that works for everyone. So read articles, search Pinterest for yourself and get inspired. Need a jump-start? Here is a great list of the top 100 companies on Pinterst (http://goo.gl/LxrvT), my favorite of the bunch, Chobani. 

Happy Pinning, Y’all. 

FACES+ Email Campaign

Special events are a great reason to send your clients an email campaign. Below is a recent campaign we put together for FACES+, a comprehensive plastic surgery, laser and skin care center. They offer aesthetic surgical and non-surgical treatments such as face lift, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, Fraxel laser facial rejuvenation, dermal fillers, Botox and much more.

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Rob Ridgeway Joins HMG Creative

Spring is just around the corner and we’re already growing.  Rob Ridgeway has recently joined the HMG Creative team as a Marketing Consultant in the Austin area.  Rob, a Montana native, completed his undergraduate studies at Montana State University and received his MBA from Gonzaga University.  He previously spent 6 years in banking and insurance and has experience working with a variety of businesses.  An entrepreneur at heart, Rob recently invented Spontuneous, a party board game that’s perfect for those suffering from “Musical Tourettes.”  It’s quickly becoming a hit with families across America and just might be the next big party game.  His entrepreneurial experience and creative “out of the box” thinking will bring another dimension to the HMG Creative team.

QR Codes, So Hot Right Now

You see them everywhere: on business entrances, restaurant menus, movie posters, brochures, direct mail pieces, the list goes on. Although we have heavily utilized these quick response barcodes for over two years in the marketing and tech world, as an industry we have yet to perfect the use of QR Codes (and in many instances failed miserably at understanding their effective placement).

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We’re looking for Interns (Austin, Tx)

Attention college students:

We are looking for motivated individuals that want to gain experience in the creative services industry, from website/ graphic design to email marketing. This internship is not paid but you’ll gain extensive and valuable experience in all areas of digital marketing. Your major doesn’t necessary have to be associated with digital media but experience with the Adobe Creative Suite is necessary.

If you’re interested please contact our Creative Director, Johnny Jeffers, (johnny@hmgcreative.com) for more details.

Thank you for reading.

Real Life Austin – Postcard

In preparation for their upcoming move to a larger location, Real Life Austin hired us to design, print and mail-out 20,000+ post cards to south Austin residence. Join Real Life Austin for their Grand Opening this Sunday (January 29, 2012) at Gorzycki Middle School (7412 West Slaughter Lane, Austin, Texas 78749), service times are 9:00am & 10:30am.

Growing Your Brand, Fans

Coca-cola. Pringles. Play Station. Victoria Secret. Oreo.

What do these companies have in common? They are all top brands on Facebook, garnering the highest number of fans among the thousands of pages on our favorite social media marketing platform.

What does this mean and why do companies strive to emulate these brands and dissect every new campaign and social strategy? Because as marketers we know that fans = greater influence and reach. And increased interaction with your brand = increased brand loyalty and consumer satisfaction.

Check out this infograph that breaks down the correlation between number of fans, engagement and how that can influence the growth and success of your business.

HMG Creative Offers 20% Off Hosting

In response to many recent domain transfer and hosting requests after news leaked that GoDaddy supports SOPA, HMG Creative is now offering 20% off hosting and domain name registration. We assure any current and future clients that we always operate with their best interest in mind.

Receive your 20% discount using the code: byegodaddy

To view hosting options and order, click here.
To register/ transfer a domain name, click here.
And visit our client portal for all related services: http://client.hmgcreative.com

Offer good on all new accounts until January 31, 2012
(domain transfers, registering a new domain, set up a new hosting, etc)

Happy Holidays from theCrew

During this holiday season we at HMG Creative will be enjoying some time with our family and friends. And we hope that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are so thankful to all of our wonderful clients this past year and we truly appreciate your business. Looking forward to an awesome 2012!

Holiday Hours:

We’ll be closed December 23rd – 26th…until the start of the day Tuesday, December 27th…and again Dec 31 – Jan 2…until the start of the day Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012!

Best wishes,

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