Saturday, March 3, 2012

What's hot in social media?

 The only thing that changes faster than a politician's opinion after an exit poll is what's hot in social media.  And this week's star of the show is Pinterest.

When I first discovered Pinterest I though "How quaint!" and kept on moving.  It seemed like a fun thing but not really of much use to me, even socially - and certainly not for my businesses.  Then somehow I went back for another peek a couple of weeks later and was drawn in by the fun of being able to keep - or 'pin' - the things that made me smile so that I could revisit them at some later date. 

And revisit I did.  And again.  And again.

It was only after a fair few social visits that I began to realise that Pinterest could actually be a good way to share my work and get it seen. 

So I uploaded a dress that I'd made for my sewing venture mooandflo, and sure enough within about 3 minutes I'd got an email saying it had been repinned umpteen times and liked by gazillions of others (where gazillions = maybe five).

I even pinned my flobusiness logo, which has been liked and repinned for heaven knows what reason.  Maybe it's the dashing curve of the line, the bold use of orange, who knows. 

My interest was piqued.

So now I upload and pin most things I make, and I've found it does indeed lead to more views on the blogs and even the odd like on Facebook, though it's yet to lead to a sale.  Whether it's a good use of my time is yet to be seen.

Will it be a continue to be a phenomenal hit?  Will the bubble burst?   Will it prove itself useful to businesses in the long term?  Who knows? 

Either way, I seem to be hooked.

~ Dianne

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Facebook Launches 'Offers' - a Coupon System for Businesses

Facebook just can't stand still at the moment - the latest thing to launch are 'Offers'.

What are Facebook Offers?
Business pages will be able to offer discounts to their fans by posting an 'offer' on their Facebook page.

Will they cost anything to create?
No, they are free to use.

How does the customer redeem the coupon?
The customer claims the offer by clicking on it on their Facebook page (a bit like 'liking') after which they will get an email to the address set to their Facebook account.  The emailed coupon can then be shown at the business's real life physical shop to get the discount.  There doesn't seem to be a mechanism for businesses that operate online only.


Excellent - I am going to rush off and create an offer right now!
Whooa there, cowboy.  Unfortunately, unless you are one of the big guns that Facebook has trialing it, 'Offers' are not available to you just yet.  Hopefully, though, it will be rolled out to smaller businesses in the not-too-distant future.

As always, I'll keep my ear to the ground and let you know as soon as there's news.

~Dianne

References:
https://www.facebook.com/help/offers