Stunning Growth for Pinterest in One Year
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In little more than one year of operation, Pinterest, the uber-popular social photo sharing website, has gone from a beta only site to become the third largest social networking site on the internet, second only to Facebook and Twitter.
As explained in this article from the website Venture Beat, the growth of Pinterest has been remarkable, placing it not just in the Top Ten of social sites, but putting it into the Top Three social networking sites worldwide. In fact, Pinterest has grown even beyond much more established sites such as Tumblr and LinkedIn, and has even surpassed the growth of Google+.
This leads us to ask just one question, “Are you using Pinterest as part of your social marketing campaign?” OK, here’s the second question, “If not, why not?”
Another good article: Make Better Use Of Pinterest With These 5 Pinterest Tools
Facebook Timeline….The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
By · Comments“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” ~ Albert Einstein
Well, everything is happening at once – once we reach March 30th. For on this day a new Facebook gets made, Facebook for Business Pages, that is.
We posted on this subject last week, see Facebook Timeline for Biz Pages is On The Way, but the information out there is so plentiful, and so nearly overwhelming, we can’t let it rest at that. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon with advice and How-to information on the change, some of it pretty confusing, so we felt the need to try to sift through some of it to help you plan for the change.
One of the best articles we’ve read on the Timeline changes comes from Kathi Kruse at krusecontrol.com. Her list of six Timeline highlights is comprehensive, without being overwhelming, and her list of the four things you can NOT do to your new business page cover photo is critical. Read her article and follow the links to more info if you really want to get a better idea of what is happening to FB.
The best and worst of Timeline for Business Pages
Facebook Timeline – The Good…Content becomes more important than ever.
If social media marketing is about engagement with your customer, or potential customer, then using content marketing is the best way to get it done. By making content the single most important factor of your Facebook Business Page, Timeline forces you to engage through the use of quality content. This can only help your marketing efforts, even if you’ve resisted content marketing in the past.
Facebook Timeline – The Bad…The window for getting it right is relatively short.
The Timeline change is scheduled to be complete by the end of March. Plus, once Facebook has scheduled your page for the transition, you will have just one week to implement the changes. This is pushing it but, if you begin now, you can preview your new page and make the changes you need to make before FB makes them for you. Remember, the change to 
Timeline is NOT optional. It will happen.
Facebook Timeline – The Ugly …No More Landing Page.
Whether for good or ill, you will no longer have a “Landing Page.” According to John Constine at techcrunch.com, this is a concerted effort by Facebook to enhance the user experience and, hopefully, build traffic without forcing them into some marketing experience they might resent. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
More on the changes to Timeline for Business Pages
Of course, these are not the only folks who are talking about the biggest change to social networking in decades. The folks at mashable.com have plenty to say on the Timeline change as well. The article by Victoria Ransom details half-a-dozen of the most important changes, and also makes recommendations on how to implement them to greatest effect. This is a true must-read if you’re worried about making the right changes to your business page.
Also, over at pcmag.com, Jill Duffy answers a dozen of the most common and compelling questions about the upcoming changes to Facebook. Her analysis of the changes is right-on, and her answers to your questions could not be more helpful.
We hope this helps you, and puts some of your fears to rest. If you have further questions about the new roll-out of Timeline for Business Pages from Facebook this month, keep an eye out right here. We’re very likely to post more. Or, if you prefer, leave your question in the comments box and we will try to get back to you ASAP.
Facebook Timeline for Biz Pages is On The Way
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Do you like the new Timeline feature on your Facebook profile? Do you hate it? Well, whether you love it, hate it, or are indifferent to it, you’d best get ready for Facebook Timeline for Business Pages by the beginning of March.
That’s right, following up on the implementation of Timeline for your personal page; Facebook is making Timeline part of your business page as well. Implementation of the change is scheduled for the end of February into early March, at least for the larger brands. The rest of us will begin to see our pages changing over the following two months, with full implementation scheduled to be complete by the end of the month.
What does this mean for you, your business, and your brand? Well, there are varying opinions on that, as there always are when Facebook makes a change. Most important, you should realize that it is going to happen, and you should begin getting ready for it sooner rather than later.
How to Get Ready for Timeline for Business Pages
Here are a few tips from The Niche Report to help get you ready for the change, and to make the transition go more smoothly…
- Design Your Pages Cover Photo in Advance
- Choose Important Milestones for Your Page Early
- Create an Announcement for Changes to the Layout of Your Page
The very popular online business site Mashable also has some advice to help you prepare for the change and make the transition…
- It’s time to refresh your Social Media Marketing Plan
- Get your Timeline Image ready NOW
- Check your businesses history foe Milestone Events
- Clean up your business page
- Relax and accept the change
Timeline for Business Pages Will Improve Your Brand
The folks at Mashable believe strongly that the Timeline for Business Pages feature from Facebook will help you improve your brand. By improving the experience for visitors to your Facebook business page, the Timeline feature will allow brands to keep visitors on their page, rather than being forced to direct them to more interesting information elsewhere. They also believe the Timeline feature will improve the lifespan of brand information, allowing visitors more time to consume and engage your information. This should enhance sharing and increase conversations about your brand.
For an even more detailed look at what this change means for your Facebook Business Page, as well as how to prepare yourself and your page, take a look at this article at the HubSpot Blog.
So far, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the new Timeline for Business Pages from Facebook can only improve your business page, and your branding. If this is true, you can’t argue with that.
WordPress and Google – Love at First Byte
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Many people wonder why their Virtual Assistants seem to push them toward WordPress as their favorite blogging and small business website platform. The answer is simple. WordPress is the most SEO-friendly platform available.
The makers of WordPress, those wonderfully clever folks at Automattic, designed a Content Management System (CMS) which was, and is, as Google-friendly as a blogging platform could be. And, when you’re Google friendly, you are search engine-friendly.
Why WordPress is search engine-friendly
Search engines and WordPress get along because…
- Search engines love text because text is easy to read.
- Search engines love blogs because blogs are text-based and…text is easy to read.
- Search engines love logical architecture in a website and WordPress is designed logically.
- Search engines love cheap crawling and text is easy – therefore cheap – to crawl.
- Search engines love good SEO and WordPress, because of its structure and blog-based design is very SEO-friendly.
Why WordPress is the CMS of 1st choice
For the novice blogger or website owner, using WordPress as your CMS means that being found by the search engines, and especially Google, will become much easier. Your site, and your content, will be easier to find by your target audience.
- WordPress is free as a small business website, as well as for blogging.
- WordPress is easy to use for the beginner, with no coding involved.
- WordPress has many wonderful features, such as enhanced themes to customize the look, as well as plugins to broaden it functions.
- WordPress has a world-wide group of programmers creating new and exciting additions to its basic design.
- WordPress can only get better over time, based on its history.
When you choose a blogging platform that the search engines love the way they love WordPress, you make your life online much easier – and more productive. Because of its many features and ease of use, WordPress is the most cost-effective, and SEO-effective CMS available today. When you think about it, that’s enough to consider, right there.
