E-Crime Expert is honored to be one of IMPACT’s official sponsors for their Child Online Protection initiative, along with Microsoft, Trend Micro, D-Secure, the International Telecommunication Union and many others.

E-Crime Expert joint IMPACT and the other partners in assisting schools and Parents & Teachers Association (PTA) to plan and deploy a sustainable Child Online Protection (COP) initiatives. Our programme strive to;

Assist Parents and Teachers to educate their kids and students on being safe online

 Inculcate good habits for safe internet usage amongst parents, teachers and students

 Understand cybersecurity risks and issues as well as raise awareness on information security.

Having this in mind, E-Crime Expert sponsored this event with an awareness video (designed, recorded and provided to IMPACT on 200 DVDs) on how to stay safe online, and addressed to  children between 11 and 13 years of age.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nicole Basaraba for her great contribution with the text and video editing, voice-over and also for helping with the idea and plot of this awareness video as with all the other E-Crime Expert’s awareness videos.

Please have a look at Nicole Basaraba’s services offered thorough her website: Annotations Editorial.

You could watch the video here:

Image via CrunchBase

In this cyber-age we live in our social circles are exponentially bigger than they would normally be. They are bigger because of social networking and the various sites on the web that encourage folks with similar interests to hook up and talk about their interests.

Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, MySpace, and all of the ‘second cousins’ of these social networking sites encourage us to join groups with other people that have things in common. Even YouTube is being used, to a degree and quite incorrectly, as a social meeting place.

Of course Facebook always stipulates that you should really know the person that you are either requesting to be your friend or vice versa. But in reality, how many of our internet “friends” do we really know? I would be willing to bet a substantial amount of cash that the answer is, not many.

A few years ago having thousands of friends on Facebook was considered a sort of status symbol by young people. Kids were having competitions to see who could get the most friends on their homepage. For all I know they still do.

But things have changed a bit in the world of Facebook. It is no longer considered just a meeting place for your real friends. Statuses are posted that are, for the most part, homogenized and carefully vetted to make sure that too much personal information is not put up for perusal. More personal items are discussed via messaging.

Facebook is now a place where fans can join their favourite actor’s, or fill-in-blank-here, page as a show of support and talk to other folks who like the same ‘celebrity.’ The actual owner of said page may or may not interact with their fans.

FB (sorry but, continually typing out Facebook was getting annoying) is also used for folks to show support for other reasons. Singers, artists, musicians, YouTube channel presenters are just some of the folks who use FB as a means of talking to their “friends” or supporters.

Unfortunately because of the ease of interacting with people we will most probably never meet, some people can become quite demanding of their internet buddies. As the old saying goes, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.’ It also breeds an assumption of ‘real’ friendship.

This is, in actuality, an illusion created by the very medium that allows us to befriend strangers across the globe. Film and television help to perpetuate this illusion. Internet dating sites are constantly being touted on TV and films like You’ve Got E-Mail also tend to romanticize relationships that are made over the net.

But what happens when the lines blur? What happens when your new internet pal starts making demands on your time or starts treating you like a best friend who is threatening to stray?

Or what happens when your new buddy starts joining all the groups you belong to and sends friend requests to people you really know or are part of your ‘close’ social networking circle?

It starts becoming invasive, intrusive and not a little cyber-stalker-ish. But that is the pitfall and the danger of making internet friends. Unlike real life, where we can see the signs that tell us our ‘friend’ is becoming a little too interested or obsessed, the internet hides a lot.

This new age of cyber friendship can be fun and enjoyable for everyone as long as lines aren’t crossed. By treating your internet buddy like a real friend who you have actually known and interacted with in real life can be the death of that cyber relationship.

Because whether we like it or not what people put forward on these social networking sites is their ‘best’ or public face. To be more succinct, they use their polite stance when talking to folks. *Unless they are a troll. If they are a troll, all bets are off. They just want to act, well, trollish.*

And just like in real life, we cannot fall into the trap of assuming that we really know our web pals. Because, we don’t What we know is their cyber self. And that may or may not be who they really are.

Friendship bracelet (Photo credit: petr cervinka)

Related articles

• Social Media Strategy: “I don’t think my audience is using social media.” (digitalsurgeons.com)
• Help Protect your kids online! (mylittlemr.com)
• Cyber crooks infiltrate social networking sites (rant4u.com)
• cyber bogeys (telegraphindia.com)
• Facebook Search improves engagement and challenges Twitter (digitalsurgeons.com)
• FACEBOOK AND POLITICS | Do they mix? Yes, no, maybe? (virtualmarketingofficer.com)
• Friendship Day: 10 rules of dosti in social media (ibnlive.in.com)
• Increase in cyber extortion cases by female foreigners (todayonline.com)
• Get All Your Sugar on Bebo!!! (fabsugar.com)
• Indian cyber silence: Journalists muted after race riots (rt.com)

Well I’m just going to say food trucks are like a growing interest of my kids and I, besides the fact it’s my work. This is my second truck event or with the kids.

Heading into Park Slope Brooklyn on a Sunday at times can be a mess but we managed and were lucky the train line was running well.  Erica and Eric have taken a liking to these review trips and just enjoy all the awesome foods we get to taste.

As we arrived at the Grand Army Plaza, you could see the trucks lined up in last stand style! There were a few regulars and a whole bunch of trucks we haven’t tasted yet.

Today I wanted to try my first iced coffee. I saw the NYC Love Street Coffee Truck and decided to try a large iced Java with Splenda fixed by its 50 something owner Douglas (which I really thought was cool since I’m in my 40s). It’s not the coffee or the owner, it’s me! I’m just a hot java dude! From the start, I knew this wasn’t for me at all! Sound the alert: Dunkin Donuts, there is no chance of me becoming an ice coffee junkie!

As we headed into the wagon circle of great grub, I looked for some of the notables and noticed hey its a few trucks missing that were supposed to be here! Oh well! The journey began with checking out the pretty trucks (as Erica calls them) Mikes n Willies, Phil’s Steaks, Wafels & Dinges and Eddie’s Pizza. They were among our favorites that were there, and we actually had a chance to get a 3 rd tasting from Eddie’s Pizza. We searched out some of the local and lesser known trucks, and oh boy! What a treat!

My time in North Miami had me longing for the Cuban delights, so a Cuban from the Bongo Bros truck was in order! The toasted flat bread, roasted pork with a dab of mustard and pickles were a delightful way to start the eats off!  Erica had a chance to actually say it was good, even with the mustard and pickles, which she doesn’t normally eat.

Eric ventured off to try some of Eddie’s Pizza, which he refused the several times I hit the cart off of Broadway in the city. The flat bread sausage pizza was really a treat. I always rave about the tomatoes! Eric gave a thumb up, along with me and Erica.

For my and Erica’s main course we had the big bad brisket, with these amazing chips! It was a slow cooked beef brisket in smoked chipotle BBQ sauce, topped with crispy onions. The whole thing was outta this world!  The crispy onions, great chips and an old fashion bottled top (with an attached opener on the truck) made this sandwich well worth the long line in the heat.

Our sweet treat was a repeat for all of us! We went to Wafels & Dinges again, but added a new twist: the ginger bread, Belgium ice cream topped with strawberries!  Eric had the vanilla bean Belgium ice cream on a waffle topped with strawberries and powdered sugar… mmmmmm…so good! He was very quiet while indulging in this delight, which is always a great sign!

We will surely be back to see and taste these great foods on wheels! Up next AfroPunk Festival 2012!!

The Convention Center was beautiful and so was every exhibit that was set up! I got the chance to speak to the Director Ron King who was very nice and helpful to me! (I didn’t know who he was when I went up to him asking for help!)

ASAE is definitely an organization that R&M Social would like to stay in touch with . One day we will be listed as an Attendee!

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to volunteer and to be a part of such a special event!

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“At IRON OLIVE individuality is something we covet above all else. With a focus on the spectacular art and science of bodybuilding, we know that within every magnificently built human form lies a courageous, independent spirit simply bursting for expression.”~~Iron Olive

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I will admit. I do NOT know everything there is to know about social networking. I consider myself a newbie, but I DO know how to try to market myself online.

There are way too many people out there who are online and are completely oblivious to how connecting online works! This is what I mean:

If you have a business and a FB business page, why have you not posted on it for 6 months, but you want me to do a T-shirt campaign for you? It’s not gonna help!

If you are a business and do not have a Twitter account so you can see the  pics from the T-shirt campaign, that’s a problem. Yes, I can email them to you BUT…

You don’t have an email address listed on your website OR FB page!!

I know what you’re thinking! How did they contact you in the first place if they don’t have an email address? Through third party companies where the email address is private.

Listen people….social networking is NOT just having a Facebook page!! If you are a business and want people online to be able to connect with you, you have got to put the time in to make yourself accessible!

Add email addresses to blogs and websites

Get a Twitter account

Post to your FB business page and Twitter atleast once a day!!

If you don’t understand why these things are important, I get that! There are companies (like us) who can take care of these types of things for you.

R&M Social Media can set up your Social Networking pages and maintain and grow each of them for you for 30 days! That’s what we do. Drop me an email at rmsocialmediadallas@gmail.com and let me know what you need. We can work out a campaign just for you!

Now, I hope I didn’t scare anyone away with my complaint, but I just wanted to clear that up! I feel much better now. LOL

Kibooku was originally established by Jamie Tosh, a Scottish father, whose 10-year-old daughter was involved in cyberbullying, as a safer social networking site for kids.

With stats indicating that one in five children are victims of “aggressive or unpleasant behavior” online, Jamie hoped to create a haven for kids – between the ages of 6 and 13 – interested in social networking; Kibooku would offer a safe space for kids to post updates and photos and play games.

In Jamie’s own words:

Most children reach the age where they start pestering their parents to join a chat room or social networking site, and amazingly, many parents are willing for them to lie about their age in order to sign up. The parents often think their child is safe by befriending them on the site and casually overseeing what they’re up to, but with Kibooku, we have put control firmly in the hands of parents. If parents choose not to be involved, the site simply shuts down in the interests of the child.

After a “soft launch,” which attracted significant and crucial feedback from users – including his own twin daughters – Jamie has now weaved a number of additional safety features into Kibooku’s design. He has simplified registration and incorporated a variety of popular online games.

From the outset, the parent and child have to register with the site together; this creates a control panel for both – with separate usernames and passwords. So, children cannot create their own page without their parent creating one first. Once established, kids have full access to it and can link with their friends through schools, hobbies, etc. Parents can monitor the account at any time, including friend requests and private messages. The system ensures that parents know who their child is in contact with and who might be attempting to contact them.

The parent is required to “verify” the child’s site every 15 days, checking all previous activity, or the page will close down. This means parents have a window within which to report any abuse or cyberbullying or any other concerns they may have about other users. By having this feature available, Kibooku ensures that parents remain active and involved with their children’s online activity.

Note: Kibooku requires all adults to provide credit/debit card verification (under 3D security), meaning the adult can be traced to an address. By paying an annual admin fee of just £3 (~$4.72 USD), a reduction on the pilot version, Kibooku will be allowed to crosscheck personal details in order to avoid false account set-ups that could lead to undesirable interactions with children sans any traceability.

Meanwhile, if the child deletes any content (as they might if they are being cyberbullied or intimidated), the parent receives a notification of that deleted content – something that would go unnoticed with other social media sites, as Jamie himself experienced when his daughter was being bullied online. Such alerts would give parents the opportunities to intervene if necessary. According to Jamie:

It’s important to stress that Kibooku isn’t just about safety – it’s about fun, creating a social networking site with a “grown-up” feel, something children will want to be part of until they are old enough to go elsewhere. With games and the facility to create events, such as birthday parties, post photos, and discuss everything from homework to holidays, the site is a cool place for youngsters to meet and exchange news, views, and fun. Nowadays, we’re often dissuading our children from talking to strangers, but on Kibooku, they can make new friends worldwide, searching by hobbies for example, and expanding their horizons and experiences – but all in a safer environment.

Kibooku donates 50p of each registration fee to the national charity, Cash for Kids, benefiting thousands of children across the UK.

The site has been welcomed by parents and children throughout the world.

Is Kibooku the social networking site for you child? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Photo: Courtesy of Kibooku

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle posed the question: “Can social networks keep kids safe?” This was in response to this week’s New York Times report of three separate sexual assault cases, involving underage users of the adult dating app, Skout.

Last year, a teen-only section, providing additional safeguards and parental controls, was added to the app when it was discovered that kids were accessing the service despite the age-restriction – a common practice not unknown to many of today’s technologically savvy social networkers. Consumer Reports have discovered that millions of minors already access sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, since the ban on all children under 13 is a difficult one to enforce – “[there] are an estimated 7.5 million kids under 13 on Facebook, out of more than 900 million users worldwide” (AP).

Facebook has announced its own plans for under-13 access earlier this month, “developing technology that would allow children younger than 13 to use the site under parental supervision” (WSJ). Since some kids have taken to lying about their ages on the site in order to create their own profiles and bypass the current age-restriction (there are even some parents who have assisted in this process), Facebook intends to allow kids the freedom of networking without the need to lie. The company has been testing ways to connect the accounts of kids under 13 to their parents’ accounts, enabling parents to decide who their kids “friend” and what applications they use.

Unfortunately, it is clear that added precautions provided for children aged 13-17 were not enough to prevent the abuses involved with Skout. Although startled and confused Skout managers were certain that they had implemented adequate safeguards, it may be safe to say that it’s not enough to simply tack on extra protections to a service that is primarily intended for adult use. While changes to Facebook’s policies on accessibility might make it seem as though children under 13 are being granted a safer means of social networking, what’s to stop the children from simply choosing to lie about their age in order to gain access to the raw, adult version of Facebook? What child would opt for parental control and a restriction of services? James Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, comments:

It’s common sense. This is what happens when sites and apps designed for adults open to children. […] They don’t understand this market well enough to create an age-appropriate experience, nor can they provide the protections that teens and children need.

Donna Rice Hughes, the chief executive of Enough is Enough, an online service that offers information to parents about online safety for children, suggests that sites open to use by children be established with an aim for child safety; it’s not enough to provide additional protections to a service primarily designed for adults. Such quick-solution tactics only open the door for abuse of the services.

The precautions should start before children under the age of 13 turn on the computer. Parents need to take the responsibility and discuss online dangers with their kids. Start with a talk. Monitor the activity. And be the parental control – the parent in control.

Below are the top five tips, provided by ePals, to keeping your kids engaged in safe social networking:

1. Understand the differences between consumer social media and social learning platforms.

“Social media tools for education take into account the safety and privacy of students and teachers and are focused on social learning, not just being social.”

2. Steer kids to safe and secure social networking sites.

“Find social networking sites with the TRUSTe seal and that have active tools such as content and language filters. Ensure that forums are screened for appropriate material that creates a safe and secure online environment. Only allow your kids to visit sites that are actively monitored to ensure a safe environment for kids.”

3. Prevent Cyberbullying.

“Teach your child how to recognize and avoid cyber bullies. Only allow your children to access sites where parents, guardians and teachers have the ability to set access levels. Should a student come across a cyber bully make sure they know to report it to a trusted adult – just like they would with a playground bully.” To read more about the dangers of Cyberbullying, click here.

4. Keep kids connected to learning over the summer, and extend summer reading activities.

“One of the biggest dangers of social networking is the potential to waste endless hours of time – make sure the social networking site your children use offers constructive learning experiences.”

5. Encourage your child/student to engage safely with and learn from students from other cultures around the world.

“To prepare children for the challenges and opportunities they face in our increasingly interconnected world, safe, social learning tools can help connect schools and students across the globe. K-12 social learning platforms now offer embedded language translation technology to help students break down language barriers and improve their language skills.”

To read the San Francisco Chronicle post, click here.

To read the New York Times report, click here.

Websites to visit:

www.commonsensemedia.org

www.enough.org

www.epals.com

What are some of your tips for protecting your kids online? Would you allow your children to use social networking sites if they’re still under 13? Please, share your thoughts in the comments section!

Photo: Poonsap

Gregg Brewer has a good reminder on the Agnesian HealthCare blog:

The very nature of social media encourages users to provide a certain amount of personal information. But when deciding how much information to reveal, people may not exercise the same amount of caution using social media as they would when meeting someone in person. This happens because:

• the Internet provides a sense of anonymity
• the lack of physical interaction provides a false sense of security
• they tailor the information for their friends to read, forgetting that others may see it.

The major drawback to social networking is that some users are simply sharing too much information. People can lose their jobs or a friendship over leaking information on social networks. Even if a user of a social site has her privacy settings on the highest level, their information can still be passed on by someone on their friends list. It doesn’t take much for an angry follower to copy and paste a status or download a picture if they are looking for revenge.

For parents, kids need to understand that if they reveal too much about their personal lives, it could lead to problems—like susceptibility to cyber bullies, online predators, invasion of privacy, and identity theft. These problems are not due to social networking, as they have been around since the advent of email and chat. But with social networking, the volume of content has grown and become much more personal and is easily seen by anyone. Set some limits and make a few rules for your children with regard to their online behavior, especially on social networking sites.” Get the rest here: Beware of sharing too much | In Good Health.

After prayer and sleepness nights and not being able to focus on the normal things of Life….. I finally FORCED myself to “let go” of Facebook a l little over 2 years ago…..  I realized that my life was better WITHOUT it than with it!! ( insert tears here ) LOL

Like any other relationship, who could forget all the nights of staying up until the late hours into the morning! Getting in the car, catching the subway, walking down the public street, getting waited on in a restaurant holding up the line, almost getting hit by cars and buses because I was so focused reading what you had to say or wrote on my time line, what new photos were being put up, where did you go last night, what were you planning for the day etc!! Who would want to give all of that up!! ( LOL )

Nonetheless, I had to grow up and realize that it was indeed taking a vicious toll on my life that I didn’t like! LOL Blogging is better and more therapeutic for ME anyway….. Being on social networking sites can be great but being on a “social” site everyday like IT IS APART OF YOUR DAILY ROUTINE is “not normal”……..  If you do not believe me check YOUR OWN routine and see how many SOCIAL sites you actively participate on.

Next to follow the league was Twitter. With facebook, social networking was a broad term and was considered as a tool that empowers you with unlimited freedom of expression. But Twitter had something else to offer. Twitter not only restricts users to post tweets with limited words number but also it gives limited freedom to share your photos. Also there is no tool to communicate with people directly through chats. And yet it has attained the status of Well-Liked app. The Twitter is probably the first social networking app that has broken the myth ” More the functionalities, better is the app”. It is high time for social networking companies to realize that more than features (such as games apps, themes, etc) , it is the ability to provide a more refined, diversified and far fetched social networking features and search model that matters (this is also one of the very reason that lead for the downfall of Orkut as it restricted the networking among the friends and there was no way to know about people that are your friends friend). Still the most puzzling point about twitter has been its stunning marketing, as twitter rose to popularity among the big wigs of industry which under my opinion drove many people to this social networking app.

After a time, Orkut was a dead meat and it was high time for Google to introduce something new. With phenomenal search engine power, Google introduced Google+.

This goes with the brief introduction for the family of social networking apps. However, my main highlight for this blog is Twitter. Many people are under a false illusion that for twitter it is all about limited words tweet, non-user-friendly photo sharing apps and nothing great to offer.

This blog highlights the unknown uses of twitter, tips combined with a few cross-platform apps that will show Twitter in an entirely new light. Also there is a brief analysis between Twitter and Facebook and how at times it has an upper-hand on facebook.

Twitter, the minimalist-format social network has built its reputation around its simplicity. For any user not friendly with twitter, the features it offers are; a tweet box to post a tweet with not more than 140 characters, tweets contain links to another site, photo or video, tweets can be retweeted, add to favorite or send as private message and that’s what puts an end to twitters description. Look more closely into Twitter and you will find a virtual appliance store of simple, utilitarian features, widgets, services that let users find interesting posts, create photo albums or search more efficiently. Yet unlike facebook, twitter’s power tools are easy to find and figure out.

Before we move on to discuss some powerful features provided by twitter, I would like to discuss its one most important feature that makes it such a huge hit. The power of HashTags (#). With a simple widget called “Like”, facebook rocked the social world and with hashtags twitter gave a new meaning to search. “The success behind any social networking app is its ability to provide networking features to easily connect people based on their likes, dislikes, professional skills or any other other thing that interest a person.” And this is where Twitter HashTag feature comes into play. A user can search tweets on a HashTagged keyword. The search hashtagged keyword can be related to his skills, hobbies or any other interest. This gives him/her power to search who all people have commented on that keyword and in case he/she likes that comment, then the user can follow that person and thus expand his/her social circle. Whereas, on facebook you cannot search people based on your parallel liking about skills or topics. HashTags have also become a great tool for digital marketing.

Companies create a unique twitter Id and share their thoughts, relevant articles and achievements. Any person can follow the company and a person is shown only the tweets posted by company or other tweets on which the company responded. This thus keeps the users away from unwanted tweets posted by other users on the company page.

Six Unknown Uses of Twitter

1. Make A Gallery

Share your photos and videos on twitter by registering yourself on http://twitpic.com. Upload pictures or videos using twitpic and in the caption hashtag the keywords related  to your picture or video. How can I make people browse my twitter photos? A good question from digital marketing point of view. This is possible with an independent site called Hashalbum. Register yourself on htttp://hashalbum.com and it will automatically group your twitter pics into seperate albums based on hashtags that is included in your tweet. Example: Suppose you post a pic from twitpic that has a link http://t.co/ibeBCrP5, now in your tweet mention the short link and add hashtags related to your picture i.e “This pic http://t.co/ibeBCrP5 is about how beautiful #nature is” and now you can find your pic in http://hashalbum.com/nature.

2. Do Power Searches

Twitter’s default search often returns too many results, mostly from the last few hours. To zero in on a specific entry, click on setting widget on top right side of your result page and this will take you to advanced search page. For more refined search you can use  http://topsy.com 

3. Jump to interesting stuff and read long posts

Two buttons next to home button are Connect and Discover. Connect is a one-click way to see everyone who is interacting with you and displays the list of people who recently followed you, mentioned you, retweeted your tweets or added one to favorites. Discover tries to figure out your personal interests based on your location, who you follow and what topics are hot. Twitter has also created an adhoc hashtag, #longreads  for posts that link to longer article. Just search #longreads followed by a specific word.

4. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Instead of clicking around the mouse there are nearly 20 keyboard commands that can be accessed from your twitter homepage, including ‘r’ to tweet a post, or ‘/’ to jump to search box, ‘g p’ to go to profile page, ‘s p’ to search posts that include links to photos and ‘s v’ to initiate similar search for videos.

5. Send tweet >140 characters and you can send tweets directly through Gtalk

The only disadvantage I face wid twitter is that I always end up writing long tweets and spend extra time in cut shorting them to fit my tweet in the 140 word count. Posting a message in two different tweets to compensate the word count also dilutes the meaning of the message. Now with twitlonger you can overcome this biggest obstacle. Head over to http://www.twitlonger.com and login to twitter. Now just type your tweet in the box provided below and post it. It will show your tweet till 140 words followed by a link to your complete tweet. Now I can say tweeting experience cannot get better than this. Also by logging to http://www.chitter.im by your Gmail ID and then to twitter for the app to get access. You will receive a friend request on Gtalk from chitter.im. Now any message you send to chitter.im will directly be tweeted on your behalf.

6. Find out who unfollows you and customize your Twitter backgrounds

To see who unfollow you, head over to http://twunfollow.com and sign in with your twitter account. Enter your email id and the service will notify you when someone unfollows you. You can also start following twitter account ‘unfollowr’ which will send you a direct message when someone unfollows you. To customize your background go to http://www.freetwitterdesigner.com and create your personalized twitter background with your own text, images and colors.

Lastly, a piece of advise for all the people who are planning to implement web 2.0 in any form of business, focus on giving people the freedom to connect with others on the basis of their liking, skills and other factors. Facebook still restricts people within their groups or subgroups i.e friends of friends. Twitter Hashtag is a powerful tool and with the use of above discussed apps, Tweeting on Twitter gets even better…!!!!!

P.S.: This blog is dedicated to a Sharp-witted, percipient and digital marketing savvy girl, who has interminably persuaded me and gave me confidence to share my knowledge and ideas through blogs and also provided me a deep insight into the digital marketing world. www.twitter.com/nishtha_dixit, I dedicate this blog to you.

]]> http://sherrylcook.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/please-follow-me/ Sun, 15 Jul 2012 03:45:51 +0000 sherrylcook http://sherrylcook.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/please-follow-me/ http://startingyourbiz.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/56-ways-to-market-your-business-on-pinterest/ Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:17:35 +0000 James C. Johnson http://startingyourbiz.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/56-ways-to-market-your-business-on-pinterest/

English: Red Pinterest logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Beth Hayden is a blogging coach and Pinterest marketing convert. You can follow her pins at @bethhayden.

In case you’ve been living in a mountain cave in Bhutan for the past couple of months, Pinterest is a relatively new social networking site that allows users to create online image collages, then quickly and easily share those collages — called “pinboards” — with other Pinterest users.

It’s fun, easy, and catching on like wildfire right now.

Part of Pinterest’s appeal is that it’s beautiful. Enter the lovely world of Pinterest, and all the troubles of your day-to-day life just seem to slip away in a stream of perfect little black dresses, baby otters, and cherubic children who never seem to get dirty or mouth off to their parents.

Because it’s image-based, the core of Pinterest is overwhelmingly positive. I like to think of Pinterest as Facebook without the whining.

Yes, Pinterest is beautiful. And yes, its users love it. But don’t let all the hearts and flowers fool you. Behind those lovely images, Pinterest is fast becoming a heavy hitting marketing tool for brands and businesses … like yours.

Let’s take a quick look at why this is, and then we’ll get into 56 specific Pinterest tactics you can use to your own marketing advantage.

Read the full story on CopyBlogger.com

Related articles

• How to Use Articles and Pinterest to Market Your Business (dreamgrow.com)
• Not On Pinterest? This Chart May Change Your Mind (customerthink.com)
• What the Heck Is Pinterest and Why Should You Care? Let Us Tell You. (blogs.constantcontact.com)

Expanded Customer Service

Customers are the fuel of any enterprise and social networks have done an extraordinary job in bringing together people from different walks of life, living locally and abroad, into one portal. Consumer social networking lets consumers address their questions and concerns about a product or service and lets the business respond timely in return. The range of feedback also gives the business a sampling of their market, providing the business leverage in knowing where to improve on and which of their marketing strategy works.

Advising Customers About New Products and Services

Reading a Twitter message doesn’t take 10 seconds but the site is popular enough to get a message across to a group who know another group and another group ad infinitum. A business web page can also be streamlined to highlight the freshest products and services it has to offer to its followers and possibly to others who are interested in its latest outing or teaser. Social networking sites gives businesses a platform to list down their advantages over competitors and highlight facets of the product that consumers are looking for.

A Way to Reward Consumers

Taking customer service a step further, businesses can use consumer social networking to reward customers who have been loyal to their products. Through specials or loyalty programs, businesses can attract more customers and keep the existing ones satisfied as they get to own not just their initial buy but more than what they expected. If they tell their friends and families about how cool a brand is for that, the better.

Introducing a Product Through Different Media

By using social networking sites, businesses can advertise products from photos to videos to write-ups. The additional feedback contributed by consumers adds to the knowledge of potential customers who might be looking for more reasons to convince them to finally purchase.

There are various ways to introduce a product and get in touch with customers but not every one of them may be effective. One way businesses can learn about this aspect is through consumer social networking which serves both a way to relate with customers and advertise a product. By taking advantage of this trend, businesses not only level with the customers but also share the good points of their product in more ways than one.

Julian Hartley is a social media consultant for one of the top talent management firm, DianliC.com.

The 7 users have been identified as Linda Milton who works at a DMV office in Kansas city, Alex Jones a truck driver from Oklahoma, Ming Lee and Xu Tang from Philipines, Jose Xavier from Mexico (or Arizona) and Paresh Patel from India (no surprise as one in every six people is an Indian). The 7th user is still unidentified (most likely from Pakistan).

For more than 3 years these 7 users have been scouring Orkut looking for new friends and searching for updates. Alex was still trying to find out if Hillary won the primary nomination for the Democratic party against Obama. Ming and Xu have been spending their time poking and nudging each other and Linda is reportedly taking anti-depressants to overcome her boredom despite the fact that Paresh has been hitting on Linda for more than 3 years. Linda reported ignored and blocked his Friend Requests more than a 3,000 times.Activities of the 7th user are still unknown. The CBI has launched a special inquiry to find out more about his/her whereabouts.

Related articles

• So there’s yet Another Social Network. (deshpandechirag.wordpress.com)
• Facebook overtakes Orkut for No. 1 in Brazil (nextlevelofnews.com)
• Orkut – Brazil and India’s top social site (vodafone.com.au)