New e-Book Reveals How to Achieve Social Media Success

“Likes,” “Shares” and “ReTweets” are terms synonymous with a successful brand.

Social media, an extremely effective marketing medium, helps brands reach people on a large scale. In today’s world, public relations campaigns must utilize social media to increase brand awareness and grow consumer demand.

To teach garden brands how to properly convey marketing messages over social media, we released our latest free e-Book, “How The Espoma Company Bloomed: A Social Media Case Study.” The e-Book outlines the best practices for monitoring and posting to a variety of social sites.

Enter Suntory's 'Big Bad' Patio Contest!

Suntory Flowers and Big Bad Flower have teamed up to launch the Big Bad Patio Pinterest Contest. From Aug. 3 to 17, Pinterest Users can create their own board showing off their ultimate summer patios to win one of three gift certificates from Big Bad Flower. Winners will receive a $150, $50 or $25 gift certificate to Big Bad Flower!

 

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Read Contest Rules & Regulations

Pinterest Boosts Press Release Results

Pinterest recently became the third-most-popular social network in the world with 11-plus million users.

You're already using SEO to drive your press releases, but how can you use Pinterest to expand your reach? Try these tips:

1. Add an infographic to your release, then pin it.
Infographics are hot. Our clients are starting to use them more and more to help explain useful or helpful information to their customers.  Including a relevant infographic with your press release is still an unusual way to give media and news outlets a visual to go with the story.
For inspiration, try searching using the keyword "infographic." Our favorite is this one about the benefits of gardening.

Run the infographic with your wire release, embed it in your email and BE SURE to upload it on Pinterest, with a hyperlink to the full release.

No inforgraphic? Use a captivating or beautiful photo to achieve similar results!

2. Create a Pinterest newsroom
If you are pinning one press release, why not create a corporate newsroom pinboard to showcase it, along with your other media/news assets? It can mirror your website's newsroom, or enhance it with fresh material. Here is a great example from MGM Resorts.

In addition to press releases and infographics, your newsroom pinboard should include news clips, company blog posts, short pitches or expert opinion comments and video.  Video goes a long way on the web.

Another powerful media tool is an executive staff pinboard, which links headshot photos to biographies, bylined articles, and other content that demonstrates their credibility as an expert resource.

When you quote them in a press release, try linking their name directly to their pinboard for added oomph.

3. Create a pinboard that fits your infographic or news topic.
This capitalizes on search traffic and creates a natural platform for your news and/or infographic.
For example, if your press release is about a fabulous new plant or an event being held at your local garden center, look online for inspiration.  A pinboard on "Fall Festivals" or "New Plants for Spring" or "Garden Trends", might target your audience nicely and complement the topic of your release/infographic.

If your press release launches a new software product, then pinning screen captures and packaging photography might be a great start to your board.

4. Optimize the pin using the same keywords optimized in your press release.
SEO is your best friend on Pinterest. Google likes Pinterest and ranks pages high, sometimes within a few days.  Including targeted keywords from your release can magically propel your pin visibility—and thus your press release—so it's well worth the minor time investment.

Amplify your news results when you optimize your pins for the same keywords used in your release. How? Just include the same primary keyword in the title of your pinboard, wrap them into the description of each pin, then add them as a hashtag.

5. Use Pinterest for free market research.
Not only is Pinterest valuable as a post-distribution strategy, but it can spark great ideas for trend releases and bylined article topics. First, use Pinterest to identify what is being repinned and liked. Create a pinboard around a popular topic, optimize it for search, then support it with a trends or expert opinion press release that links right back to your Pinterest board. Voila—newsworthy content on a very hot topic!

If you're looking for more tips on how to maximize your garden business using Pinterest, download our free e-book:

 

-Katie

Using Pinterest for the Garden Industry

Garden Media Free E-Book

Pinterest has captured the attention of the media and the masses alike since its inception in 2010. But, some businesses are still left wondering how to use Pinterest to increase their social reputation. 

In this free Pinterest for Businesses e-book from Garden Media, businesses can learn how to create a Pinterest account, grow followers, attract attention, improve click-thrus and spread the word about new products or services.

For those not in the know, Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate, and discover new interests by posting, or ‘pinning,’ images or videos to boards. Its ease of use for visually bookmarking, organizing and sharing things has made it a hit - 11.7 million unique U.S. hits to be exact - according to Pinterest’s Wikipedia page.

For me, Pinterest is about finding Do-It-Yourself projects. I pin pictures of beautiful gardens, hot upcoming trends and decorating ideas to the Garden Media Pinterest board, as a reminder about what’s cool in the lawn and garden industry. 

Garden Media Pinterest Board

I started using Pinterest as a virtual idea board for wedding planning. It's a lot cheaper and cleaner than tearing out pages from magazines. 

Now at Garden Media, we’re looking at what’s happening in Europe and Asia. We’re pinning photos of what we think is going to make a ripple in garden and outdoor living.  

Our Pinterest e-book suggests capitalizing on the popularity of info graphics, which do very well on Pinterest. If you have any industry data that you can visualize, do so before someone beats you to it.

You can hold contests, add the ‘Pin It’ button to your website, and let other users contribute their own pins to your business pinboard -- especially if their content includes your product.

2013 Garden Trends

The trick to succeeding on Pinterest is not showing off your products and services directly. It is about finding creative ways to show how those products and services fit into the lifestyles of your target audience.

Even though the site’s current users are about 70 percent female, Pinterest is continuing to grow. Early this year, it became the third most-popular social network, behind Facebook and Twitter, according to a report by Experian Marketing Services. 

Bottom line: Pinterest helps drive traffic to your website, so if a business isn’t playing in this social space, it’s missing out.  

 

For more information on Garden Media visit http://www.gardenmediagroup.com.
-Katie @KatieGMG

GMG Monday Espresso: Social Media Engagement Tactics Shared at PR News' Digital PR Summit

Steve Goldstein, of PR News, recently attended the PR News' Digital PR Summit in San Francisco on Feb. 16.

Afterwards, he reports that “there's no silver bullet for proving the value of social media—it all comes down to the business goals.”

He says the recurring theme of the PR Summit was digital PR tactics and tools that best measure success.

“There is one commonality—a silver bullet, if you will—that all communicators should invest in,” he says. “Engagement on both massive and intimate scales, and engagement comes down to sharing passions, interests and content.”

He says that the 250 attendees at the Digital PR Summit were reminded time and again that the total number of followers or likes can be an empty, meaningless metric, and misses the point of social media.

"Don’t focus on increasing likes, focus on building relationships," said Chris Lagan, chief of social media, U.S. Coast Guard. "10,000 brand ambassadors is better than a million likes."

Another tip shared by several presenters: Stay attuned to key trends and connect with those subjects and topics that already resonate with people. In other words, request an invitation to join Pinterest today.

For the full story and more insights click here. Follow Steve Goldstein: @SGoldsteinAI

Suzi
GardenMediaGroup.com

A Beautiful Season for Pinning!

I have recently started using Pinterest to keep track of things that inspire me.   What is Pinterest you ask?  It is a web pinboard.    When you see cool things on the web, or while you are out and about you can snap a photo and pin them on your board to share them with the world.   I do stumble on a lot of decor ideas in my travels and I have pinned a bunch of photos.   Below you can see the Garden Media Group's real pinboard on the second floor of our office! 

There are some fantastic plant, gardening and landscape design pin boards.  Are you following any cool ones?  Check out my boards and give me your thoughts.

Garden Media Group's Wall of Inspiration

Spotted this fab table!

I like birds on just about anything!