Archive for photo marketing
How to Enhance Your Instagram Web Profile for Improved Exposure
How to Enhance Your Instagram Web Profile for Improved Exposure
Does your business use Instagram?
Have you checked out Instagram since they released user profiles on the web?
Previously, the Instagram website only let users edit their account information (and also hosted the company’s blog).
But all that changed with the recent introduction of web profiles.
Here’s what marketers need to know.
Why Instagram Web Profiles Matter
These new profiles act as an extension of the Instagram mobile app, with users now being able to comment, follow, like and view other photos on the web.
Brands, marketers and users alike can use these web profiles to encourage engagement and interaction outside of the mobile app.
An example of the new Instagram web profiles.
For community managers, it’s a plus to have the ability to update and manage your accounts on the web. Having said that, Instagram web profiles aren’t necessarily a game-changer.
Instead, you’ll want to use the new web profiles in conjunction with the Instagram mobile app.
What’s Missing in the New Web Profiles
If you’re already familiar with the mobile version of Instagram, you’ll notice some differences on the web profiles. Here are some initial drawbacks of the web profiles you should be aware of:
- There’s no search. That means searching for hashtags and specific users isn’t available. However, usernames are links and allow you to hop from profile to profile.
- Hashtags display as plain text, so you can’t bring up photos associated with specific hashtags. Twitter-like hashtags are the best way to get your Instagram photos seen on the mobile app, but their use is disabled with web profiles. You’ll still see them in photo descriptions and comments, but they aren’t links.
Hashtags appear as plain text on web profiles.
- You can’t see followers/following lists. Despite web profiles displaying follower and following counts, users are currently unable to see exactly which users these are.
- There’s no Popular page. If you enjoy seeing the photos on Instagram that are drawing the most attention, you’ll have to turn to the mobile app.
- Photo maps aren’t available. Many Instagram users choose to geo-tag their photos using the mobile app, but you won’t find these maps anywhere on the web. Instead, geo-tag information is shown with photos, such as the name of a location.
- You can only edit your profile picture through the mobile app.
Because of these downsides, you’ll want to consider using third-party websites like Statigram and Webstagram to grow an Instagram community through strategies like contests, giveaways, insights and promotions.
What Web Profiles Do Feature
While many features from the mobile app haven’t yet made their way to the web, Instagram web profiles do have:
- A Facebook-like cover collage at the top of your profile that features a rotating selection of your Instagram photos. Clicking a photo while it’s displayed in the cover collage will bring up that photo’s separate page.
- Follow and Unfollow buttons.
- Your profile biography. Be forewarned, if you’re using Emoji icons in your biography on the mobile app, these will not display on web profiles.
- A website URL of your choosing.
- Your account’s number of photos, as well as follower and following counts.
- An infinite-scroll timeline of your photos, separated chronologically by month.
- The ability to edit your profile settings, including your name, email address, username, phone number, sex, birthday, biography and website.
- A section where you can manage applications that have been given permission to access your Instagram account.
- Badges, which you can use to link to and promote your web profile.
Find Your Web Profile
First you’ll want to sign up for an Instagram account if you don’t already have one. Once you have your account, it’s easy to find your Instagram web profile. Any user can get to his or her web profile by going to instagram.com/username.
You can also find your web profile by logging in through the Instagram homepage:
- Click Your Account in the footer.
- Use your username and password to log in.
- Click your profile image and username in the upper right.
- Select View Profile.
Tips to Maximize Your Instagram Web Profile
There are over 100 million users on Instagram, and if your branded or personal account is one of them, then you’ll want to maximize and utilize your account’s new web profile right away.
Here’s how.
#1: Understand the Increased Importance of Image Links
Chances are you’ve seen Instagram links in tweets. Images from Instagram also used to appear within tweets until Instagram recently removed support for Twitter cards.
Instagram links like this appear when photos are shared from the mobile app to Twitter. However, images no longer appear below the tweet.
What this means is that more Twitter users will be clicking these Instagram image links, and these links lead directly to Instagram web profiles.
For instance, here’s where you’ll be taken if the Instagram link in the above tweet is clicked:
This is an example of an image page on Instagram web profiles.
An Instagram image link has always led back to a page featuring the image, its number of likes and its comments. But in contrast to the old pages, the new web profiles allow Instagram users who are signed into their accounts the ability to comment and/or like an image directly on the web—no mobile app needed.
Marketers can use this knowledge as an opportunity to promote more interaction among fans.
Besides Twitter, others will find their way to web profiles using these image links when Instagram images are shared to Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Tumblr and through email.
This means you need to optimize your web profile to get the most out of the traffic you’ll get through these links.
#2: Add a Website Link to Your Profile
If you haven’t added a link to your profile through the mobile Instagram app yet, then you’ll certainly want to take care of that using the web profiles.
Not only does adding a link increase visibility for your website, it also provides SEO value (despite being a no-follow link, it still sends a signal to search engines).
Just like the mobile app, your website’s URL will appear next to your biography section.
To insert your link through the Instagram website:
- Click your profile image and username in the upper right.
- Click Edit Profile.
- Enter your website’s URL in the last field on the page.
If you’re using Instagram as the manager of a branded account, you’ll likely want this link to be the brand’s homepage.
On the other hand, if you’re editing your personal Instagram account, link to a network like about.me, Facebook, Flickr or Twitter so that other Instagram users can learn more about you.
#3: Check Your Privacy Settings
Instagram users who like to keep their account set to private need not worry about privacy issues with web profiles.
According to Instagram, if you have a private profile, your photos will only be visible to logged-in followers you’ve approved. This also means that only those followers can comment and like your photos on the web.
Moreover, search engines are not allowed to index Instagram photos—whether your account is private or not.
This is how a private account will appear on the web to anyone not following that account.
Remember that if you’re managing a branded account, you’ll want to make sure the account and its photos are public. This setting can currently only be changed through the mobile app by going to your profile, tapping the settings icon and turning off the Photos Are Private option.
#4: Manage Applications
If you’ve been an Instagram user for a while, check out the Manage Applications section under Edit Profile.
Instagram will bring up a list of applications you’ve authorized to access your account. Some you’ll remember, some you probably won’t.
To get rid of any unwanted permissions, simply click Revoke Access next to the application name.
Each application will list the permissions you’ve granted.
#5: Install an Instagram Badge on Your Website
Instagram recently rolled out badges for users to promote web profiles. To find them, go to Edit Profile and click Badges in the navigation bar on the left.
There are five buttons to choose from. Once you select the badge you’d like, simply copy the automatically generated code and paste it on your website or blog. The badge will link back to your account’s web profile.
If you don’t like the premade badges, Instagram offers a download of its camera icon logo so you can make your own badge.
This is an excellent chance for brands to promote a web profile on their homepage with other social buttons.
#6: Don’t Forget about Mobile
While Instagram’s new web profiles are a great addition, don’t forget that the mobile app is really Instagram’s bread and butter.
Instagram communities rely heavily on hashtags and geo-tagging—which only the mobile app currently offers.
Still, web profiles provide another wonderful platform to engage with customers, fans and friends.
Take a Look at Instagram Web Profiles
Instagram is a great way for businesses to leverage their visual marketing. If you’re already using this platform, be sure to get the most out of these new web profiles. And if your business is not yet using Instagram, you may want to evaluate whether it’s now a good fit for you.
What do you think of the Instagram web profiles? Have you used them to manage your account(s)? Are you happy with the direction Instagram is going after its sale to Facebook? Leave your questions and comments below.
4 Businesses Leveraging Storytelling With Images
Have you noticed the importance of images in social media?
Do you use images to tell stories about your business?
Keep reading to discover four creative uses of images with social media.
Why Images Now?
The way we use images is changing.
Instead of taking photographs at important life events and sharing them with a few family and friends, we’re uploading them to our social media pages, sharing them with companies and broadcasting them to the world.
“Pictures or it didn’t happen” is our new mantra. And these days, images aren’t just something you look at—they’re the center of most of our engagements online as people share, comment and engage with image creators.
“We’ve now entered a phase in which visual communication is supplanting the written word,” says Bob Lisbonne, CEO of Luminate and former SVP of Netscape in the 1990s. “What some are now calling the dawn of the Imagesphere.”
On Facebook, up to 250 million photographs are uploaded every day, and those photographs are prominently featured on the social media platform.
A post that includes an album or picture receives 120-180% more engagement from fans than a text-based post.
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It provides a platform to discover and share things you love.
The fact that Pinterest has shot to social media super-stardom thanks to its image-based platform and the surging popularity of infographics (displaying written content in a visual way) both point toward one conclusion—consumers want images, and lots of them.
Digital strategist Justin Goldsborough explains the importance of brands incorporating visual storytelling into their marketing strategy.
“Society responds more to visual stimuli and storytelling than any story we read in a magazine or on a website. And the same goes for status updates and content curation.
It’s not enough anymore to live tweet from a conference or corporate event. Customers are now saying: ‘Don’t just tell me. Show me.’ And brands better listen. Or 2012 will be the year they got left behind.”
The good news is that visual storytelling isn’t a high-cost strategy. Consumers aren’t looking for the highest-quality visual content. Consumers want stories told in a visual way that encourage, engage, enlighten and entertain.
Here are four businesses using images to show their readers what they do.
#1: The Story of the Future—General Electric
General Electric is one company utilizing the storytelling aspect of visual media. The brand has a thriving Tumblr blog that consists of photographs and video, with short text captions containing the relevant hashtags.
The General Electric images are popular because they tell a story. Each image explores something new or interesting about technology, from parts of prototypes to footage of planes, trains and automobiles.
Share details of the story in the image captions.
Fans respond to the images because they offer insights into the changing face of technology, while often being humorous or visually stunning.
Use pictures to get readers interested in what you have to say.
These aren’t professionally produced photographs costing thousands of dollars from high-ranking digital agencies, but lo-fi, often fan-produced, point-and-shoot images of engine bits, airplanes, locomotives and other high-tech gadgets.
Throw in an Instagram filter and you’ve created a series of artistic images that tell a story about innovation in science and technology. You’ve also got an exciting social platform where fans engage with the brand through commenting and sharing on their own networks.
#2: User-Generated Stories—Target
A recent Target advertising campaign used the same concept, only with video. Target created a commercial from home videos of real students opening their college acceptance letters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDXdHVw-yM
The use of real people telling real stories in a powerful, visual medium meant the campaign resonated with people all over the country, and enabled a mega-company like Target to build that personal relationship with their customers through visual storytelling.
#3: Living Your Target Market—PopCosmo
But mega-companies aren’t the only ones benefitting from the trend of visual storytelling.
Louisville resident Kim Gordon and her 15-year-old daughter Chloe created the PopCosmo site in 2011 as a trend-spotting site for teens showing off the latest fashion, beauty, makeup and lifestyle tips.
Immediately they saw the value in Pinterest as a way to generate interest in their site.
Chloe runs the social media platforms for PopCosmo, and her content focuses on providing visual inspiration and useful DIY tutorials—both types of media Pinterest users love.
Her images for the PopCosmo site and social media pages focus on helping teens stay trendy in fun, creative ways.
Create visual inspiration for your audience.
According to Kim, Pinterest accounts for half of the referral traffic to PopCosmo and 20% of the site’s overall traffic.
“When a pin goes viral,” says Kim, “it can alter our web stats for months.”
And Kim and Chloe’s visual storytelling savvy doesn’t just extend to their own pinboard—they encourage their readers to spread the word about their site through images.
One article on their site, a tutorial on creating French manicures, has been pinned over 380,000 times, and that’s not even including likes or re-pins.
Use fun and creative pictures to grab your readers' attention.
#4: Visual Storytelling and the Personality Brand—Gala Darling
Gala Darling, New Zealand-born-blogger-turned-New-York-maven and digital entrepreneur, is also making a splash with her approach to visual storytelling. Gala’s blog, is a combination of fashion and lifestyle inspiration wrapped up in a sexy, sparkly bow, and this branding extends to her visual social media pages.
She has created a brand out of her personality, and every image and video she uploads to her site, Vimeo, Instagram or Pinterest serves to solidify her sparkly personality brand.
Her visuals are a huge part of the brand she’s created, and she’s not afraid to create a character for herself and express it visually. In her keynote speech at NEPABlogCon, Gala said,
“We create our own fairytales. We write our own epic sagas, we distribute our own fantasies.”
Let your personality shine through the photos you share.
How to Leverage Visual Storytelling
Whatever the size of your business, visual storytelling is a marketing technique that can bring you increased exposure, better customer engagement and retention, and more sales.
The key to success is to create visual features that tell a story about your company, industry or niche. What is interesting or entertaining to you will probably also be enjoyed by your fans and customers.
Kim Gordon’s advice for small business owners is to “Pin what you love. People who like the same thing will find you and spread the word.”
Here are some of the top tips for creating visual content that tells a story:
- Images don’t have to be professionally shot, but use images that are colorful, well-balanced and interesting.
- Add “Pin it!” and other social sharing buttons to your website, so your fans can spread the word.
- Find ways to involve fans—perhaps a competition where fans create their own meme or send in pictures of themselves using your product.
- Decide on the story you want to tell with your images.
- Focus on your customers. What images would they find useful, entertaining and inspiring?
- Focus initially on one visual social media website and learn how to utilize this site before moving to another.
What do you think? How will you incorporate visual storytelling into your marketing strategy? What role do visuals play in your social media campaigns? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business
Are you thinking about putting your business on Instagram?
Are you looking for content ideas for this increasingly popular mobile social platform?
Read further to discover how you can use Instagram to give your business extra visibility and better engage with the Instagram community.
What Is Instagram?
Instagram is a free mobile photo-sharing app with 80 million users and counting. It has seen many changes lately.
Instagram was acquired by Facebook in April 2012, launched a redesign on iOS that includes a new “Explore” tab and is rumored to be developing a web presence (so that users can see photos online, not just on the mobile app).
A view of Instagram's interface in iOS.
Social media management platform HootSuite also recently announced the addition of Instagram to its app directory. This gives HootSuite users access to almost all of Instagram’s features, which include searching, viewing and liking content, adding comments and sharing photos to other social platforms.
Clearly, Instagram is an up-and-coming photo-focused social platform not to be ignored. So what can your brand do with it?
Here are 10 creative ways your business can use Instagram.
#1: Show Your Products
Everyone loves to browse products, so let your followers do some mobile window-shopping! Show off a collection of the products you offer, share a photo of a new or lesser-known product or zoom in on a product and engage your Instagram followers by asking them to guess what it is.
Got a service-oriented business?
Show off some of the equipment and supplies that play a role in the services you provide. For example, fitness trainers could show off their favorite workout equipment, photographers could reveal their most prized camera lens and mechanics might give us a look at their most sophisticated diagnostic equipment.
Rogue Ales, a craft brewery based in Newport, Oregon with over 3,000 Instagram followers, shared a photo of its many varieties of ales, porters, lagers, stouts and spirits, effectively reminding fans that they have something for everyone.
Rogue Ales shows off its beer selection.
#2: Show How It’s Made
The longevity of the show How It’s Made is a testament to our curiosity about where our manufactured goods come from.
Let followers in on the origins of their favorite products with snapshots taken at various points in the manufacturing process. If that process is a long one, you might consider making it a multi-part post that follows the process from planning to production to delivery.
Bloomington, Indiana-based Oliver Winery used another app such as PicStitch or PhotoGrid to create a collage of photos to demonstrate how its wine goes into its bottles.
Oliver Winery takes its Instagram followers through its bottling process.
#3: Go Behind the Scenes
Getting ready to launch or promote products and services is hard work, but presents many opportunities to get some great content for Instagram. Doing a photo shoot for a catalog or ad? Filming a commercial? Getting made-up for a media interview? Or getting ready to step out on the red carpet?
These are moments that very few people get to experience in real life. Think of Instagram as a way to give all of your followers an exclusive backstage pass!
The fashion-forward retailer Nordstrom treated its 27K Instagram followers to a rare look at what goes into the production of its catalog.
Nordstrom takes fans along on a photo shoot.
#4: Show What Your Products Can Do
Sometimes our imagination only takes us so far. Use Instagram to create demand by helping consumers imagine new or novel uses for what you offer.
This is also a perfect opportunity to invite user-generated content. Have fans submit their own photos demonstrating creative use of your products and pick the best ones to post on Instagram.
If your business provides a service like makeup or hair design, landscaping, decorating, auto body repair or interior design, show your Instagram followers the impact of your work with a shot of your subject before and after you work your magic. The side-by-side comparison will add the wow factor to your Instagram content and maybe even get you a few new customers.
Cosmetics retailer Sephora used Instagram to spotlight an unusual product that most of us do not have in our makeup bags, giving followers a better idea of how it might look out of the package and on someone’s lashes.
Sephora helps makeup enthusiasts imagine what it would look like to don lashes with spots and highlights.
#5: Give a Sneak Peek
Everyone likes to be the first to know… well… anything. Make your Instagram followers feel special and give them exclusive previews of products and services, or virtual tours of your new stores, production facilities or offices in the making. Things never seen before make for particularly shareable content, so be sure to publish the post to Facebook and Twitter as well, since Instagram does not yet have a sharing or reposting function.
Makers of rugged bags and footwear Keen posted a picture of its future headquarters in the midst of construction to satisfy the curiosity of those who might be wondering where their favorite shoes will be coming from.
Keen shows off its future home.
#6: Show Your Office
People who follow their favorite brands on social media have probably asked at one time or another, “I wonder what it’d be like to work there?” Well, show them!
Post photos that provide a glimpse of a-day-in-the-life at your office—work areas, the corporate gym or play-field, decked-out cubicles, brainstorming meetings in progress, training sessions, employees at lunch, employees at play—the opportunities here are countless.
If you’re hiring, be sure to point people to your online job postings in the caption.
Beloved online shoe store Zappos shows fans that even its employees work in cubicle-land, albeit a very fun, colorful one that matches its friendly brand personality.
Zappos shares a glimpse of its colorful workspace.
#7: Take Us With You
Going to a trade-show or sponsoring an event? Use that as an opportunity to take your Instagram followers with you wherever you’re going.
Followers in those locations will be tickled to know you’re in their neighborhood. Folks can also get a better feel for your brand by learning about the events or causes you attend, support or sponsor.
Major League Soccer team the Seattle Sounders gave fans an off-field glimpse of its players doing something quite ordinary, standing around waiting at an airport with luggage in hand.
The Seattle Sounders soccer team takes its fans along to LAX.
#8: Introduce Your Employees
Humanize your brand by using Instagram to introduce your fans to the people who make your company what it is.
Spotlighted employees will enjoy the recognition (and a few seconds of fame) and Instagram followers will get a chance to see the people behind the brand. You might even want to make this profile an ongoing campaign that takes fans around the office to meet staff serving a variety of roles within your company.
Be sure to punch up the post and share a little about each employee in the caption.
Keen put a human face to its brand with a shot of a spreadsheet-wielding employee.
Keen employee at work.
#9: Share Celebrity Sightings
Let’s face it. We live in a society that is crazy about celebrities—we know who they’re dating, what they’re eating and where they go to vacation.
Cash in on celebrity cachet and share pictures of them interacting with your brand, whether they’re signing autographs at your sponsored event, speaking, visiting your office or even using your products or services. These posts will be sure to get followers talking.
Sony Electronics shared a photo from a celebrity appearance at an Xperia event to grab the attention of Maroon 5 fans on Instagram.
Sony shares a shot of Maroon 5 signing autographs at one of its events.
#10: Share the Cuteness
There is no denying the appeal of animals in social media. Lolcats, Cute Overload and the countless other awwwww-inducing blogs out there are proof that there is capital in cuteness.
Whether they’re pets visiting the office, starring in your ads or animals sporting your schwag, never miss an opportunity to get a snapshot to share on Instagram. Our furry friends can be counted on to get likes and comments from followers.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art gave its followers the warm fuzzies (and collected many likes) with a photo of a dog sporting an SFMOMA t-shirt.
Canine decked out in SFMOMA schwag.
What do you think? Do you follow brands on Instagram? What creative uses of Instagram have you seen from your favorite brands? Leave your comments in the box below.
9 Small Business Social Media Success Stories
Are you curious what small businesses are doing to achieve success with social media marketing? Look no further.
This article highlights nine small businesses of various sizes and industries that have transformed their online presence with innovative social media marketing practices.
You’re guaranteed to find inspiration for your social media marketing efforts here.
These tactics will work for just about any business—from solopreneur to multi-employee manufacturer. So let’s dive in!
#1: JarvieDigital Photography
Scott Jarvie takes world-class wedding and nature photographs and he has trained a number of photographers using his unique methods. He’s even had a photographic method named after him: The Jarvie Window.
The Jarvie Window has generated interest in Scott's photography around the world.
As a photographer, you would expect Scott to have exceptional photos on his site, and he does. But he uses them on both Facebook and Google+ to create personal engagement and promote his products and services. In fact, Scott has developed different engagement strategies for each platform.
On Scott's personal Google+ profile, he is highly engaged through sharing resources and commenting.
On his Google+ business page, Scott features his photo services.
While Scott is a premium photographer and trainer, he demonstrates his expertise and generosity to photographers worldwide through sharing resources on his website and through his social sites.
Scott not only shares valuable resources, he also promotes the work of his students—a great way to show social love.
Key Takeaways
- Differentiate your social strategies on your personal profile(s) from your business pages.
- Freely share resources with your fans as a way to grow your fan base and your perceived expertise.
#2: The Prospecting Expert: A Consultant
Steve Kloyda founded The Prospecting Expert, a business-to-business consulting firm that helps salespeople with their prospecting skills. He has developed a powerful social presence through the use of video and podcasts.
Steve provides valuable content through a regular podcast show and video channel. Notice also the use of social sharing buttons.
One thing Steve understands is branding. Through the use of his photo and logo, he has created a consistent look and feel across all of his social channels.
Steve's brand is instantly recognizable. Notice also the friendly picture—important when your face is your brand.
One ninja trick executed by Steve is the creation of an iPhone app for distributing his content. While it could cost from hundreds to several thousands of dollars, the marketing benefit of having your content delivered straight to your users’ mobile devices could be invaluable.
Let your customers directly access your content on their mobile devices with a customized app.
Key Takeaways
- Start a podcast or video show for delivering your content.
- Keep your branding consistent across all of your social platforms.
- Develop an app for delivering content to your mobile customers.
#3: Coconut Bliss: An Ice Cream Company
Coconut Bliss is an organic dessert company based in Eugene, Oregon. Their products have become widely popular due to their social media practices.
Coconut Bliss conveys a fun, social brand through rotating photos on their home page.
Technorati discovered in their 2011 State of the Blogosphere report that bloggers use photos more than any other type of media (80% use photos, around 50% use videos and many fewer for all other formats). Coconut Bliss makes an effective use of fun and friendly pictures to show customers eating their dessert products.
Coconut Bliss integrates photos across social platforms.
Coconut Bliss makes an effective use of promotions to engage their fans. In this year’s Veggie Awards, they were able to partner with VegNews to offer a unique prize to Coconut Bliss fans while also getting partnership in a much larger promotion to all readers of VegNews. Two smart strategies: contests and partnerships.
Key Takeaways
- Invest in a decent camera and learn how to take captivating pictures.
- Integrate photos across all of your social platforms.
- Make strategic use of contests and partnerships to grow your fan base.
#4: JamaicansMusic: An Online Music Channel
Casey Hibbard highlighted JamaicansMusic in a Social Media Examiner post, but they have some unique social practices worth emulating. After all, they have achieved astronomical growth through smart social media practices—1.5 million new fans in 4 months!
When visiting the JamaicansMusic website, one instantly gets the feeling that this is a social company. In fact, there are three different places on their home page to connect socially.
Make it easy to connect socially, especially if there are multiple offers on your home page.
By providing contests, free music, games and other valuable resources, JamaicansMusic has given their Facebook fans lots of reasons to revisit their page—and tell their friends about it.
When playing this creative songwriting game, JamaicansMusic offers fans more ways to connect socially.
Key Takeaways
- Provide fans multiple reasons for returning to your site by offering games, contests and valuable content.
- Give visitors lots of opportunities to connect socially.
#5: SEOMoz: A Software Company
SEOMoz is a search engine optimization and social monitoring service provider. One thing that distinguishes their site is the use of gaming mechanics to spur participation from their writers and site members. Each post, comment and Like generates points that help distinguish the experts from the crowd.
Gaming mechanics encourage site members to actively participate if they want to rank well against their peers.
Not only does SEOMoz invite social engagement on the first visit, they also use social proof to earn the trust of visitors. See the recognizable brands in the image below.
If you've done business with name-recognizable companies, ask if you can tell others. It provides significant social proof for your business.
Key Takeaways
- Build gaming mechanics into your site to increase social behaviors (Liking, commenting, posting). It will increase engagement and the SEO benefits are huge.
- Remember the important benefits of social proof.
#6: Ana White: Carpenter
Ana White is a carpenter billing herself as a “homemaker” who has a website to empower women to do carpentry projects. With over 51,000 Facebook fans, Ana has created a massive following among women (and quite a few men) who love her easy-to-follow blueprints for do-it-yourself furniture projects.
Ana's Facebook page has over 51,000 fans. Her fans post tips and projects here frequently.
Since late 2009, Ana has been publishing free how-to guides for furniture. She also asks her fans to post pictures of their success stories—the very thing people love to do (talk about themselves). As a result, she has a very popular site where most of the posting comes from fans. Very smart!
Ana's fans love to post pictures of their successful home projects.
Notice all the social sharing options Ana makes available at the end of the post above. She makes it easy to share with friends.
Ana has also created a very engaged community on her Facebook page that complements, but is distinct from, her blog.
Remarkably, she doesn’t post that often—she doesn’t have to. While she comments on at least half of the posts, her fans are busy posting and answering questions for each other.
Key Takeaways
- Create a community where users can talk about themselves.
- Empower your fans to share their experiences with other users.
- Have clear strategies for your blog and Facebook page.
#7: EasyLunchboxes
Kelly Lester founded EasyLunchboxes out of a personal desire to find healthy ways to package food she sent with her children to school. As a solopreneur, she has found unusual success due to her wise social practices and great social branding.
Her blog presents a clean, compelling look into her company. On her website, Kelly has integrated multiple opportunities to connect socially and to subscribe to her newsletter.
In addition to inviting social connections, Kelly has positioned herself uniquely as the "Singing CEO," a title that will be easily remembered.
An important piece of social real estate is the Facebook welcome tab. Kelly makes good use of this space by keeping her brand exciting, telling visitors what to expect from her page and promising valuable content.
Your welcome tab should give visitors a sense of what to expect on your page.
Kelly has created a focused plan to market through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and her blog. She delivers unique content on each channel and integrates them with each other—all while maintaining her personal life as a mom and actress.
With her acting background, Kelly has distinguished her YouTube channel by creating her own TV series. This includes over 150 videos where she has even given her audience a chance to share videos of why they like EasyLunchboxes.
If you or someone you know has an acting flair, think about creating your own video series.
Key Takeaways
- Take full advantage of Facebook’s welcome tab to let potential fans know who you are and why they should Like your page.
- Differentiate your social strategies to match the platform and your skill set(s)—think outside the box if you have some unique talents available like acting or singing.
- Take the time to get your visual branding right.
#8: Social Media Explorer: An Agency and Online Service
Social Media Explorer is a business-to-business education and information products company focused on social media and digital marketing.
On their home page, Social Media Explorer has taken advantage of Intent, a Twitter plugin. This allows a user to see if he or she already follows this business.
What is seen before following Jason Falls' Twitter account
What users see if they are following Jason Falls.
As a blog, Social Media Explorer features numerous guest authors. To show social love to these authors, Jason Falls and Aaron Marshall have prominently highlighted the social profiles of each of their authors. This allows readers to quickly connect with the experts and enables the authors to expand their influence.
Each Social Media Explorer author receives prominent recognition for their articles and an easy way for readers to find them on various social platforms.
Key Takeaways
- Make it easy for site visitors to follow you.
- Show appropriate social love to your guest authors by featuring their social profiles prominently.
#9: Orabrush: A Dental Product
After years of failed attempts to market his innovative tongue brush, Dr. Bob Wagstaff decided to give YouTube a try. Spending only $500, he created his first video. In less than 3 years that video has been seen more than 16 million times and helped to generate over $1.6 million in sales and contracts with Wal-Mart and CVS Pharmacies.
While you can’t guarantee a video will go viral like this, there are some lessons to be learned:
- Talk about something that people care about—in this case, bad breath.
- Keep your video short—Dr. Bob’s video was only 2 minutes long.
- Embed your video on your home page.
- Grab people’s attention in the first 5 seconds—with some minor editing, this video incorporates quick, edgy statements that pull the viewer into wanting to hear the solution.
- Offer something for free—your first Orabrush is free, if you’ve watched the video.
Here are more tips on video marketing.
Orabrush embedded their popular video on their home page, while answering a problem that concerns many people: bad breath.
Some other best practices used on Orabrush’s website: They made it easy for users to tell their stories with video clips. They also prominently feature quotes from the traditional press on their page. Finally, they make their YouTube channel prominent, because this has been a key to their success.
Let individuals and the press sing your praises through videos and quotes on your website.
Finally, Orabrush understands the importance of keeping customers on their website, so they integrated Facebook onto their site.
Integrate Facebook to keep fans on your website.
Key Takeaways
- If you have a great product or service, don’t give up on your dream. Instead, think about how social media might help you get your ideas in front of your ideal customers.
- Follow best practices for creating quality videos.
- Make use of fan and video reviews on your page.
These nine small businesses have many more things to teach other small businesses everywhere, but they aren’t the only ones.
What do you think? What have you learned that you’d like to share? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
How an Alaskan Mom Brings Millions to Her Carpentry Blog
Just over two years ago, Ana White wasn’t quite sure what a blog was.
Today, she runs her own rapidly growing destination, drawing nearly three million page views every month.
Successful professional bloggers aren’t hard to find, but a few things are remarkable about White’s success:
- She writes a do-it-yourself carpentry blog. With White’s help, droves of women are discovering they can build beautiful, stylish things.
- She started with dial-up Internet and does it all from her home in the Alaskan interior (where record-smashing temps recently hit -40° F).
- White succeeded accidentally. She never expected that simply sharing what she loves could support her entire family.
This self-described “homemaker” has an innate knack not only for woodworking but for business as well.
Turns out, this blog Cinderella tale is all about sharing your personal story. Oh, and relentless blogging.
Do-it-yourselfers find hundreds of easy – and free – building plans on White's site.
Social Media Handles & Stats:
- Website: Ana White Homemaker
- Facebook: (Under “Knock-off Wood”): 50,000+ fans
- Twitter: 2550 followers
- YouTube: 30 videos
Highlights:
- Ana White’s blog draws nearly three million unique page views every month.
- 90-95% of her Facebook content comes from fans, and she leaves it all public.
- Pinterest is the #1 referring site to her blog, bringing 6000 unique visitors a day.
- In year two, the blog began bringing in enough advertising revenue to support her family.
Three Months – One Million Page Views
Delta Junction, Alaska, population around 1000, is about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks – and more than 2000 miles from the nearest Pottery Barn.
Delta Junction, Alaska, population ~1000.
But that’s not a problem for Ana White, who grew up in this Alaskan interior making forts and other projects from salvaged wood and nails. After she and her husband painstakingly hand-built their home, she relied on her handy skills to furnish the place and make extra money selling her furniture.
But White really wanted to share her passion for woodworking with others. In October 2009, while reading a friend’s blog, she clicked “Get Your Own Free Blog” on Blogger.
She started by posting her carpentry plans for a farmhouse bed, the same one she made for her own home. Then, every single day, this stay-at-home mom with an infant in tow blogged more designs for items like dining tables, shelves and storage cabinets, adding up to nearly 400 posts that first year.
Without White doing anything else, the blog hit one million page views in just three months, and then reached more than one million page views every month following. She’d struck a chord with an audience eager to furnish their homes at a fraction of retail prices.
Fortunately, those readers proudly told their friends about their handiwork.
“This is a one-woman show from remote Alaska with no experience, no connections, no network,” White says. “I’ve just got a real passion for what I do and a huge desire to share it.”
What she also has is her story, which she shares on her blog and in many of her posts. Readers – many like her – get to know about her husband, daughter, extended family, home, town and weather.
High-Value Content – Always Free
Today, White’s site, “Ana White Homemaker,” has more than 500 plans. Despite suggestions to charge for plans, she’s insistent on keeping them free.
“I needed to be able to provide plans for free so women could look at it and it would create confidence in them that ‘I can build this’,” she said. “I knew that for me, as a mom with a single income, a really limited income, at home all day, it needed to be free because I myself couldn’t have afforded to pay $10 a plan.”
All 500-plus designs on White's site are free for readers.
But she stresses “free” content doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the business seriously. From the start, she committed to frequent blogging and continues to post new plans a few times a week. With so many audience photos coming in, she started a brag blog dedicated to featuring fans’ work.
White started a second brag blog just for readers to share their work.
Facebook: Fans Helping Fans
Blogging alone was enough to grow the site at a nice clip. The addition of a Facebook page increased traffic, but has largely become a community for her fans to share their work and help each other.
With a base of more than 50,000 fans, those posting questions know they will get an answer from other fans or White herself. The audience – and even White – learns from those responses.
Facebook fans share their handiwork.
Fans enthusiastically help each other with tricky building questions.
White stresses that she’s specifically chosen to allow fan postings to be publicly viewable, while many other fan sites do not.
“Ninety to ninety-five percent of the content on my Facebook page is from my readership,” she says. “What you’re seeing is not filtered. I feel like it should be an open and transparent forum where people can ask questions and post.”
The Payoff: Making a Living and a Life
White admits the first year was tough work, with long days of writing and making designs, photographing projects and blogging relentlessly while caring for her daughter.
In year two, the payoff came. The site’s high volume gave White the credentials to secure marquee advertisers like Lowe’s and other retailers appealing to women. Now, the site supports her family, with extra to invest in growing the business.
The momentum continued, with her plans appearing in numerous home magazines (without sending a single pitch letter), the chance to contribute designs for HGTV.com and now a book deal from Random House.
All press has come to White without a single pitch letter.
Readers Help Design the “Momplex”
White recently added a whole new dimension to her blog and story with the “Momplex” project. Last summer, she and her husband started building a duplex for both of their mothers and now are letting readers decide much of the home’s design.
Sharing progress of the duplex White and her husband are building for her mom and mother-in-law, the "Momplex," adds to White's story and gets readers involved.
Readers might not want to check in daily for furniture plans, but they may want to see updates on the Momplex.
When White asked readers to weigh in on which kitchen design they preferred, more than 1300 readers indicated their preferences by “liking” one of the Momplex kitchen mockups.
More than 1300 fans voted on the Momplex kitchen design.
“My community is full of really smart people, so we’re actually getting a better product with their input,” she says. “It’s helped us make a better Momplex.”
Pinterest: The Game-Changer
Now in its third year, White recently discovered an interesting change in her site’s stats. Just three months after showing up as a referring site, Pinterest has taken over as the number-one source of traffic to her blog.
“Google, Facebook and direct traffic – none of those are the top referrers. Six thousand unique visitors a day are now coming from Pinterest. It’s dominating my traffic,” she says.
Pinterest lets members “pin” images of their favorite things to virtual pinboards. Their followers see those pins and can choose to “Like” or “Repin” those images to their boards. Highly visual, Pinterest works perfectly with the photos on White’s carpentry blog.
Fans of White's designs enthusiastically "pin" images on their Pinterest boards.
She considers Pinterest a potential “game-changer” in her industry, with extremely viral person-to-person sharing. As a membership-only site, that traffic is also likely of higher quality than from other sources, she says.
As for encouraging “pinning,” White added a “Love this? Pin it right now!” button on all pages of her blog. She also gives readers photography tips to enhance the quality of their photos, which in turn helps increase pins.
White encourages "pinning" with a button on every page of her site.
While White has her own pinboards on Pinterest, she rarely pins her own content, preferring to let readers share freely and naturally what they like.
Reader-Inspired Content
White’s content model has also changed since she began. Though initially she blogged all her own ideas, now nearly all new design ideas come from readers. A fan will snap a pic of an antique or something in a catalog and post it to Facebook, asking if White will design plans for it.
“I look at myself as a servant to my readers. What do you want me to design a plan for? And then we go from there,” she says.
Nearly all of White's new designs now come from reader suggestions.
Not content to just sit back and rest on her handcrafted farmhouse bed, White continuously looks ahead to the next thing.
“If you’re on the Internet, your business goals and your business plan can change overnight,” she says. “You always have to be on your toes and be aware of technology emerging and be willing to adapt to your readers.”
Building a Better Blog the Ana White Way
- Tell your story – Weave in your personal story and keep sharing it.
- Care about photography – If what you do is visual in some way, try to get great photos and educate fans on taking attractive photos. It matters more than ever with sharing sites like Pinterest.
- Allow public postings on Facebook – It becomes a community when you allow fans to freely post and help each other.
- Invest back in the business – What will make the business better – a new camera, a new blog platform or content management system?
What do you think? Is what you provide visual? How are you tapping into new social media avenues like Pinterest? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
