Most business’ goal on social media is to get the consumer to go to their website, so they just post often with links to their website or blog. This is ineffective because many people view this as spam and will not engage companies that use this practice. Consumers want to engage companies on the social network itself. The 2013 study results showed that companies should craft custom messages that encourage interaction. That interaction strengthens the bond between the consumer and the company.

When crafting a post it is important is to ask other users to reply. For example, on Facebook, there is plenty of space in a post to ask for the consumer what their opinion was on the topic or at least say “leave a comment below.” Twitter, on the other hand requires a little more work, since you are limited to 140 characters, you must interact by responding often so they know that they can engage you.

When posting, a good policy is to include a mix of images, text and links, and then see which tactic works better for your particular business. Once you have a feel for what your audience wants, do not stop the other tactics but simply do them a little less. On Facebook they have recently changed to a pay-to- play model, which means you will need to advertise just to reach your own audience, those who have liked the page. For example, only a certain number of the people that have liked your page will see your posts without advertising. They do reward you for having posts that engage by showing more of your posts to your audience. Those are just a few additional considerations when using Facebook.

There have been a number of studies on the users of Pinterest which are called Pinners. The studies have found that among active Pinners, 96% have used Pinterest to research and gather information, 93% have used Pinterest to plan for purchases, and 87% have purchased something because of Pinterest. The Pew research Center says that 28% of Internet users used Pinterest in 2014, which was up from 21% in 2013, with 42% of online women using the network. Men’s use is also on the rise — there are 75% more men on Pinterest in 2015 than there were in 2014 according to the Ahalogy 2015 Pinterest Media Consumption Study.

Pins largely represent brands and products. Pinners can help each other because, unlike other social networks, multiple people or companies can share boards. This means that each company can amplify its reach by the number of Pinners on a board. For example, I may have 500 followers and you may have 500 as well; if we add a third party with the same then we could have 1,500 followers for a board. Expanding your reach without having to pay for advertising. Companies can join together that may be similar but do not compete in some way. A boutique, for example, could join forcess with another one that serves a different geographic area.

To engage the users of Pinterest there are some general guidelines. Use high quality images or infographics. The users are looking at images often, so they will spot, and often ignore, low-quality work. Pin high quality images from your website. Each image can be uploaded from a computer or from a website. Once you upload it, an interesting thing happens, if any other pinner pins that same image you get credit; Pinterest adds a “via YourPinterestUserName” which links back to your profile, gaining some additional exposure. Small businesses can engage users by pinning new products or examples of works completed and then thanking others that repin it. Don’t forget to reply to every comment, that makes people happy and they are more likely to pin your product again. Happy Pinning!

“Pinterest is a pin-board style photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme based image collections such as events, interests and hobbies. Users can borrow other pin-boards for images, “re-pin” images to their own pin-boards, or “like” photos.” – (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest)

Why you should use Pinterest:

• Primary demographic is women between  the ages of 25 and 45.
• Pinterest generates more revenue per click than Twitter and Facebook!
• Pins will retain the link back to your website
• Promoted  Pins are on the horizon
• Categories and tags are an integral function of the site
• Customers can already be pinning your products

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you selling visually appealing products?
• Are your products  used to create visually appealing items/end products?
• Are your products targeted to a specific audience?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, try out Pinterest for your small business!

We have all seen or heard about Hashtags (written as #) by now, and we all have that one friend who does something like #imhungry #idontknowwhatiwant #whatshouldiget. There are  many examples of using Hashtags in different ways,  Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake made a humorous skit hash-tagging their way through a conversation (http://youtu.be/57dzaMaouXA).

When a topic starts to trend, often times people like to jump in and use the popular Hashtag. For example, hash-tagging #thevoice and posting a picture of something irrelevant to the actual show.

This gets messages grouped together through social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. When you use Hashtags, that post becomes more visible to others on social media platforms and search engines. Most search engines are now recognizing Hashtags, showing all the conversations, content and updates related with the Hashtag you are searching for.

Hashtags can be a great platform for you to use in your online business marketing. You can use the trending Hashtags, invite your regular customers or offer them a coupon  to post pictures with #yourbusiness to get more visibility. There are other uses as well, for example, finding out what your competitors are doing, or how the media is treating a specific topic related to your product or service.

With the Holidays right around the corner, a very trending Hashtag is #cybermonday #blackfriday and #christmasshopping. Utilizing these Hashtags is going to group you with these popular topics, which then leads to more visibility! And hopefully more business!