“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” ~ Alan Lakein
Have you ever noticed how a good paint job is mostly made of up planning and prep work? Call it what you will; background work, prep work, homework; your marketing campaigns and promotions deserve and need thoughtful and careful planning. It can be overwhelming trying to keep track of the social networks, the timing of releases, what content goes to which network… so to help you keep track of your initiatives, I’ve created this free yearlong editorial planning calendar. Get a free copy here.
You can jot down ideas for content, and cross-reference your platforms for the best coverage. There’s even helpful tips on using network platforms, and in case you need a jumpstart for a topic, all kinds of national and off-the-wall holidays have been identified. Who knows – maybe you can find a segue between your brand and “Take a Chance Day” on April 23rd.
While planning and documenting campaigns may feel like busy work, and you might be tempted to jump in and just do it, take the time to document your plan first. Besides the tactical steps of “how” and “what”, make sure you have your strategies soundly identified first, that will help accurately direct you to the appropriate tactics for you, your brand and your audience.
Here’s wishing you a year of greater efficiencies, success and profits in 2012!
P.S. Don’t forget to download the calendar. Oh, and you’ll need Adobe Acrobat too, as it’s a .pdf
Popular thought indicates that Pinterest is the new darling of social media with its unprecedented surge in growth of more than 4,000 percent in the last six months. With an average of 88 minutes per visitor (I’m totally guilty of this!), it ranks third on engagement behind Facebook and Tumblr and well ahead of Linkedin and Google+.
So why the lightning speed rise in popularity? For one, it’s still a novelty (it’s still in beta mode). It’s a visual board that you can share with your friends. It has a simple and intuitive interface whether you’re on a computer or a mobile device. And, with all the gorgeous photography in the world, people I think, would much rather treat themselves to the emotional response and delight of visual communications, than to read and process verbosity.
A lot of articles have been published about how to use Pinterest for business. There’s no shortage of ideas when people think of getting themselves noticed by a wider audience. But have you thought about how to use this to help manage your time, ideas and future plans?
I have my boards on Pinterest set up for many common uses like others do, for recipies, favorite family photos, places I hope to travel to. I’ve also started using boards to collect piece of information and have it in a central location, much like a note-taking service would do. I love infographics, so when I find them, I pin them. Nothing is worse than trying to remember which site you found the killer infographic on mobile marketing. This way, all infographics are in one spot – and the best part is, the original source is still connected to the infographic if I ever need that info. Personally I appreciate the connectivity back to the original source, and I would wager that the content creator also appreciates that. And, it’s less storage for me to think about in terms of hard drive or cloud storage.
Another idea board is for marketing, packaging and promotions. Maybe I have an idea percolating in the back recesses of my mind, which is often the case, but sometimes it’s not entirely concrete. By looking over other examples that might not be accessible to me through my day-to-day activities, I can squirrel away examples of great promotional ideas or product tags or a complete campaign. There’s tremendous talent and creativity in the DIY/craft category as well as the Design category. All it takes it time to look through it.
As an author, I find that creating boards is also helpful. My 3rd book will be out this spring, and to help me expand on examples and keep the story-telling moving forward, I’ve created a board that deals with concepts from the book.
Creating boards for future plans and ideas is a marvelous way to keep track of your plans. I have a board for blog ideas, topics, color themes, even fonts. It will be interesting down the road, say in a year from now, if I notice my taste changing. I think that’s a marvelous piece of “not-even-considered-yet”… the fact that Pinterest is storing personal tastes and likes, and will have the ability to track subtle or not-so-subtle changes in consumer and members tastes. They’ll also be able to see how current trends may or may not influence pinning behavior. But that’s a topic for another day.
If you haven’t set up an account yet on Pinterest, I think it’s worth setting up an account and exploring the possibilities. From the obvious uses such as home remodel plans, to clothing styles to food and travel, there are so many uses and we’re only beginning to explore what those are. Just be mindful of the good stewardship behavior that all social networks encourage; no one likes a direct seller. If that’s your gig, you’ll want to change your approach in how you sell. Always start by simply joining the conversation and listening.
And don’t forget to download the pinlet bookmark tool, it’ll let you pin from any page on the web. You can find it on the Pinterest sight here.
Need an invite? Send me a request through my Twitter account @mamagg, or leave me a comment on my Facebook wall at facebook.com/GeorgiaLMcCabe.
Happy pinning!
Look, we all make mistakes, but you don’t want your business to suffer because of some simple errors that most bloggers face, but are totally preventable. You want to make sure that your blog serves its intended purpose of driving interest, increasing sales and creating some online attention for your photography studio. But remember, if you focus on these aspects of blogging rather than the value you are adding for your clients, you run the risk of alienating everyone with your egotistical blog. Let’s run through the list of the top five mistakes photography bloggers make, and how to deal with them before they happen to you! [More...]
Guest blog post for H&H Color Lab
+Gerogia McCabe
In my latest video blog post for H&H Color Lab, I delve into how professional photographers can use three great new social media apps to increase their social media engagement.
