What Every Business MUST Do to Prepare for Pinterest's Guided Search

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What Every Business MUST Do to Prepare for Pinterest's Guided Search

What Every Business MUST Do to Prepare for Pinterest's Guided Search

What is Pinterest Guided Search?

Pinterest Guided Search was rolled out to the site in April 2014 (mobile app first, desktop soon after) as a way to shake-up how search engines work. Pinterest says Guided Search is "made for exploring, whether you know exactly what you want, or you’re just starting to look around. "  By offering broad suggestions as you search - and letting you add your own into the mix - the hope is that users will find what they are looking for more easily, whether that thing was in their mind from the beginning or whether suggestions inspired them to a choice along the way.

How does Pinterest Guided Search work?

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

Say your initial Pinterest search was for one of the things above. In this case, I chose Mens Style.

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

Upon the results being returned, Pinterest automatically suggests relevant suggestions to help me narrow my search down, e.g. clothes for Summer or Fall.

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

Pinterest's Guided Search Example

By tapping the "+" button, you are able to add in your own suggestions to help narrow your search results down as you wish, e.g. "blue" to filter the clothes by colour.

What does Pinterest Guided Search mean for my business?

First off, Pinterest has said that Guided Search will not affect search rankings, so your current pins are unaffected. However, what its introduction does do is give brands an even bigger incentive to make sure that their pins' descriptions are optimised for SEO. This means including specific, relevant keywords to help highlight the most distinctive elements of your pins in order to give them the best chance of being discovered.

Conclusion

Will the introduction of Guided Search spark a change in the way you publish content on Pinterest? Do you welcome the new feature? Let me know in the comments below!

How NOT to Tweet A Customer Who's Had A Car Accident (A Lesson in Tact and Timing)

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There's no questioning the power of Twitter as a tool for conducting fast and effective customer service. It's a topic I've touched on in the past, most recently with examples of how the bakery Greggs uses Twitter to deal expertly with disgruntled patrons, general queries, and all manner of miscellaneous mentions of its brand.  

However, for every company that is handling customer service on Twitter like a baws, there's another that isn't quite on point; a situation made worse when its intentions were genuine and it obviously didn't mean to cause any harm. Case in point is the following example:

A friend, Pippa, was recently involved in a bit of a nasty car accident. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Here's the tweet she sent some time afterwards, complimenting Volkswagen more than anything...

That tweet was followed by another later on the same day. Sinclair Volkswagen, a local car dealer (presumably spotting a nearby mention of the brand) then replied...

The "very grateful to be waking up this morning" portion of Pippa's tweet should have been the first signal to Sinclair Volkswagen that her hunt for a new car wasn't being undertaken in the most positive or circumstances, and that some tact might be necessary in handling any interaction. If that didn't work (and it didn't), her reply to its friendly (and kind of promotional) approach - the first of any contact it had made - definitely cleared that up.

I must clarify that I'm positive Sinclair Volkswagen did not mean to cause any offence with its tweet and is no way a reflection of it as a brand as a whole, and I'm sure a simple and sincere apology to Pippa's reply to them would be more than enough to settle the matter. However, this example does demonstrate - as we see over and over again - how easy it for brands to cause upset on social media, especially if the necessary context is not sought beforehand, or if an eagerness to interact with customers is detrimental to the quality of the message sent.

Perhaps it's the inherent speed of communication on social media is also to blame; it's conditioned us all to reply to messages (both in our personal and professional circles) as soon as humanly possible, and to expect the same attention from others when we message them. 

Many marketers, including myself, advise that brands shouldn't leave customers hanging on social media while they wait for a response, or to pro-actively find them, but the example above reminds us that it always pays to take a step back to evaluate the situation in the first instance. No matter how well-intentioned a speedy response, one angry customer can cause an unexpected wave of negative publicity that no company wants to have to deal with.

Have you ever "tweeted before you think" or are you always careful to understand a customer's situation before you reply? Leave a comment to let me know.

Andrew Macarthy is a social media consultant and the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips.

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Snapchat Contest Ideas: GrubHub's "Spot the Bacon"

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Here's a quick and inventive idea for you to run a contest on Snapchat, courtesy of GrubHub. Take a look at its "Spot the Bacon" Snapchat story:

It offered 10 fans the chance to win $50 of GrubHub vouchers by challenging them to spot and screenshot the word "bacon" in its story, then e-mail their pic to be entered. A selection of different t-shirts appear in quick succession for users to screen grab, and the effect is easily created by stitching together several short snaps to create a Snapchat story.

What do you think? Will you be trying this tactic out with your own Snapchat fans?

Andrew Macarthy is the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, available for Kindle and in paperback.

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

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5 Ways to Use Multiple Twitter Images for Social Media Marketing

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5 Ways to Use Multiple Twitter Images for Social Media Marketing

The roll out of the ability to upload multiple images per tweet on Twitter makes the site's growing emphasis on videos even greater. For brands that think creatively, Twitter's multiple image uploads, and the way the pics display, opens up a new avenue for social media marketing opportunities. Here are 5 Ways to Use Multiple Twitter Images for Social Media Marketing...

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Twitter Header Image Template PSD | 1920 x 1200 Photoshop (New Design, April 2014)

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Looking for a Photoshop PSD template for the new Twitter header image? You've come to the right place!

In April 2014, Twitter changed its desktop layout for the second time in a matter of months, this time significantly. As part of the update, gone are the small profile and header, replaced by images that are much bigger and wider.

Twitter layout with profile photo and header before:

twitter-header-template-2014.PNG

Twitter layout with profile photo and header now:

The recommended sizes for the Twitter header image and profile photo are 1500 x 500 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels respectively. However, Twitter automatically crops the header image upon upload, so the portion of it that is visible - and the position of the profile photo - differs depending on the screen resolution at which it is being viewed.

Therefore, in designing your Twitter header, you should aim to make sure that as many people can see the image as intended, whatever resolution they are viewing it at.

Global Statistics For Screen Resolutions

screen.PNG

According to the most recent global statistics (updated April 2014) the most popular screen resolution for viewing the web on desktops is 1366 x 768 pixels (around 28% of the total) followed by 1024 x 768 (around 8%). From these numbers (and those for less common sizes), we can estimate that the vast majority of people viewing your Twitter profile will be able to appreciate a cover design optimised for a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. 

New Twitter Header Image and Profile Pic Template

Above is a snapshot of my Photoshop PSD template for the new Twitter layout's header and profile image. The full area of the image is Twitter's recommended 1500 x 500 pixels. Each of the coloured blocks represents the portion of the cover image visible at some of the most popular screen resolutions, e.g. yellow block = area visible at 1920 x 1200, red block = area visible at 1024 x 768.

The grey boxes represent the position of the Twitter profile photo at the same variety of resolutions.

As the statistics tell us that most people will be able to appreciate a header image designed for 1366 x 768 resolutions, the best idea would be to add your art work to cover the whole space, but keep the most important elements (logo, offers, contact info, etc.) in the area of the header visible to the most amount of people, i.e. the orange 1366 x 768 block.

Once your design is complete, hide all of the template layers and upload it to Twitter via the Edit Profile button on your profile.

Download the template (and 9 others)

This Twitter template (and many others for all the biggest social networks - expertly measured, simple to use, and up-to-date) is available instantly as a downloadable zip file via the purchase link above. For more information on all my social media templates, click here.

Note: Payment is fast and secure via PayPal, but you do not need a PayPal account to buy and download. 

 

Andrew Macarthy is the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, available for Kindle and in paperback.

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me
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http://www.pinterest.com/andrewmacarthy
http://www.twitter.com/andrewmacarthy
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