Social Network Sites: How do they Work for you Personally?

By Rose Strong

What started out in 2004 as a small network at Harvard has grown into something much, much bigger than just a group of students using “the facebook” to connect with one another on a Massachusetts campus. Besides giving us the ability to keep up with friends and family, social networking sites became the go-to space by which business connected with their audiences / clients / customers.

In PR and marketing we know what it’s used for: pushing out product information, connecting with customers, seeking new business leads and the like. But, how do you make use of sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook for your personal connections that have nothing to do with business?

How do you use social media personally?

A few weeks ago, my wife had a medical emergency just after we had eaten dinner. After heading to the emergency room and sitting there for hours on end amidst a sea of flu-stricken adults and toddlers, I kept my friends and family updated through Facebook’s Messenger app. When texts wouldn’t go through, the Messenger app, posting directly on Facebook or sending a picture through Instagram worked!

The best thing about using social networking sites during an emergency like we experienced was that my friends, several of which are insomniacs or in different time zones, were there and supported me through a very long and intense night.

This is just one example of how these sites also have given us ways to get information out en masse to those we wanted informed.

How’d we do it back then?

In the olden days – she said very sarcastically – I would have had to wait until I returned home to make many phone calls to family and friends. It would have been exhausting. By the time things were stabilized at the hospital and I was able to go home at 6:45 a.m., I only had to make a few personal calls and take a much-needed nap.

According to a survey done by PewInternet.org, Facebook remains the most popular social networking site today, although its growth has slowed somewhat. Other popular sites, meanwhile, are making headway and seeing growth.

From the highlights of PewInternet.org survey, I found the following pretty fascinating:

• Social networking sites are increasingly used to keep up with close social ties
• The average user of a social networking site has more close ties and is half as likely to be socially isolated as the average American
• Facebook users are more trusting than others
• Facebook users have more close relationships
• Internet users get more support from their social ties and Facebook users get the most support

I know it may sound strange, but I’ll admit that I have friends online whom I’ve never met but who still mean a lot to me. I belong to several closed Facebook special interest groups. The people in these groups share my interests and we often speak beyond our interests either online in the group or through email or instant messaging, becoming distant participants in each other’s lives simply through social networking.

We share our lives with each other. And only what we want to share. Several people have lost husbands or wives, some long-time members have passed on, family members of the group associates have become sick, graduated school, seen the births of their first grandbabies, and lost pets or adopted new ones, been in car accidents, won awards, traveled around the world, been laid off, fired or found new jobs. In each instance, members of the group rally, be it with tears, kind words, encouragement or congrats.

Without these folks from all over my social network sites, I don’t know what I’d have done to get through such a long and arduous night in the emergency department. I found it a godsend to be able to keep my friends and family updated and gain their support back as I needed it.

Social Media: The Best Times to Post and Why

By Liz Jenei

Social Media has become an everyday norm. With platforms being flooded with millions of people live tweeting through their favorite TV shows, and posting pictures of what they had for lunch, it is critical to time your business content sharing for maximum views and engagement.

Almost a half of the country lives in the EST Time Zone, with the next largest group of people living on Central time. It is important to keep this in mind when applying these suggested times written throughout the post.

Twitter

MediaBistro published a study that indicates the best time to post on Twitter as 1 p.m.

According to by Dan Zarrella, the author of “The Social Media Marketing Book,” surrounding social media behavior data, Twitter has the highest level of re-tweets from 2-5 p.m., and more people use Twitter towards the end of the week than on a Monday. Surprisingly, more people read their Twitter feeds on the weekends than they do on a Monday or a Thursday. Want to post something on a Friday?  Posting before 3 p.m. is crucial because after that, Twitter traffic dips very low.

By using a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite you can compose and schedule tweets to be sent out over time. This allows you to tweet over the weekend without having to work on the weekend. But if you’re going to schedule your tweets, be sure to monitor in real time. You also want to ensure that what you have scheduled to post is innocuous – especially in the event of major breaking news that could taint the perception of others as to why you posted such a thing at that moment. There have been many faux pas posts that were scheduled and then posted at inopportune moments.

LinkedIn

The Houston Chronicle states the best time to post on LinkedIn is in the evening.

“Early evening, starting between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. is another great time of the day to publish content to LinkedIn, because you are catching users at the end of their work day.”

Zarrella says the best days to post are Tuesday through Thursday. Saturdays and Sundays are often high traffic days for LinkedIn, but not as popular as mid-week posts. 

Facebook

The problem with Facebook is that if you flood your friends’ or followers’ feeds too much, they will delete or unfollow you. It is easier to flood friends’ feeds on Facebook than it is on Twitter. Keeping this in mind, it is best to share Facebook links and posts every other day as opposed to daily. 

According to a blog post written by Mashable regarding the best time to post on Facebook:

“Links sent between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. get the most traction, with Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. being the best time to post on Facebook all week.”

Email

5-7 a.m. seems to be the time for the most open rates for emails sent and once a month corporate email frequency gets the highest click-thru-rates, says Zarrella.

People pay the most attention to emails sent on the weekends, but people are also inclined to unsubscribe more on a Saturday or Sunday than a weekday. 

Blog Posts and Google+

Blog posts and Google+ seem to have their highest traffic at 10 a.m. with the optimal time for engagement being between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.  Men are reported to read blogs in the evening and experts warn that Google+ engagement drops significantly between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Comments spike on Saturdays and Sundays (probably because people have more time to comment) but blog views take an overall dip on Saturdays.

Pinterest and Instagram

A study conducted in 2012 and published by MediaBistro indicates that the best time to post on Pinterest is 11 p.m.

Statigram gives us the ability to determine the times and days that our Instragram photos get the most likes. The rates of usage appear to change depending on the audience targeted. Keep in mind, however, that Instagram is less of a corporate business tool than a photo social media sharing tool.

Many marketers use Instagram as an easy way to cross promote images on Facebook, Twitter and other social sharing sites – since it can serve as a one-stop shop.

When it comes to social media, every platform is slightly different as are the audiences who use those platforms and those that you target.  By making the most of user engagement statistics, you can enhance your social networking presence and engage more strategically. 

Nonprofits: Putting Pinterest to Work for Social Good

Posted by Leah Ludwig

Image from Mashable.com

As many of you know, Furia Rubel Marketing and PR is dedicated to supporting our agency's local community and the nonprofit organizations within it. In fact, our agency is closing out our 10th anniversary year and along with it, our “10 for 10” Community Service Campaign – in which we participated in community service programs and supported, through pro bono PR and marketing services, several local and regional organizations. We are always looking for new and inventive ways to support nonprofits near and far.

Gina Rubel recently shared a nonprofit Pinterest best practices article with me from Mashable.com. The article highlights UNICEF and how the organization set up a fictional Pinterest profile from the perspective of a 13-year-old girl from Sierra Leone. Instead of sharing images of rich desserts and the newest fashion trends, the organization uses this page to share images of things a girl from Sierra Leone may covet such as a handful of rice or a rusty water faucet. Each of the pins then link to a specific UNICEF Web page where the organization hopes to drive Pinterest users to in order to source donations to provide food or clean drinking water to those in need.

I personally think this Pinterest strategy is brilliant. Images tend to effectively drive home messaging to a variety of audiences and to additionally link each image to a correlating donation Web page for UNICEF – you have a captive audience, what more could you ask for? And, in general, these strategies help to bring awareness to Pinterest users about the needs that exist in other countries and what UNICEF as an organization is working to do. Having traveled to Honduras myself for two different mission trips and having seen first-hand the need that exists in developing countries, I applaud UNICEF and its strategy to put things into perspective for other Pinterest users – in a very practical and visual way.

The Mashable article also includes what other global organizations such as Amnesty International USA, the World Wildlife Fund and Operation Smile, to name a few, are doing on Pinterest for social good. More specifically, Amnesty International USA, the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization, shares a human rights reading list. World Wildlife Fund, a conservation organization working to protect the future of nature and reduce threats to the natural world, has a board of cute animal e-cards that individuals can send to friends. Operation Smile, an organization that provides safe and free cleft lip and palate repair surgery to children around the world, shares images of new smiles – before and after photos of children that have been helped by the organization. To see more of the examples shared in the blog, go to 10 Non-Profits Using Pinterest to Better the World.

Please share this post and nonprofit Pinterest best practices resource with community organizations that may benefit from it – and help us to pay it forward.

The First Social Olympics – London 2012

Courtesy of paypromedia.com

Posted by Amanda Walsh


The city of London has spent years building and preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games, while fans on social media have been buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The London Eye is even being lit up in different colors based on Twitter users' sentiments throughout the games! 


Even though the opening ceremony doesn't commence until this evening, some athletes have already been hard at work in the competition. Mashable compiled some of the photos, tweets and status updates from the female soccer players that began competing in the tournament yesterday. This large amount of social media activity on the first day of competition is surely an indicator of how social media will continue to play an integral role in the 2012 Olympic Games.

Courtesy of Time Magazine

It’s been four years since the 2008 Olympic Games and social media has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds. “Why Social Media Will Reshape the 2012 Olympics” takes a look at the three most popular social media platforms that users are utilizing to engage and follow the Olympics - Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There has been an explosion of user engagement and growth on these platforms over the last four years.

• Facebook in 2008 – 100 million users
• Facebook today – more than 900 million users
• Twitter in 2008 – six million users
• Twitter today – more than 500 million users
• YouTube in 2008 – users uploaded 10 hours of video per minute
• YouTube today – users upload 72 hours of new video per minute

Due to this growth in daily usage, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has published social media guidelines that must be followed by all athletes and coaches. Some are worried that the guidelines are too restrictive. But according to ReadWriteWeb, the IOC has every right to create and distribute a social media policy. Athletes are contractually obligated to follow the established social media guidelines. Implementing a social media policy to ensure that all participants know what is and isn't acceptable to share is a wise decision.


However, with a global event of this size, each social media infraction will have to be considered on a case by case basis. The offender will most likely be asked to remove the content, but as we all know once a tweet or post is out there, it is difficult to remove it completely. Just ask Paraskevi Papachristou, the Greek triple jumper, who has already been suspended from the games for posting a racist tweet.


We'll see how social media usage affects the games and athletes as the competitions get underway. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to feeling like I'm a part of the action via social media while I watch and cheer for the USA!

Pinterest Updates Terms of Service Language and Wants You to Know About It

Posted by Amanda Walsh

Earlier this year, Pinterest exploded onto the social media scene. The addictive website is a visual tool to curate images and their corresponding links to personalized boards. Pins range from household cleaning tips and marketing infographics to fashion and food recipes. Some marketers have had great success with Pinterest and others deem it a waste of time.

With Pinterest’s popularity came, cautionary tips and tricks to not infringe copyright laws and acceptable use policies. Over the weekend, we noticed that Pinterest updated it’s terms of service and did a great job letting its users know about it – by sending an e-blast and including the update on pinners’ recent activity feed.

These proposed Terms of Service will be put into effect April 6, 2012. Some key takeaways include:

•  Pinterest’s original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest the user grants Pinterest the right to sell the user’s content. This has been removed from their updated terms.
•  The Acceptable Use Policy has been updated and pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse are not allowed.
•  Simpler tools have been developed to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
•  New language was added to prepare for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.

For more, check out Pinterest’s updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy.

Pinterest and Copyright Issues – Tips to Follow

Posted by Leah Ludwig


I recently read an informative and thought-provoking article about “Avoiding Copyright Pitfalls on Pinterest.” Based on the fact that Pinterest seems to be the “it” social media site these days and that many of our readers, including myself, are very active on the site, I thought a synopsis of the tips shared in this article would be helpful for us all.


So as not to leave anyone out, if you are not familiar with Pinterest, you should be. You can get up to speed by reading one of The PR Lawyer’s recent posts, Pinterest: The Visual Phenomenon Of The Internet. 


Now, back to the enlightening thoughts and tips shared by Saving for Someday blogger Sara, who happens to be a lawyer focusing on online content creation and protection. She spells out some simple, yet easily overlooked, ways to avoid copyright issues on Pinterest. First, as always, Sara cautions all Pinterest users to take time to read the site’s Terms and Conditions. These can be found under Privacy, Copyright and Terms on the site.


Sara’s Tips


- Pin the original source: It’s always a good practice to take an extra moment to verify the source of what you choose to re-pin to make sure that you are repinning something that belongs to the originating site.


- Never copy an image from Pinterest on your own blog: Enough said.


- Don’t perpetuate the wrong owner: Make sure to accurately attribute any images that you may be using in your blog – it is not only frustrating for your reader, but even more so for the original owner.


- Watermark your images: This may take away from overall look of your image and may be a bit challenging for the average blogger, but since Pinterest does not crop images your watermark will remain and you will always receive credit as the original image owner.


Many sites are now adding a Pinterest “Pin it” button on their website to ensure that their information is being shared accurately and efficiently via Pinterest users. However, if you are really concerned about your images and copyrights being infringed upon, Pinterest just released code to keep images from being “pinned” on a site at all. 


I hope these copyright tips and tactics make you think twice about pinning that great recipe or re-pinning that amazing infographic to your Pinterest profile the next time you hop on the ever-so-popular social media site.


Photo courtesy of: tennesseefederalcriminallawyerblog.com

Pinterest For Lawyers: Legal Marketing Or Waste Of Time?

Gina Rubel, Esq.'s latest blog post on The Legal Intelligencer Blog, Pinterest for Lawyers: Legal Marketing or Waste of Time?

Logo provided by Pinterest.com

Pinterest: The Visual Phenomenon Of The Internet

Posted by Amanda Walsh

Pinterest is an online visual bulletin or pin board that allows users to gather or "pin" images on the Internet to categorized boards thus organizing them together on a themed page. The images retain the original URL of the web page from which the user pulled the “pin” creating a visual bookmark for future reference. Other users can “repin” or "like" your images to their boards then share them to Twitter or Facebook, which creates a viral link-sharing environment.

The invite-only website began in March 2010, as a way to manage or curate an inventory of images on the Internet. First growing popular with Etsy crafters, mom bloggers and designers, the website’s popularity has grown to 421 million page views according to Mashable.

Some popular pin board categories include wedding ideas, home decoration, crafts, recipes and fitness tips. I started using Pinterest a few months ago and quickly became addicted to the visual sharing aspect of it, as well as the bookmarking capability. It can be a great go-to when in need of ideas or creative ways to do just about anything.

Brands have begun to jump on board for the SEO and viral link-sharing advantages as well. Three examples of brands using Pinterest include:

- Zales: The jewelry store has some interesting boards of what else? Jewelry! The company also switches it up a bit with a board for “Favorite Quotes” and another of love songs called “Sounds like Love." Not only is the company advertising their own products, but they are adding value by sharing romantic visuals that could be associated with jewelry.

- Whole Foods Market: The grocery store known for organic and natural food products, has 493 pins of seasonal recipes for different times of the year, along with dinner or dessert ideas. Additionally, the company’s boards reflect edible art displays from around the world, recycling ideas and pins of Whole Planet Foundation. According to Whole Foods’ website, Whole Planet Foundation “is a private, nonprofit organization established by Whole Foods Market.” The Foundation funds “grants to microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia who in turn develop and offer microenterprise loan programs, training and other financial services to the self-employed poor.” This is an example of how Whole Foods uses Pinterest to not only share recipes using products from their stores, but also to spread the mission of their nonprofit foundation.

- Cabot Cheese: Run by Cabot Creamery, a family-owned farm cooperative located in the hills of Vermont produces all-natural cheeses. On their Pinterest boards, the company pays homage to farmers and farms, their state of Vermont and the cows that produce the milk to make their cheese. To me, this helps to tell a brand’s story and humanize the everyday production for consumers.

Other ways businesses can utilize Pinterest include, adding the “Pin It” widget to their website so users can easily pin website images and/or follow a company-branded board.

Gina Rubel has done an excellent job of adding value by pinning relevant infographics for PR and communications professionals, as well as link sharing of events that she supports. Check out her boards here: http://pinterest.com/ginarubel/social-media-and-marketing/.

Resources to learn more include:

• How 11 brands are reaching customers on Pinterest
• 3 ways to use Pinterest for business right now
• Pinning Your Interest: The Potential SEO Value of Pinterest
• What’s behind the Pinterest craze? 15 super-users share their thoughts
• 5 Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest to Boost Consumer Engagement
• Pinterest: Behind the Design of an Addictive Visual Network 

Photo courtesy of http://www.women2.org.