Posts tagged ‘Twitter’

May 23, 2012

Faut-il faire du recrutement 2.0 pour recruter ou pour faire parler de sa marque employeur, ou les deux?

Excellent article de Laurent Brouat sur l’état des lieux du recrutement 2.0, qui pose la question suivante: l’objectif du recrutement 2.0 est-il de recruter, ou de donner de la visibilité à la marque employeur? Comment sa performance est-elle évaluée? En fonction d’un seul de ces objectifs, ou des deux?

Je vous invite aussi à lire les commentaires très intéressants sur le blog de Laurent: Job 2.0

Le débat est lancé, la question est là…Aujourd’hui en terme de sourcing, les réseaux sociaux sont encore limités. Chiffres à l’appui, les jobboards et la cooptation représentent l’essentiel des embauches en entreprise. Et si finalement le recrutement 2.0 n’avait que des avantages sur le plan marketing ?

Quelle réalité ?

Plus j’analyse et j’observe les chiffres, plus je m’interroge sur les conséquences réelles des réseaux sociaux sur le recrutement. Les dernières études continuent de renforcer le fait que Jobboards et cooptation sont les principales sources de recrutement. Les réseaux sociaux ne représentent rarement plus de 5-10% des embauches (dans le meilleur des cas) malgré les investissements relatifs. Mais surtout les effets des réseaux sociaux sont extrêmement difficiles à mesurer…

Les jeunes diplômés vont encore sur les sites carrière…quand ils sont diplômés. L’autre jour, un responsable recrutement d’une entreprise du CAC 40 me rapportait sa déception devant la non préparation des jeunes diplômés quand ils viennent en entretien alors qu’en « googlant » le nom de l’entreprise, ils auraient assez d’information pour bien se préparer (et même de l’information que l’entreprise ne contrôle pas!). Ce sont autant de preuves que la réalité terrain est bien différente de tout ce dont on parle.

Finalement recruter sur les réseaux sociaux serait avant tout un argument marketing comme me l’a dit un client. (“tu sais Laurent, même si mes consultants utilisent plus les réseaux sociaux, j’y vois principalement un argument commercial, on montre à nos clients que l’on forme nos consultants aux nouvelles techniques de recrutement!”)

Alors quels sont les effets ?

D’abord les réseaux sociaux sont un formidable outil de communication…pour atteindre les cibles plus jeunes et montrer une image actuelle, moderne.

« je recrute sur les réseaux sociaux donc je suis moderne »

On communique plus que l’on ne recrute en quantité sur les réseaux sociaux…pour le moment.

Et du coup, des gens comme moi font des études de cas et font la promotion des ces entreprises.

Et recruter sur les réseaux sociaux tient aussi de l’investissement à long terme (comme je l’avais expliqué dans un article précédent) où la conversation a remplacé la distribution.

Deuxième avantage important c’est le référencement que les réseaux sociaux apportent pour le site carrière, les annonces ou toutes initiatives RH (événements). Le taux de clic sur les petites annonces Twitter est étonnamment élevé comparativement avec d’autre médium (j’avais cette conversation avec un professionnel du recrutement qui me signalait l’autre jour qu’il avait en moyenne entre 40 et 60 clics pour ses offres dans le BTP sur Twitter).

Troisième avantage, c’est la réputation. Au niveau le plus basique, créer des profils ou du contenu permet de contrôler ce que les autres voient de soi..en tout cas ce qu’ils voient dans les premiers résultats.

Marketing, communication, référencement, autant d’avantages pour les entreprises à utiliser les réseaux sociaux…et on parle toujours de marketing et de réputation mais peu de recrutement tel quel.

La grosse difficulté du recrutement 2.0, ce sont les “metrics”

Les outils de mesure rassurent. Et la problématique est que toute stratégie de recrutement qui intègre les réseaux sociaux intègre aussi des outils de mesure mais mesurer ces initiatives reste encore difficile voir impossible. C’est un serpent qui se mord la queue… car les entreprises ne jurent que par les « metrics » mais en même temps les « metrics » dans le recrutement restent limités et surtout leur validité est largement remise en question (génération de trafic, marque employeur impactée par les réseaux sociaux…).

On parle aussi beaucoup de communautés de talents…mais qu’en est-il réellement ?

Beaucoup de groupes Viadeo ou Linkedin gérés par les entreprises ne sont que des cimetières d’articles où les entreprises ont investi pour monter des comités éditoriaux mais qui n’arrivent pas réellement à interagir avec les candidats potentiels.

La vraie conclusion ?

La vraie conclusion pour moi est que les entreprises qui investissent dans les réseaux sociaux sont les entreprises qui ont des c___ (excusez moi l’expression). Car c’est un pari sur l’avenir…même si il parait évident que le recrutement se fera de plus en plus en mode social.

Ces personnes dans ces entreprises qui ont des c____ doivent défendre des paris sur l’avenir en montrant que les réseaux sociaux, au-delà de leurs effets (limités) à court terme, donneront des résultats à moyen terme. Et tout ça sans des “metrics” bien définis et gravés dans la pierre.

La vraie conclusion aussi est qu’il ne faut peut-être pas donner autant d’importance aux « metrics » et donc l’accepter c’est aussi lâcher un peu de contrôle.

« Je recrute sur les réseaux sociaux, donc je suis moderne » est-il vraiment le mantra du recrutement 2.0 aujourd’hui?

(quand image et marketing sont les 2 arguments principaux pour passer au recrutement 2.0).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Laurent est consultant en stratégie de recrutement innovant pour Link Humans cabinet de conseil basé à Paris et Londres. Il conseille et forme les entreprises sur leur recrutement 2.0 et marque employeur (Utiliser Linkedin, Viadeo, Twitter, Facebook dans le recrutement). Il enseigne à Reims Management School, les RH et les réseaux sociaux et a co-fondé TruParis et RMS conférence.

May 3, 2012

McKinsey on how your company can use social media

In this month’s McKinsey’s Quarterly Newsletterwe aim to sharpen your thinking about blogs, wikis, mobile apps, Web forums, and the like.

Demystifying social media” shows how executives can shape the consumer’s purchase decision by harnessing these new platforms.

Several consumers share their experiences, and three McKinsey partners provide advice on how companies can draw on social media to build brand loyalty, in the video “Making sense of social media,” on mckinsey.com.

A social journey” interactively demonstrates why marketers should use such techniques at every stage of the consumer’s purchase process. “Understanding social media in China” shows that despite vast differences between this market and those of the West, the ingredients of a winning strategy are familiar.

Finally, review the results of the recent live Twitter conversation hosted by McKinsey partners David Edelman and Hugo Sarrazin on using social media to shape consumer decision making (available on Storify).


May 3, 2012

27 LinkedIn Social Media Marketing features you can start using today to promote your business

In 2010 when LinkedIn finally launched company pages, I wrote a breakdown of all the things you could do with your page in the column, “Set Up Your New LinkedIn Company Page.” A lot has changed since then and the list of free and paid marketing and media opportunities on LinkedIn has grown significantly.

So with the help of Sarah Mitus (one of our agency’s social media specialists who helped with the research and images for this column) we are going to share an update and breakdown of all the things we think you can do to promote your business or brand on LinkedIn. Of course if we left something out please comment and let us know! We have broken down the tactics and features into free and paid categories that businesses (or their advocates) can use to promote their brands, products, and services.

Free LinkedIn Features for Businesses and Brands

1. Create your profile: Consider your LinkedIn page as a sort of Facebook fan page for your company on LinkedIn. To start your company page, go to LinkedIn.com/company/add/show. Once you have admin access to your company page, begin by filling in the appropriate information on the Overview tab. Incorporate SEO keywords as often as possible in the written description and specialties section of the tab.

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2. Set up a Products/Services tab: The Products and Services tab on LinkedIn allows a business to showcase what it provides to its customers. Besides creating a full list of products and services, including an image, description, key features, product URL, company contact, and video, a company can create a featured products and services list to highlight its core products. The Products and Services tab has a few purely visual elements, too, including three images to feature at the top of the page, and a YouTube video on the bottom right. To learn more, visit Marketing.LinkedIn.com/get-started.

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3. Encourage people to recommend your products: A great feature of the Products and Services tab brings peer recommendations to the forefront. When on a company’s Products and Services tab, users see any recommendations a product/service has, beginning with recommendations from people in the user’s extended network. Much as reviews would influence shoppers on an e-commerce site, users are likely to express more interest in this product or service from knowing one of their connections endorses it.

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4. Check out your page’s analytics: As an admin of a company page, you’re able to see analytics behind the number of visits and the people who visit your page. Analytics include numbers for your company for page views, unique visitors, clicks on the Products and Services tab, members following your page, and the types of people who visit your page. Learn more at Marketing.LinkedIn.com/deepen-relationships.

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5. Alter Products/Services pages by demographics: After you create a generic Products and Services tab, consider creating alternative pages for different demographics. LinkedIn gives company page admins the ability to show targeted Products and Services pages to specific user/industry segments. These segments can be chosen by job function, industry, seniority, and/or geography.

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For example, our agency shows a different Product or Services tab to someone who is in the marketing field than someone who is not. This enables a business to specifically target a user based on a defining characteristic, proving relevant as soon as the user clicks on the tab, much like a landing page does in a search campaign.

6. Post status updates: These updates appear in users’ feeds on LinkedIn if they are following a company. Updates provide a way for users to interact with a company, and for a company to potentially gain exposure within its followers’ friends’ feeds.

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This is important. Status updates, when updated at least once a day, provide a potential place for paths to cross between a LinkedIn user and a company. If a company does not post status updates, the likelihood of a follower visiting your page frequently is low to nonexistent. Post status updates to ensure you’re top of mind with your LinkedIn followers. For more information, visit here.

LinkedIn recently announced that all companies will soon be able to target their status updates title, industry, or company size. For information, visit here.

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7. Add a LinkedIn share button to site content: Encourage users who visit your site and/or blog to share what they read on LinkedIn. Adding a share button, much as a company would a “Like,” “Tweet,” or “+1″ button enables users to easily share from your site.

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8. Add a LinkedIn follow company button to your site: On February 27, LinkedIn released a “Follow Company” button to put on your site. This gives users the ability to follow a company directly from its site if they are logged in to LinkedIn. The button can include the number of followers the company has, or just the follow button itself. Learn how to install a LinkedIn follow company button to your site here.

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9. Promote your page on other social channels: Encourage users on other social sites to become a part of your LinkedIn community. Post status updates and tweets encouraging users to follow you on LinkedIn as well.

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10. Promote your page in an email: Much as you would any other social network, promote your LinkedIn page in an email to encourage people who already have an interest in your company to follow you for more company and industry news.

Free Opportunities for Individual Business Advocates and Employees

Employees and advocates of brands help bring a face to the company on social media platforms. There are some things companies cannot do on LinkedIn, but individuals can do as a representative of a company.

11. Encourage employees and advocates to follow your page: As part of your community, employees and advocates should be in tune with your company news and social media efforts, LinkedIn included. Employees and advocates should follow your company on LinkedIn not only to stay on top of company news, events, and webinars, but so that they can easily share this information with their network.

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12. Set up and manage groups: Individuals can create and manage groups about specific topics relevant to a business in order to establish each individual as a thought leader, and to provide additional exposure for the company. Learn more here.

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13. Join groups: Because companies cannot join groups, it is wise to have individuals from your company join groups about your company and industry. When employees and brand advocates participate in groups, posting discussions and questions, they further increase the reach of your company.

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14. Create a poll within groups: Creating an easy-to-answer poll within a group provides a way to receive quick engagement with a question. This question can be used strictly for engagement, to gather information about group members, or to learn what the group would like to discuss.

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15. See group analytics: Whether you are a member or owner of a group, you can view analytics to better understand the demographics of your group members and the growth and activity happening in the group.

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16. Recommend products: Employees, brand advocates, and even clients can recommend your company’s products and services on LinkedIn. When this occurs, users in these brand evangelists’ extended networks will see a relevant recommendation when they visit the Products and Services tab of your LinkedIn company page.

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17. Post a question: Users are able to ask questions of their networks and ultimately the entire LinkedIn network by visiting LinkedIn.com/answers. Again, this brings more exposure to your company when an individual of your company is seen on the Questions page.

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18. Answer a question: In addition to asking questions, employees and advocates should also answer them. This will establish the individual as a thought leader and bring other LinkedIn users to your company page should a user click on the employee answering the question.

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Paid LinkedIn Opportunities

A business is able to increase the exposure of its brand and company page by using LinkedIn’s paid features. Paid features include the Careers tab and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, which enable a brand to bring ads to its target audience by targeting by profession, seniority, industry, company size, geography, and/or education.

19. Post jobs: Because many people use LinkedIn to search for jobs and prospective companies to work for, a company may use paid features to enable the Careers tab. Posting a job on LinkedIn creates a generic Careers tab displaying all LinkedIn job posts created by that company. Each LinkedIn job post incurs a fee, but the cost varies based on location and amount of posts purchased. In order to post a job, click on the Jobs tab directly from your LinkedIn home page or learn more here.

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20. Careers page: Another more costly feature is a personalized Careers page, a $10,000 or $20,000 expenditure, for a customized look. For some examples, check out Microsoft, Google, Fidelity Investments, and Louis Vuitton to understand what this Careers page looks like, and the value that it brings in acquiring new employees. If you’re interested in doing this for your company, or if you would like more information, visit here or contact a LinkedIn representative who can explain the benefits and costs associated with each option more in depth.

21. Display ads: Display ads on LinkedIn may appear in multiple shapes and sizes, and much like display ads on other networks, help to increase brand awareness. Display ads can appear on the side of a LinkedIn page in a square or column, or on the bottom as a row.

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22. Text links: Text links appear at the top of each page, underneath the navigation bar. They tend to blend into the surroundings and can appear to be part of the site, sometimes appearing as a recommendation from LinkedIn. Start a text ad campaign by visiting LinkedIn.com/ads/start.

23. Content ads: Content ads allow you to stream multiple content types through a customized, tabbed module. Through this advertisement type, a business can deliver multiple types of timely, engaging content, such as a video, Twitter, or RSS feed, in one streamlined unit. For more information on what you can accomplish through a content ad, visit here.

24. Social ads: Social ads are advertisements that encourage users to interact with your brand on LinkedIn. Social ads include options to encourage users to follow your company, leverage recommendations, or join a group. Learn more about social ads as part of LinkedIn’s marketing solutions here.

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25. Sponsored polls: Receive interactive and relevant feedback from industry leaders. As a company, you can create customized, brand-relevant questions and conversations and use this information not only to engage with the LinkedIn community, but also to learn more about your target consumer.

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26. Featured Questions: Ignite conversation in answer categories by utilizing Featured Questions. Get answers and gain exposure with your target audience of knowledgeable and active professionals. Learn more here.

27. Event sponsorships: Drive awareness and attention to an event posted on LinkedIn by using this marketing solution. Increase attendance by helping relevant LinkedIn users in your geographical area and industry find your event. Learn more by viewing LinkedIn.com/events.

Getting Started

If you want to get started on some of these tactics, a good place to start is on LinkedIn’s FAQ page. To learn more about its paid opportunities, visit its Marketing Solutions page. I hope you found this breakdown of LinkedIn opportunities helpful! Again, if we missed anything please post it in the comments sections.

April 12, 2012

INFOGRAPHICS: USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY RECRUITERS IN THE US

75% des entreprises (US) trouvent leurs candidats sur les Réseaux Sociaux. les DRH n’y vont pas chercher les photos de soirées arrosées comme le prétend le cliché, mais plutôt le dynamisme et le potentiel des candidats. La Northern Illinois University a montré qu’une analyse de profil Facebook montre mieux l’adéquation d’un candidat à un poste que l’analyse détaillée de sa personnalité et de son CV.

Une autre étude de la Cornell University a montré que les candidats trichent moins sur leur profil LinkedIn que sur un CV traditionnel (ce qui est normal puisque le CV sur LinkedIn est public.)

Social-recruiting

April 11, 2012

INFOGRAPHICS: HOW RECRUITERS ARE USING FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN AND TWITTER

Social media has made it easier for recruiters to build and nurture connections, ultimately increasing the efficiency with which a recruiter can source quality candidates. However, current social media usage by recruiters varies greatly. Take a look at the differences in how recruiters use the ‘Top 3′ social networking sites and which ones are most effective for reaching candidates.

No prizes for guessing that LinkedIn is the most frequently used network by recruiters, with Twitter being close second and Facebook not far behind.

According to this report by Bullhorn, they expect increased social engagement from recruiters. The report evaluates the current social network activity among recruiters and suggests several interesting insights. First, the findings suggest that recruiters are connected to all three social networks, but are using LinkedIn and Twitter much more than Facebook to recruit talent.

While they found that LinkedIn is driving the most views and applications per job posted on the “big three” social networks, the analysis shows that Twitter followers are much more likely to apply for a job than connections on LinkedIn or friends on Facebook. Overall, Twitter and Facebook appear to be highly under-utilized networks for recruiting, but we expect that behavior to change during 2012.

Source: Bullhorn Reach

April 10, 2012

Should you have a Social Media Policy?

Original post by Adriana Costello on LinkHumans

Writing a social media policy can be like walking on eggshells. It is a potentially overwhelming process with many things to take into consideration, from legal matters to employees’ perceptions of privacy. There are certain best practices to keep in mind when drafting your company’s social media policy: it should be comprehensive, without being too broad, and must be readily understood by all employees. Below are some guidelines and examples to help you get started on writing your own policy.

With the increasing use of social media in both our business and personal lives, it is more important than ever for companies to protect their reputations. There are several issues of importance to any company when it comes to social media use, including productivity, privacy, and host of legal matters. Therefore, organisations of all sizes, across all sectors, should seriously consider developing a formal social media policy. At the very least, a formal policy should serve as a reminder for employees to use common sense when it comes to social media, and to remind them that their online activities can have consequences for the entire organisation.

The Human Rights Act 1998 provides a ‘right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.’ Relevant case law surrounding the Human Rights Act indicates that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to separating their private lives from the workplace.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 has implications for the extent to which employers can monitor or record communications that take place through the company’s networks. There are only two conditions under which an employer may lawfully intercept communications: 1) there is reasonable belief of consent on the part of the sender and recipient, or 2) the employer does not have consent, but is acting in order to protect their business, comply with financial regulations or prevent crime.

According to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, it is an offence to use a computer to gain access to data you are not authorised to use. This means employers should not have access to employees’ personal social media accounts.

An emerging issue regarding the use of social media for business is the question of who owns social media accounts and the contacts that are gathered as part of a social network – the employer or the employee? Generally speaking, an employer may not claim an employee’s social media contacts (i.e. LinkedIn contacts, Facebook friends or Twitter followers) when the employee leaves the organisation. It is possible that the answer to this question may be slightly different if the employer, rather than the employee, sets up the account, or if the employee is instructed to create a corporate-branded profile for business purposes (i.e., @CompanyXYZ_John). Regardless, employers who wish to claim ownership of social media accounts that employees use should assert this well in advance as part of a formal social media policy.

A corporate social media policy should be written with these regulations in mind, and should only include those aspects specifically covered by the law. Making a social media policy too broad, violating any rights that employees should have, can be very damaging for an employer.

Social media policies come in different shapes and sizes. They can either be a small section in your company’s employee handbook or a lengthier stand-alone document. There are some things to keep in mind when crafting your social media policy, including the size of your organisation, company culture and nature of your business. Any well-written policy should be clear and concise, with easily understandable language free from legal jargon.

  • Introduce the purpose of social media as part of your corporate strategy, be it in terms of marketing, recruitment or employer branding.
  • Add value – when employees publish work-related social media content, they should provide useful information or insight that is relevant to the business.
  • Employees should be prohibited from sharing confidential and proprietary information online.
  • Responsibility for content – employees should know to exercise good judgment and be prepared to deal with any consequences that result from inappropriate actions or statements online.
  • Authenticity is key – users of social media should clearly identify themselves by name, and when relevant, position and company.
  • Keep your audience in mind – before publishing any content, employees should ensure they are not alienating readers that may be current clients, potential clients, or past/current/future employees.
  • Productivity is essential – social media efforts can only be successful if employees find a proper balance between social media and other work.
  • Remember to keep it simple so that everyone can easily understand the policy.

Intel has done an excellent job crafting Social Media Guidelines that are easily understood by employees, separated into 3 Rules of Engagement: disclose, protect and use common sense.

Coca-Cola’s Online Social Media Principles effectively convey the organisation’s vision and strategy surrounding social media use for business purposes. Their 5 Core Social Media Values are transparency, protection, respect, responsibility and utilization.

BBC clearly kept the reader in mind when drafting their Guidance for Social Networking. A Summary of Main Points in the form of a bulleted list ensures that employees will grasp the most important elements of the policy.

IBM employees actually helped to create the company’s Social Computing Guidelines, which are continually under review as online social tools evolve.

The UK Civil Service provides a colorful, reader-friendly document titled Engaging Through Social Media, which includes an introduction to social media, guidance for various kinds of employees and resources for further information.

Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines are centred on 5 core principles: honesty about who you are, clarity that your opinions are your own, respect and humility in all communication, good judgment in sharing only public information and awareness that what you say is permanent.

Perhaps the most innovative and ‘user-friendly’ social media policy I’ve seen comes from Edmunds Inc, owner of websites built to inform automotive consumers and enthusiasts. Their unique social media guidelines, referred to as Edmunds’ Rules of the Road, are in the form of a welcoming infographic that provides clear, comprehensive and concise information for employees while successfully representing the Edmunds culture.

Does your company have a policy in place? Do your employees understand it? Please let us know in the comments!

 More examples can be found under socialmediagovernance.
April 4, 2012

Résultats d’une étude Delphi sur le recrutement et les médias sociaux auprès d’experts HR

Résultats d’une étude Delphi sur le recrutement et les médias sociaux

Dans le cadre de son doctorat au sein du laboratoire MRM à l’Université Montpellier 2, Aurélie Girard (sur Twitter  @aurelieg34) a réalisé une étude sur le recrutement et les médias sociauxen utilisant la méthode Delphi.

Cette méthode “repose sur un processus itératif et permet de recueillir les jugements d’experts au travers d’une série de questionnaires dans le but d’obtenir un consensus. Chaque questionnaire tient compte des résultats du questionnaire précédent. Le choix des experts est un élément essentiel qui conditionne la qualité des résultats.”

34 experts ont été interrogés parmi lesquels ont trouve des chercheurs, des consultants exerçant dans des cabinets de recrutement ou de conseil en RH et management, des responsables RH ou encore des responsables de sites emploi ou des réseaux sociaux numériques.

Voici les 5 résultats issues de cette étude :

  • Résultat 1 : Les médias sociaux ne se substituent pas aux autres outils d’e-recrutement, ils peuvent être utilisés à la fois pour développer la marque employeur et recruter
  • Résultat 2 : Aujourd’hui, l’usage des médias sociaux peut répondre à une exigence d’échange ; dans le long terme l’évolution de la relation candidat dépendra du marché du travail et de l’appropriation de ces outils
  • Résultat 3 : De nouveaux comportements se répandent indépendamment de l’âge ou des stratégies de carrières des candidats
  • Résultat 4 : Les médias sociaux vont permettre soit une plus grande implication des employés dans le sourcing soit une externalisation auprès de nouveaux types de cabinets de recrutement
  • Résultat 5 : Les médias sociaux offrent l’opportunité d’élever le rôle stratégique des professionnels RH, seulement si ces derniers relèvent le défi

Les verbatims laissent apparaître des réalités différentes, je vous encourage donc à lire le rapport détaillé: Synthèse Resultats Delphi – Recrutement et Medias Sociaux

April 4, 2012

Should your business be on Pinterest (and why)?

Love the infographics, and the “why’s” covered by Francis Santos on Soshable. Especially the fact that you business should be (made) visually attractive.

Is your business on Pinterest yet? No? Well, what are you waiting for? After all, it’s only quite possibly the hottest thing going in the social media space today. From tasty recipes to artistic photo galleries, this site is showing that it can be incredibly useful for sharing almost everything visual. We have clearly reached the point where we can say this thing is not a fad. Pinterest is a bonafide powerhouse social marketers can no longer afford to ignore.

More Traffic Your Way

One of the main reasons more social marketers are giving Pinterest a closer look is because of its ability to drive traffic. Sure, the site is still operating on an invitation-only basis, but that has not stopped it from racking up more than 10 million users in a very short amount of time. While this number has nothing on Facebook, Twitter, or even Google+, it is significant, and shows that the site has enough of an audience to send a decent amount of traffic your way. The other part of this lies in the fact that Pinterest allows you (and others) to pin all types of stuff to virtual boards, stuff that links back to your website, blog, or favorite social hangout.

Tremendous SEO Value

Pinterest also offers plenty of SEO value, which as you know, could translate to an increase in traffic as well. As we alluded to above, when you or another user pins content to a given board, that process creates a link that connects to a third-party site. Linking is one of the key factors search engines like Google take into consideration, and with Pinterest gaining in popularity, it is also growing as a trustworthy domain. Combined, these two variables can play a huge role in increasing your visibility and traffic through the search engines.

Great for Branding

Another thing social marketers are learning about Pinterest is that it can be a phenomenal branding tool. Mashable, Whole Foods, and NFL team the Minnesota Vikings are just some of the brands that have decided to establish a presence in this thriving new social channel. So what can Pinterest offer a brand? A platform that makes it easy to create both exposure and community around a product, company, or topic. Just like other social networks, this one has features such as following and commenting, so you can reach out and really start engaging your audience if you put the right tools to use.

Pinterest is everything we’ve seen before with a fun twist that makes it truly unique. It’s simple, straightforward, and versatile enough to support a wide variety of needs. Keeping up with all the trends can be hectic for the dedicated social marketer, but if you can handle one more tool, this would be the one to add to your juggling act. Pinterest is receiving rave reviews from the marketing community, so why not jump in and see what all the fuss is about?

Pinterest for Business

March 29, 2012

Médias sociaux et vie professionnelle: état des lieux

Comment les médias sociaux bouleversent notre vie professionnelleL’usage des médias sociaux, a fortiori par le biais des mobiles, change radicalement la donne en entreprise. À tel point qu’il en devient une préoccupation grandissante des employeurs et des annonceurs. État des lieux en 10 points:

- Interdire ou contrôler leur usage comporte le risque de se priver de leurs avantages.

- Vie privée et vie professionnelle ne correspondent plus à des plages définies dans le temps. On demande aux employés de répondre à leurs e-mails en vacances. Ces derniers trouvent donc normal de consulter Facebook au bureau.

- L’e-mail disparaît progressivement devant Facebook ou Twitter qui deviennent les outils de communication et d’information primaires.

- Les plus jeunes partagent volontiers l’information, et par conséquent celle qui concerne leur employeur. La « privacy » est un concept dépassé.

- L’utilisation des médias sociaux rend la protection de l’information quasiment impossible, alors que les obligations en termes de protection de l’information se sont renforcées. Saviez-vous que 3% des notebook et 10% des clés USB appartenant aux entreprises se baladent dans la nature?

- Les solutions passeront par l’apprivoisement des nouveaux médias tant des aînés (ouverture) que des plus jeunes (limites).

- Le code de conduite doit être revisité en tenant compte des aspirations des plus jeunes à cette nouvelle forme de communication « ouverte ».

-  Le défi nécessite une approche multidisciplinaire: les départements Legal, HR et Sécurité IT doivent travailler ensemble pour accoucher de procédures adaptées.

- C’est en impliquant la génération Y elle-même qu’on trouvera les solutions.

- Il faudra du courage pour faire le choix de l’ouverture de son entreprise aux médias sociaux, car il faudra faire confiance. Une tendance pourtant inéluctable…

March 21, 2012

Should you be Pinteresting, too?

Column Five created this infographic to examine the Pinterest addiction that seems to be spreading like a zombie apocalypse virus. Proof? Pinterest users spend an average 98 minutes on site per month, third only to Tumblr (2.5 hours) and Facebook (7 hours). Antidote? None.

Beyond the data, the company examines why Internet culture is so fascinated with pinning. It posits that digital hoarding has a lot to do with it. On Pinterest, we have free license to create an entire board dedicated to “teal-colored guitars.”

Then there’s the issue of social media fatigue. Is Pinterest just different enough from other social networks that it frees us from incessant updates and checkins? Or has it just replaced one addiction with another — a sort of social media gateway drug?

You be the judge. Just remember: Denial is a red flag.

Image courtesy of iStockphotoPinkTag, Infographic courtesy of Flowtown, via Column Five

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