skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I hadn't heard about or seen this new logo from Microsoft until I read this article from Entrepreneur. And I cannot believe that such a cutting edge company like Microsoft came up with this. Wow.
BY JASON FELL| August 24, 2012
Tech giant Microsoft has revamped its corporate logo for the first time in 25 years. The new design was unveiled this week and has received a range of criticism online. Some describe the new logo as clean and simple, while others are calling it an outright failure.
Replacing the previous logo's italic bold type, Microsoft says the font used in the new logo is called "Segoe," the same one it uses for all its products and marketing. The symbol of the four colored squares is similar to the logo used on its Windows operating system.
Among those who think Microsoft's new logo leaves a lot to be desired is longtime graphic designer John Williams, founder of Nashville, Tenn.-based do-it-yourself logo-creation website LogoGarden.com. Here, Williams explains how he thinks Microsoft dropped the ball with its new design and offers advice on how the rest of us can create better company logos.
Related: The Logo Mishaps of Giant Brands
Pick a font that fits your design.
If your idea for a killer company logo involves a bold font, Williams suggests keeping the letters close together. Graphic designers call this "tight kerning." If you're after a more elegant-looking font, he suggests going with one that's thin, tall and has serifs (letters that end in strokes or tails), and space the letters further apart.
Microsoft got its font design wrong in two ways, Williams says. First, there's too much space between the thick letters. Second, the spacing is inconsistent. "Suddenly they jam the last two letters, the 'f' and the 't', together so they are literally touching -- the opposite of what they did in the rest of the name," he says.
Pick a symbol that looks great even when printed in black and white.
When picking the colors for your company's logo, keep in mind how it might appear when printed in all types of formats. "You want your brand to show up clear and sharp even when someone prints your color PDF on a monochrome printer," Williams says.
The shades of red, blue, yellow and green in Microsoft's new logo might look like "grey splotches" when copied in black and white, according to Williams. Additionally, the logo is symmetrical and some might find it boring to look at. "Make your symbol slightly off-center," he says. "Even if your logo is a simple, classic shape, do something to add a dash of pizazz."
Related: How to Stand Out by Keeping it Simple
Make sure your font and symbol are a good match.
Both logo elements should be consistent. Microsoft's are mismatched, Williams says.
"Microsoft's new square symbol is cold and emotionless. The font, however, is nice because its roundness gives it a warm, inviting feel," he says. "You want a symbol and a font that have similar 'personalities,' so they go together well."
Wow! Just read this article from Fast Company about Sony's impending patent for television ads that are interactive. It's a great concept as I imagine we may be headed toward a system where you pay for each channel and have shorter commercials. Similar to how Hulu works now, you can pay for a subscription and there are are limited commercials but you cannot fast forward through them. If that is the case, this patent will really pay off with the interaction with customers.
“McDonald’s! MC-DON-AAALLLDDSS!!”
That’s the future of you sitting in front of your television, watching commercials, according to a new patent application from Sony. Interactive software streams to your television between pre-cut commercials, asking the viewer to actually engage with a brand for some sort of reward. In the case Sony’s proposal for this McDonald’s ad, saying the name allows you to skip the rest of the commercial.
“I’M LOVIN’ IT, I PROMISE I’M LOVIN’ IT! NOW GET ME BACK TO CSI MIAMI!”
This particular use case scenario, of course, is horrid. There are few things more frustrating than a voice recognition system, like Siri or Kinect, not understanding your speech. Imagine that frustration mixed in a cauldron with an annoying ad you’re seeing for the upteenth time. Brands would get their interaction, all right, filled with a series of gestures that best go unreported.
But Sony’s patent is technologically broad--it reads as a catch-all for interactive commercials streamed to your TV--and it’s filled with other possibilities. Sony suggests shooting, racing, and fighting games--even trivia rounds that would compete viewers against one another for rewards (rewards that could be emailed or text messaged to you). There’s even an idea for Burger King in there, if McDonald’s doesn’t like the pitch.
In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the instructions are "Throw the pickle to speed up commercial." The user, which is holding a one-handed controller with motion detection, swings his arm to simulate the act of throwing a pickle. As a result, the flying interactive pickle is placed in the burger, and the commercial message "Make it your way" is displayed briefly before the commercial ends and the user returns to watching the streaming media.
It’s indefinite in how long such interactive elements could last (could someone play for 10 minutes?), or what sorts of technologies the average consumer is expected to have at home (everything from motion sensing, voice recognition, Bluetooth, and networked tablets are mentioned). Sony also acknowledges the need for other commercials to play naturally just as they do now, while contradictorily suggesting that the ad could go long, even continuing into the program itself, sitting on top of image like picture-in-picture. The ad can then follow users to various other devices, like texting or emailing a coupon code.
On one hand, everything Sony describes is horrifying--part of a larger culture in which, not only can we not bring ourselves to disconnect, but every brand in the world is egging on our wide-eyed, hyperactive impulses. And yet on the other, everything Sony describes could be so much more interesting than current commercials. Imagine if Burger King gave you a 30-second, pickle-laden Angry Birds level rather than a montage of flame broiled beef. Or better still, consider what McDonald’s could do allowing viewers the chance to ask the company an earnest, database-answerable question--”how much protein is in a cheeseburger?” or “where do your fries come from?” or “how many Happy Meals do you serve a day?” or even “what are you doing for animal welfare?”
It’s not really a question of gesture inputs or voice commands. Interaction of any sort, done poorly, will box users in to experience a superficial, vapid experience with a brand. (Which, honestly, is pretty much how commercials work today.) But interaction, done well, could tailor to each consumer’s individual interest in a product, and further the (sometimes) real dialog between consumer and corporation we’ve seen developing on Facebook and Twitter.
Real interaction--not just Wiimote waving, but ideas being shared two ways--coupled with all of the algorithmic powers of big data could fuel a whole new world of corporate insight. The living room could become a focus group rather than a meaningless game. And for many consumers, a commercial could become a very worthwhile experience, enticing them to learn something or change the way a store operates, rather than just getting the high score on their block.
We’ve all lived high on the hog with our commercial-skipping DVRs. And with ads making their way into every video online, it seems only a matter of time before those days come to an end. But one thing’s for sure: When that day is over, there will be a lot of disgruntled consumers--consumers who you really won’t want shouting “McDonald’s!” at the top of their lungs in a coordinated, digital mob.
Google Guru Matt Cutts responds to an email regarding page ranking. Listen up people!
“Why did our PageRank go down?”
Posted: 27 Aug 2012 11:38 PM PDT
Recently a newspaper contacted me. Their PageRank had dropped from 7 to 3, and they wanted to know why. They genuinely didn’t seem know what the issue was, so I took some time to write them an in-depth reply. Part of the motivation for my blog is to provide information in more scalable ways, so I figured I’d strip any identifying information from my email and post it.
Here’s what I wrote:
Hi, the usual reason why a site’s PageRank drops by 30-50% like this is because the site violates our quality guidelines by selling links that pass PageRank. Here’s our documentation on that: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66356 and here’s a video I made about this common case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFcJ7PaLoMw (it’s about 1:30 into the video). http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all is a good recent article about paid reviews. In Google’s world, we take paid links that pass PageRank as seriously as Amazon would take paid reviews without disclosure or as your newspaper would treat a reporter who was paid to link to a website in an article without disclosing the payment.
In particular, earlier this year on [website] we saw links labeled as sponsored that passed PageRank, such as a link like [example link]. That’s a clear violation of Google’s quality guidelines, and it’s the reason that [website]‘s PageRank as well as our trust in the website has declined.
In fact, we received a outside spam report about your site. The spam report passed on an email from a link seller offering to sell links on multiple pages on [website] based on their PageRank. Some pages mentioned in that email continue to have unusual links to this day. For example [example url] has a section labeled “PARTNER LINKS” which links to [linkbuyer].
So my advice would be to investigate how paid links that pass PageRank ended up on [website]: who put them there, are any still up, and to investigate whether someone at the [newspaper] received money to post paid links that pass PageRank without disclosing that payment, e.g. using ambiguous labeling such as “Partner links.” That’s definitely where I would dig.
After that investigation is complete and any paid links that pass PageRank are removed, the site’s webmaster can do a reconsideration request using Google’s free webmaster tools console at google.com/webmasters. I would include as much detail as you can about what you found out about the paid links. That will help us assess how things look going forward.
Sincerely,
Matt
LinkedIn has been making changes to encourage more social and business networking. In an effort to attract social media marketers these changes will enable better interaction and aim to keep users on the site for longer periods of time. This article from Social Media Examiner explains the changes and how marketers can work within the new structure.
3 Ways Marketers Can Leverage the New LinkedIn
By Stephanie Sammons
Published August 28, 2012
Have you noticed the changes to LinkedIn recently?
Although changes to LinkedIn are less frequent than on Facebook, they can have significant marketing implications.
Read further to find out how the recent changes to LinkedIn impact your social media marketing.
What’s New With LinkedIn?
Recently the LinkedIn Homepage had a significant makeover. It’s now more sleek and modern. It also feels faster with an almost instantly updated user interface.
LinkedIn has made a few key design changes to make it easier to discover and discuss what matters most.
As LinkedIn says in their recent blog post, Introducing a Simpler Homepage:
“This is just the beginning of many more exciting, new features we plan to bring to the Homepage to offer more customization and functionality this year. We look forward to making the LinkedIn Homepage your go-to destination to discover and discuss what matters to you, your industry and your professionals network around the world.”
Mashable refers to the new LinkedIn Homepage as a mash-up between Facebook and Google+. I’d have to agree. There is something more appealing about it that makes you want to hang out for a while!
A Quick Overview of the LinkedIn Homepage Layout
On your new homepage, you will first notice a blue box to click that will show you the most recent updates from your network.
The top part of the new LinkedIn Homepage.
From there, underneath your status update box, you will see “LinkedIn Today recommends this news for you,” along with three recommended stories.
The news stories in this area are consistent with the industry you work in or publications that you have indicated an interest in following on LinkedIn Today.
If you click through one of these news stories, you’ll be taken to the LinkedIn Today aggregate news page, where you can view and comment on additional relevant news stories (more on the changes to LinkedIn Today shortly).
LinkedIn Today delivers the day's top headlines that matter to people in your industry. Follow the industry and sources you care about.
Follow the Updates From Your Network
Moving beyond the latest news section, you’ll see updates from your network of connections and companies that you follow on LinkedIn. (If you haven’t done so yet, make sure to create a LinkedIn company page for your business so that you can start acquiring followers!)
The updates you see are based on who and what LinkedIn believes to be the most relevant for you.
Don’t forget to engage with your connections directly from your homepage!
You can typically like, comment, send a message or share to effectively engage. This will also help you to be viewed as someone who is “plugged in” and listening to your connections.
Engage with your network via your LinkedIn homepage.
LinkedIn allows you to filter your update stream and customize your view.
For example, I like to filter my stream by “Shares” to see what content my network connections are sharing. This filter takes away some of the clutter.
Filter your homepage updates with these options.
Overall, the Updates section of the new homepage is simply more social. The stream of activity is cleaner and easier to follow.
LinkedIn Homepage Images Are Bigger
Images are also more prominent within the updates from your network. When posting your own updates, use an image if possible to capture attention!
Images are now bigger within LinkedIn status updates.
Take Advantage of the New LinkedIn Homepage Features
Remember that anytime LinkedIn members visit the site, they typically start from the homepage.
Being active on LinkedIn can help you show up on the homepages of your connections.
Showing up consistently can lead to more profile views, and ultimately LinkedIn profile views can turn into website or blog traffic.
3 Tips to Make the New LinkedIn Homepage Work for You
#1: Update Your Status Frequently and Consistently
Strive to update your status or participate in some sort of LinkedIn activity 3-5 times per day, throughout the day.
This includes regular status updates from your own homepage, participating in group discussions, leaving comments, making new connections, answering questions, etc.
In order to gain traction with marketing your brand and building influence on LinkedIn, you need to be consistently visible and valuable.
If you have a company page on LinkedIn, make sure to update your status there as well. Typically 1-2 company updates per day are sufficient.
If you want to stand out among your connections, make your updates engaging. Ask a question, ask for feedback or even consider running a poll. Also, comments are a great way to spark dialogue with your connections.
#2: Use Images in Your Status Updates
I mentioned previously in the article that LinkedIn has made the sizes of images included with status updates larger and more prominent.
Therefore it makes sense to use images in your status updates whenever possible in order to attract attention from your network.
In the screenshot below, which status update stands out the most?
Use images whenever possible to make your LinkedIn status updates stand out.
#3: Get Active on LinkedIn Today
LinkedIn Today has also been given a couple of awesome new features recently to make the news site more social!
First, you can now click on “Trending in Your Network” on LinkedIn today to view specific news stories that have been shared by your connections.
Click on "Trending in Your Network" to view articles shared by your connections.
Second, you can like, comment, share and save news stories on LinkedIn Today.
The comments don’t appear to be threaded conversations; however, your commentary on a trending news story will appear on the homepages of all of your connections!
If you comment on a few news stories each day through LinkedIn Today, you will keep your status active, create potential engagement with your network and also receive the benefit of having an image inserted into your status update!
Share your unique commentary on trending news topics on LinkedIn Today.
LinkedIn is getting more social. Be sure to tweak your LinkedIn marketing to leverage these new social features.
And if you haven’t already got a LinkedIn marketing plan in place, it might be time to consider implementing one.
The ongoing improvements to LinkedIn continue to make it a compelling network for business professionals, business owners and anyone looking to improve their career or job opportunities.
Facebook Marketing for Business
The misconceptions marketers have about Facebook.
Brian explains why constant promotion is boring and what marketers should do instead. He describes how marketers should be using Facebook, and if you are not already on Facebook how to check it out and interact.
You’ll learn why it’s all about selling the dream and bridging the gap. One thing to do is to have a vision of the life that your customer is trying to live and portray that through photos and maybe even videos.
Brian shares some examples of businesses doing this well. One of these businesses creates their own someecards. Discover how you can test this kind of tactic in your Facebook marketing.
Someecards is a popular, funny, online card site where you can create cool stuff with your own message attached.
The biggest mistakes marketers repeatedly make on Facebook.
Brian describes the 5 things you need to do to sell on Facebook as shown on his Facebook Diagram below and outlines the mistakes marketers make at each one of these steps.
Once you have your fans and you have reached them, you still need to persuade them.
The Facebook metrics you need to pay attention to and why
Consider the possibility that your business might be having trouble because people may not be aware of you or they’re not engaging. You might not be showing up in their news feed or maybe you’re showing but they’re not buying for some reason.
Look at the metrics to figure out which part you’re having trouble with.
You’ll learn how to balance the number of fans on your Facebook page with the effective reach of your Facebook marketing and what Brian considers “trash-can metrics.”
Listen to the show to learn how to determine the metrics that matter most to your business.
How B2B businesses can approach Facebook marketing
Brian discusses the different options to target B2B customers on Facebook and feed people into your sales funnel.
When it comes to ads, you need to have passionate fans. Your fans have to be passionate, affordable and they need to be buyers. Discover how to get to know your customers in Facebook terms. Ask “What other things do your customers like?”
There are a couple of tools for finding out your fans’ likes: Optim.al and Infinigraph.
Listen to the show to find out more about qualifying your audience on Facebook.
Brian shares his best Facebook marketing tip: Share a photo and give a call to action such as “Click Like if…”
To find out more about Facebook, check out our first podcast episode with Mari Smith, who shares insights on Facebook mobile.
Survival Tip: Use Images on Facebook
Recently Mari Smith and I experimented with this and it really does work. If you want to get maximum exposure for what you share on Facebook, use images to dominate Facebook news feeds. Images grab attention.
In today's world of social media marketing, the point is to connect with the consumer, on a more personal level. The slow cultivated relationship that you forge through your social media interactions is a more meaningful one than the impersonal advertising messages through traditional media. Here is a good article from MarketingProfs on "humanizing" your brand.
Why Being Human Matters in Marketing
by Emily Eldridge | 18,113 views
Published on August 20, 2012
Instinct tells us that "humanizing" a brand—connecting it in the consumer's mind with a distinctive personality or an engaging personal narrative—is a good idea. But we don't have to rely on instinct. Research demonstrates how human interaction affects transactions, with lessons for marketers.
Iris Bohnet and Bruno Frey conducted an economic research study in 1999 called "Social Distance and Other-Regarding Behavior in Dictator Games." Two groups of students were recruited to participate in a series of social interactions in which members of the first group had to decide whether to share any portion of a sum of money—approximately $10—with a person in the second group.
When the first group knew nothing at all about those in the second group, participants offered, on average, only 26% of the money. When the moderators asked the second group to stand up—making them less anonymous to the first group—the offer increased to 39%. When the moderators shared personal information about those in the second group with those in the first, the average offer increased to 52%. And when members of the groups were introduced to one another, the average offer was 50%.
In other words, the greater the social distance, the less willing people were to hand over money.
Social Distance and Charitable Marketing
The most obvious application for Bohnet and Frey's study is in marketing nonprofit causes. For instance, Charity:Water asks people to give up birthday presents and celebrations to pay for water in underdeveloped areas. And its tactic works because it tells stories about people: people who need clean water, people who volunteer to help drill wells, people who have a passion for fulfilling a basic human need.
Charity:Water closes the gap of social distance with videos, images, and written narratives that it distributes via offline events, email, social networks, YouTube, and websites.
People have a much harder time saying no when they feel they are saying no to a specific person.
Social Distance and Our Promotion-Crazed Society
Bohnet and Frey's study also has implications in these promotion-crazed times of Groupon, where consumers know the power of their wallets. They're worried about their own futures. If they can buy something for 95% off, they will.
Marketers and salesmen enable such consumer beliefs and habits. Here's a homework assignment: Buy a newspaper this Sunday with promotional inserts. How many present a narrative? How many feature "50 PERCENT OFF" and the like?
Emphasizing discounts may entice the consumer to enter a store. But there the consumer is unlikely to find much in the way of personal interaction. Most employees are behind cash registers. Shelf hangers and displays do most of the "talking" in the store.
The problem with this scenario is how socially distanced the brand is. It's a product with a price. The consumer is motivated to strive for the deepest discount possible. That's it.
Social Proximity Emphasizes Value
But a brand that is humanized—with personal narratives, with human interactions—can command a higher price point and make the consumer happier in the process.
For example, Apple stores don't have rows of cashiers. Instead, they have easily identifiable employees throughout the store with mobile cashier platforms ready to interact. They will explain the benefits of each product, help you deal with issues, and share their passion for the products.
People are attracted to Apple because of its sleek products, but sticker shock could be an issue. Cheaper, equally (or more) powerful products are on the market. Yet Apple continues to increase its market share. The reason is that Apple has used Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, and its army of highly passionate employees around the world to humanize its brand. And consumers worldwide have responded.
Another example is Zappos.com, which places on its product pages videos of a Zappos employee talking about why he or she likes that product. It's important to note that the videos are not about the product specs. They are personal stories told by someone who genuinely likes a particular product. When Zappos launched those videos in 2009, its conversion rate reportedly increased from 6% to 30%.
* * *
So think about what you can do to humanize your brand, both online and in-person. No matter how sleek your products, how beautifully designed your store or site, how sophisticated your analytics, people respond to the personal touch.
I adore Pinterest! I often pin items right from my budget fashion blog. I save recipes, make gift lists, and share stuff for friends. As a marketer I obviously have paid attention to the Pinterest contests, but honestly was unsure of how effective they would be. It seemed like a lot of work to simply enter a contest. However, after reading this post from Social Media Examiner I see there is a true value there. And it is for the same reason that I pin items from my blog, I want it to be passed around. The very nature of Pinterest is viral. Check out these success stories:
9 Businesses Using Pinterest Contests to Drive Traffic and Exposure
By Prafull Sharma
Published August 20, 2012
Are you using Pinterest to market your business?
Running contests on Pinterest is a great way to expose your brand to a large audience, attract new followers and engage with your existing follower base.
In this article, I’ll showcase nine businesses running successful Pinterest contests.
Why Pinterest Contests?
Here is why you should run a contest on Pinterest:
Pinterest is the third most popular social network in the U.S. in terms of traffic.
Pinterest has accumulated 14.9 million users as of July 2012.
Pinterest is retaining and engaging users as much as 2-3 times more efficiently than Twitter was at a similar time in its history.
Over 80% of pins are repins, demonstrating the tremendous “virality” at work in the Pinterest community.
Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic as of January 2012.
Shoppers referred by Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors who arrive from other social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
Using Pinterest contests, your brand can engage with consumers in a personal and cost-effective way.
Contests can also help you collect customer information, preferences and feedback. This valuable data can then be put into action to enhance your offerings and acquire more customers.
So in this post, I’ll show you different types of Pinterest contests and examples to get you inspired to craft a Pinterest contest for your business.
Sweepstakes
Users can enter a Pinterest sweepstake by following a brand, creating a pinboard or by repinning an image. Winners are drawn randomly from the pool of eligible entries.
Below are the three examples of how companies are creating sweepstakes.
#1: AMC Theatres
The second-largest movie theater chain in North America, AMC Theatres is generating a lot of engagement through Pinterest contests.
AMC has created an entire pinboard, AMC Giveaways, dedicated to contests and giveaways.
Now users can just follow the specific pinboard to stay updated with the latest giveaways from AMC. The visually attractive pins direct users to appropriate contest landing pages.
AMC's giveaway pinboard with visually attractive pins.
Landing pages contain contest details and an entry form. The entry form is best utilized by AMC collecting basic customer information and customer preferences.
Simple contest entry form collecting valuable customer information and preferences.
There are a lot of attractive giveaways offered by AMC from time to time on the pinboard to excite movie lovers. Prizes such as signed posters, free tickets, t-shirts and even a signed director’s chair are irresistible to the fans.
The most recent is a very special giveaway contest: The Dark Knight Rises custom Xbox 360 for The Dark Knight Rises. The interesting part is the user doesn’t even have to follow AMC on Pinterest or pin/repin an image to participate in the contest.
With contests, AMC is successfully promoting its brand, driving lots of engagement and collecting extremely valuable customer data.
Have a look at the number of social media shares and comments that the contest page has already received.
Contest details page with social sharing elements to reach a bigger audience.
Here are the details of the contest:
Participants fill out an entry form at the AMC website before the deadline.
Winners are selected at random.
Prize: The Dark Knight Rises custom Xbox 360. Unlike any other 360 consoles, this one is unavailable for purchase.
#2: British Midland International (BMI)
The airline company BMI (acquired by International Airline Group recently), kicked off BMI Pinterest lottery, a game of chance, on March 6, 2012. Rather than just posting the destination pictures, BMI converted its pinboards into a fun competition.
Creative use of pinboards and pins by BMI.
Different boards were created for different destinations, each containing nine pins, with a unique number on each image.
Additionally, the contest also included Tumblr. Each pin was linked to the brand’s Tumblr presence, BMIsocialplanet, where BMI showcased content for different BMI destinations from around the web.
Participants repin six images and at the end of the week, a winning number is drawn, with one random user winning the competition. Notice how BMI has incorporated the details of participation and relevant information in the pin description.
Great use of pin description with contest details in the copy.
This highly creative campaign, which ran for 7 weeks, resulted in 500k+ social media impressions in the first week alone, and generated lots of positive social media sentiment. More than 3000 entries were received for the contest in the first two weeks alone.
Katie Miller @KatieMillerMN
RT @AmySho: Best Pinterest campaign I've seen: British Airline Launches A Pinterest Lottery To Give Away Free Flights bit.ly/yw9foc
13 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Happy Interior Blog @IgorJosif
I like the fact that companies have discovered the potential of @Pinterest - like the BMI Pinterest lottery:-) psfk.com/2012/03/bmi-pi…
14 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Seth Thomas@SlvrUmbrella_ST
First Brand To Launch A #Pinterest Lottery. ow.ly/9EGs7 #BritishMidlandIinternational #SocialMedia #BmiPinterestLottery
14 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Here are the details of the contest:
Repin favorite images from any of BMI’s destination pinboards.
Each week, BMI picks a number at random. Everyone who has repinned the image that corresponds to that number is in the draw.
Winner is chosen at random.
Prize: One pair of BMI return flight tickets from any BMI destination.
#3: HuHot
HuHot is the fastest-growing Mongolian grill concept in the United States. HuHot launched a Pin It to Win It contest during the month of June, 2012. The participants had to create a HuHot recipe and pin it on one of their own pinboards in order to enter the contest.
HuHot created a landing page on their website describing the contest details. A pinboard grill meal contest was also created where all the entries were repinned.
Repinned recipe to grill meal contest pinboard created by HuHot.
An attractive contest teaser was displayed prominently at the HuHot website homepage and shared at their Pinterest account linking to the landing page.
Well-designed teaser for the HuHot Grill Meal contest.
The contest had no complex set of rules and could be executed with ease. The contest helped HuHot gain new followers, collect a variety of recipe and food styling ideas, and generate brand awareness.
Here are the details of the contest:
Participants pin a photo of a HuHot grill meal.
Participants write the recipe of their creation in the description and include the word “HuHot” so that HuHot can repin it.
Prize: Five winners are chosen. The grand prize is a $100 gift card, and each of the other four winners receives a $25 gift card.
Best Pinboard Contest
In this type of contest, contestants create a pinboard under the contest rules, and the company selects the best entry.
Let’s see some examples of how brands are utilizing this type of contest.
#4: Peugeot Panamá
Pinterest is an excellent way to expose a brand to a large audience, given the viral nature of the images on Pinterest and a highly engaged Pinterest audience.
Peugeot is a brand that has grabbed this opportunity with both hands. Their brand has created a very clever Pinterest challenge, Peugeot Puzzle Contest, to increase followers, boost engagement and direct traffic to both their website and Facebook fan page.
It’s a puzzle where contestants find the four missing pieces of a Peugeot photo on the Peugeot website and Facebook fan pages and complete the board.
Peugeot Panamá puzzle pinboard with missing pieces.
To submit their entry, participants have to share the pinboard by adding Peugeot as a contributor. For this, participants need to follow Peugeot or one of its pinboards—which means more followers for Peugeot.
Also, Peugeot has not stopped at repins and sharing only, but is also driving engagement. Peugeot moderators engage the users, encouraging them to participate in the contest. Moderators also promptly respond to questions/comments about the game or any issues faced by participants. This improves a brand’s reputation and overall image.
Peugeot Panamá moderators encouraging participation and assisting participants.
Here are the details of the contest:
Follow Peugeot on Pinterest and choose a puzzle.
Look for four missing pieces on Peugeot.com.pa or Peugeot Panamá’s Facebook fan page.
Create a pinboard titled “Peugeot Puzzle Contest / (your name),” pin the images and share it with Peugeot. Voilà!
First five people to complete the board win.
Prize: The winner gets a Peugeot kit.
#5: Homes
Homes is a website for searching properties for sale or rent. The company partnered with some of the industry’s top bloggers to launch a Spring into the Dream Pinterest contest during May 2012.
Bloggers were asked to create a blog post and Pinterest board detailing their “Spring into the Dream” ideas to their readers/followers. The contest went on to engage the readers of these blogs as well, allowing blog readers to participate in the contest and win a prize as well.
The winning blogger is selected by Homes. The winning blogger then selects one of his or her readers as a winner as well.
To enter the contest, participants had to repin at least two items from the Homes pinboard and pin at least two items from the Homes website or blog. This resulted in increased traffic to the Homes blog and website through pins and repins.
The contest helped Homes by tapping into the Pinterest followers of the bloggers, in addition to their blog readers.
Winning entry with more than 6000+ followers.
With this innovative contest, Homes increased its brand footprint and also successfully engaged their target audience on Pinterest and top industry blogs.
The example below shows blog readers engaged by the contest.
Blog readers engaging and participating in the contest.
Here are the steps for the blog readers:
Follow Homes on Pinterest.
Create Homes “Spring into the Dream” pinboard, using the hashtag #springintothedream on pins.
Repin at least two items from the Homes “Spring into the Dream” Pinterest board onto their board.
Pin at least two items from Homes or the Homes blog.
Share the pinboard with the blogger.
Prize: The winning blogger receives $500 and an additional $500 to award to one of his/her readers who created a Pinterest board and shared the link on their blog post.
#6: Threadless
Threadless is a community-based t-shirt company. During February 2012, Threadless came up with a Valentine’s-themed Threadless Loves Pinning challenge on Pinterest. The contest went from February 6 through February 12, 2012. The best board was selected and the winner was announced on Valentine’s Day.
Users had to create a pinboard, pinning 10 images depicting gift ideas for their special loved one. Threadless created a landing page on their blog describing the contest. The objective was to engage the audience and receive likes/repins.
Below is a sample of comments received on the contest landing page, which shows that participants were engaged positively with the brand.
Participants engaging with the brand through a contest.
During the week, Threadless received a whopping 366 submissions, filled with thoughtful and funny descriptions, showing the participants’ feelings for their loved ones.
Below is the winning pinboard.
Winning entry for Threadless Valentine's Day challenge with creative gifting ideas.
Here are the details of the contest:
Create a board titled “Threadless Valentine’s Day Challenge” for the person you love. In the board’s description let Threadless know why that person is so amazing.
Pin 10 images to the board that would make great gifts for your special person. (At least five must be Threadless products).
To enter the contest, email the pinboard URL to Threadless.
Prize: The winner gets $100 in “Threadless cash” and a $100 Amazon gift card.
Most Repins/Votes Contest
In this type of contest, entrants create pinboards/pins based on contest rules. Users like/repin or vote on the entries, and as the name suggests, the entry with the most votes wins.
Let’s have a look at how companies are running this type of contest.
#7: Victoria’s Secret
World-famous brand of women’s wear Victoria’s Secret is making great use of Pinterest contests. After successfully running their Dreaming of a PINK Summer Pinterest contest and receiving thousands of entries, Victoria’s Secret launched another alluring Pinterest challenge: My Victoria’s Secret Summer, from July 6, 2012 to August 20, 2012.
To participate in the contest, users have to go to the contest details page at Victoria’s Secret Facebook page. Participants then pin at least three images from the Victoria’s Secret fan page or website and create a pinboard.
Victoria's Secret attractive contest landing page on Facebook.
The six best pinboards are selected, and the one that receives most votes wins the grand prize. Victoria’s Secret has also created a detailed set of terms and conditions for the contest, which is a great thing in order to protect the company in case of any disputes.
The best thing is, Victoria’s Secret is not only promoting their products, but also is increasing traffic to their Facebook fan page and website through the contest. This is an excellent strategy to maximize the returns on your contest, while also making the contest more interesting for participants.
Here are the details of the contest:
Create a Pinterest board and name it “My Victoria’s Secret Summer.”
Pin the entry image from Victoria’s Secret Facebook page, at least three images from VictoriasSecret.com, and summer-inspired pics to your pinboard.
Once done, submit email-id and the board’s URL on Victoria’s Secret Facebook page.
A panel of judges, including Victoria’s Secret model Candice Swanepoel, will select six finalists from all eligible entries.
The finalist entries will be displayed on the Victoria’s Secret Facebook page and visitors will vote for the grand-prize winner.
Prize: One grand-prize winner will receive a $1,000 Victoria’s Secret gift card. Five first-prize winners will each receive a $200 Victoria’s Secret gift card.
#8: High Point Market
High Point Market organizes trade shows for the furniture industry. High Point is running an engaging Pinterest contest. It’s entitled Style Spotters and has an objective to gain repins and likes.
Home fashion trendsetters, called Style Spotters (recruited by High Point Market), pin attractive images of their favorite looks and trending products. Users vote for the images through likes and repins, and the pinboard with the most votes wins.
Style Spotters pin their images to the High Point Market pinboards, driving engagement through likes, repins and comments.
Pinboard of one of the Style Spotters with more than 2000 followers.
The contest has helped High Point Market gain 3000+ Pinterest followers for their Style Spotter April 2012 contest.
High Point Market pinboards where Style Spotters pin their favorite images.
The best part of this contest is that it’s simple, easy to participate in and doesn’t have a bunch of complex rules.
Here are the details of the contest:
Style Spotters pin their favorite images to High Point Market’s Pinterest boards, listing the exhibitor’s name and showroom number.
Spotters also present the exhibitor with a sign that highlights the Style Spotter’s name with a QR code and URL for the Pinterest board.
People vote for the Style Spotters by “liking” or “repinning” the pins. The most popular pinboard wins.
Prize: The Style Spotter wins a free trip to the High Point Market.
#9: Emailvision
This company provides “software as a service” (SaaS) marketing solutions to deliver and automate email marketing.
Emailvision came up with a unique Pinterest campaign targeting email marketers. The “Pin Your Inbox” contest, which ended on May 31,2012, was designed to promote Emailvision and give recognition to email marketers.
Below, examples show the attractive contest page created by the company, where users share their email creative.
Landing page for Emailvision's Pinterest campaign.
With this contest, the brand got the email marketers engaged, asking them to pin their favorite email campaign.
Marketers pinned beautiful email campaigns to enter the contest.
Some prominent features of this contest were: It was created for a select audience (email marketers) in mind; it gave away a prize that attracted the targeted audience; and it has very short and simple participation guidelines.
Here are the details of the contest:
Pin your favorite email creative to Pin Your Inbox.
Emailvision community and Pinterest users view and “like” the showcased email campaigns.
The creative with most likes wins.
Prize: The winner gets an email creative designed by Emailvision studio.
Pinterest Contest Best Practices
So now you know about different types of Pinterest contests and how companies are utilizing them.A great next step would be to create your own innovative contests and experiment with them on Pinterest.
Here are some key takeaways to help you create and run Pinterest contests for your business.
- Review Pinterest’s terms and conditions before creating your contest.
- Set goals and objectives you want to achieve with your Pinterest campaign.
- Create a contest with your target audience and goals in mind.
- Choose a prize that will excite and engage your audience.
- Have clear and simple participation rules.
- Create an attractive landing page, clearly describing your contest, including terms and conditions. Encourage social sharing of the contest.
- Utilize your existing audience to promote the contest, blast out the contest to your email lists, blog, Facebook/Twitter or other social media presence.
- Make sure that images are repinnable and linked to the correct landing pages.
- Utilize pin descriptions to include clear copy. This will help you reach a wider audience—beyond the first repin.
Posts
