Interest in Pinterest

Pinterest is very new to me. A friend told me about it in December and I tried it as soon as I got home and quickly became enthralled with the content and inspiration I was finding on the site. Similar to my initial reaction when I joined Twitter a few years ago, I thought to myself that I understood the social component from an everyday discussion standpoint, but didn't quite know how businesses would participate. Only a few years later and those companies who don't have Twitter are the odd men out.

Last week we had a discussion question about how businesses could use Pinterest to engage with customers, so I know this is a little late, but while reading through my blog roll, I came across a very interesting article about the exponential growth of Pinterest of late here and wanted to share.

The number of users increased by 400% from September to December 2011 and just in the month of December alone they has 7.51 million unique visitors to the website.

From what I've read, it still seems quite uncertain as to how successful Pinterest will be for businesses in terms of actually driving traffic to stores and purchases, but there are some business in where I think it could work. The article mentions the Pinterest accounts for HGTV, Nordstrom and West Elm and all of these businesses have one major thing in common - they are very visual. Design, art and fashion are all very visual and built from inspiration. For an interior design company, Pinterest would post images of work they've done in the hopes of getting followers interested in their business services, or post some of their favourite products that would only be available at their stores.

I could also see Pinterest working successfully for cosmetic brands and fashion brands, not only for posting new collections, but making the creative process more available to consumers - breaking down the lines of what use to be a secret or proprietary in the planning process, but is now made available through social media outlets. For now, I'm using Pinterest specifically to inspire upcoming wedding plans, but I'm going to be on the look out to see how Pinterest continues to develop within the retail space.

Blogger Education

In my drive to learn and take in as much information as possible about social media and PR, here are some of the bloggers that I've been/started following to help make sense of this crazy world of social media.

Communication Conversations - The blog's creator Arik has interesting and informative posts and if you read his bio, he was named one of the top 50 PR people to follow (interesting list if you're looking to follow more PR professionals on Twitter!).

Dave Jones - Our classmate Pilar introduced me to Dave Jones' blog. Dave actually came into one of my classes at Ryerson to speak and I found him fascinating, so I'm glad to have found and started reading his blog. Thank you, Pilar.

Forbes Social Media - There are a lot of tips on this blog and a lot of current and up to date information. The focus is more on social media, but greatly helps my education in the social media.

Jeff Bullas - If you're new to Twitter, this blog provides a great run down of how to get started and how you can use it. He also has a lot of thought provoking posts, which I enjoy!

Mashable - I'v followed this website for a long time now and find it an incredibly valuable resource. This blog basically taught me how to use Twitter. I also like how they have the "Trending Stories" right at the top, so I know if I only have a bit of time to catch up on the new, everything I need to know is there.

New York Times - This section of the New York Tims ha an area called the "App Index", which allows me to easily locate all of the articles on mobile apps that are focus on communication and social media. I have found this to be very useful to keep informed on what's new and coming.

PR Daily - I have been reading this website for about a year now and I also subscribe to their daily emails. They have some really insightful information about public relations in general and a lot of information on social media and writing.

Social Media Examiner - This is a new website I just started following and they have a lot of great information, but what I like most are the case studies they have here, which shows real business examples of social PR campaigns.

Social Media Explorer - I've really enjoyed exploring this website. Their articles are easy to find and broken down by specific categories. They also have section on marketing/digital marketing, which I find really interesting too. What helped most was their start guide, to help me find articles that were useful for me.

Veritas Communications Touchdowns & Fumbles - This blog can be pretty funny sometimes, but I also really like the case study component, showing what works and doesn't work for certain companies and campaigns.

Have I missed any of the major websites? I would love to hear feedback if I have!

Appifying The World

Do you ever feel like the social world is moving faster than you can keep up with? I will admit, I often do. And since beginning to daily expand my horizons to the newest and latest social media happenings in my current Ryerson course, I'm amazed at how seemingly behind I am, when I thought I had a good grasp on things. One area that I still am not completely in tune with, but is spreading like wild fire, is the explosion of applications. The makers of these are truly "appifying our world". There are millions of apps available, some of which many don't use, others that are must-haves and more that are set to come that are going to break technological grounds.

While having lunch with a girl friend earlier this week, who has just announced she's expecting, she began telling me that he baby is approximately the size of an avocado, to which I replied, "Pardon? And how do you know that?!" Well, after a lengthy discussion, I learned that she, like many other women who are expecting, downloaded an app to her iPad (I'm Expecting - Pregnancy App, seen here: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/im-expecting-pregnancy-app/id383565674?mt=8). Now, rather than reading many hundred page books or sitting there confused and worried about all of the changes shes experience, she has access to information at her finger tips like never before. She receives a weekly email that lets her know the approximate size of her baby (comparing it to a particular sized fruit or vegetable), can read information daily about what to expect during each week and an exact countdown of when her baby is coming, letting her know how many days are left.

I also read this week about the launch of iBook from apple - the appification of textbooks. After reading a number of news articles about the product, I can already see how it is going to completely revolutionize the way future children learn in the classroom. Apple has already secured four of the nations biggest textbook publishers who will make their textbooks available on the iPad.

So while these are only two examples of the appification of the world, they stand out quite a bit. And while we, as PR practitioners, must remain current and in touch with the ever evolving social world, I can't help but think about how older generations (who may not be as with the times) react to this. For instance, my mother who is a teacher, simply cannot fathom an education system without physical textbooks, but it is becoming a stronger reality that textbooks could be a very distant memory in the not so distant future. Also, trying to explain to my grandmother that there is an app for pregnancy that keeps you informed throughout each trimester, she absolutely cannot comprehend the idea, saying "why would you ever need something like that?"

And this makes me think: Does the advent of the app world make us more reliant on technology and feel less and less like we can't live without it? Because the truth is, everyone got by just fine before us.

Why PR’s Shouldn’t Fear Change

PR is an ever-changing industry – probably the reason many professionals get into the career. If you’re on the hunt for daily change, excitement and newness, then PR is the world for you. But just how much are PR professionals willing to accept change?

One area that has become more and more intertwined with PR, is social media. The advent of social media and the online world has made many industries re-think the way they conduct and strategize campaigns for their organizations, PR being one of them. The issue is that many PR professionals are very traditional and set in their ways, not very willing to accept change.

This needs to stop. The world is ever-changing and the social world is changing by the second. While change can be scary, it is also exciting. The web has created numerous ways in which messages can be communicated, consumers can be reached and PR campaign can be disseminated.  What is tough is staying on top of the changes and being willing to accept change.

A great example of an organization that might not be as willing to change with the times is Timothy’s Coffees of the World. The Toronto Star recently reported (here: http://tinyurl.com/7x7khzf) about a Facebook promotion that Timothy’s conducted which quickly spun out of control. Put simply, Timothy’s asked Facebook followers to “Like” them on Facebook and the company would send fans four free 24 pack boxes of single serve coffee. This was an incredible deal, and one of the first problems is that Timothy’s underestimated how many people would actually sign up. In the current social web, we have to be prepared for anything and everything.

Timothy’s also accidentally sent an email to all of the Facebook users who “liked” them saying the coffee was on its way when it really wasn’t. Clearly this was a technical glitch; however the handling of this situation, especially in the social web, was not thought through. It took Timothy’s one month to post an apology video. PR professionals have to change their line of thinking to understand that social media is instantaneous and therefore needs to be addressed immediately. Like the Toronto Star article says, days and weeks are not acceptable. It is great that organizations are willing to change and let social media into their strategy, but if they are not willing to learn and keep current with the changes, then campaigns are not going to be as successful as they could be.

The issue surrounding Timothy’s Coffees of the World this week is a great example of how imperative it is that public relations professionals change with the times, especially when dealing with social media. While it might seem like a daunting task trying to take on an understanding of the social web, it is more and more becoming an essential component of staying on top of the public relations industry.