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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Step aside Facebook, I have a new love

Source: facebook.com via Anne on Pinterest



I am in crush with Pinterest. It is like eye candy: easy, pretty, friendly. It's simple.

Now I have two windows open all the time, hopping between Facebook (making a pretty and engaging timeline) and Pinterest (making a pretty and engaging personal collection of boards).

Demoted? Definitely Google+ ... sorry!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Google +


I admit it ... I'm a Facebook addict. I love the new timeline, I love connecting to other sites with my Facebook, I love "liking" and "sharing."

And now I love Pinterest. Almost as much as I love Facebook.

Actually, when I'm off-the-clock, these are the tabs I always have open to my personal accounts.

Google + , not so much. I just can't get into it, because I feel like a traitor, eschewing FB and asking my contacts (really all of who are on Facebook) to jump over to a whole new world. And I have - from the very beginning of the Google + hype - felt like there was some social-guru snobbism "over there." So my +anne account is pretty dismal. It's there.

But I am maintaining an alter ego on Google + for Catalogs. I have an account for myself with my work email, and a respectable number of PR, media and social types in Circles. I run the page for Catalogs.com on Google + too. It is valuable to have a business presence there, and to post articles, images and public relations materials.

Check out what I'm doing on Google + for Catalogs.com. Put us in your "shopping" circle.

Targeted Audience Marketing on Facebook

Moms N Deals by Catalogs.com and Dogs N Deals at Catalogs.com

Catalogs.com is approaching 10,000 fans on Facebook. Without a concerted effort to market the Facebook page to our Website users, and with no advertising, it has been a slow process.

A couple of contests, run with Offerpop apps, gave us significant bumps in fans. The first, a "Refer a Friend" contest for $1500 in Catalogs.com shopping sprees, was a good success, and seems to have garnered real fans. The second, a photo contest, revealed the shady side of Facebook and captured frantic sweepers, fake and multiple-account holders, and a slew of overseas scammers. Watch for my thoughts on Facebook contests in a separate post.

Anyway, at almost 10,000 hard-won fans, I continue to feel that their is no single "agenda" for our Catalogs.com fans. The nature of our site is diverse - over 750 catalogs in more than 31 categories - and our social posts have been schizophrenic. One day I am posting deals from a dollar store, the next hot pumps from Chinese Laundry and a few hours later, new catalogs from auto parts retailers.
I decided to try creating two Facebook pages, branded to Catalogs.com, but targeted at very specific audiences. Neither of these pages are promoted at our website, and are not advertised. For now, they are growing "organically."
Check them out at Moms N Deals by Catalogs.com and Dogs N Deals at Catalogs.com.

The names say it all; the user knows what to expect.

My fave shopping portal