Bait-n-switch is not a social technique

Shame on Geico. These pins are really an abuse of social media, using enticing images of a Panda, a delicious dessert and an enchanting vacation shot to entice Pinners into repinning, liking and commenting on this image-heavy social network. Geico isn't stupid, the social strategists there know what Pinners love: recipes, animals and exotic venues.

Geico isn't playing "fair" as these pins are nothing but pure promo, linking directly to a "Get a quote" web page. And pinners are sharing these ... giving their own followers nothing satisfying, only some free advertising for Geico.

Heck, Geico could have at least shared a recipe, a travel tip or some facts about Pandas on the link-through page.

 

Note to brands: if you are going to engage on social media, be honest in your actions and follow the "social" protocols. You can promote and advertise, but do it with taste and openly. And make your self-serving posts or pins only about 20% of your activity.

Facebooking for one of Madison's favorite people

This one is fun ... I have put up a Facebook business page for Madison's groomer, which means lots of dog pictures. That's an easy one.

The salon owner has negative tech skills, so I'll just teach her how to take photos from her iPhone and post them to the page. She wants to post a "dog of week" and encourage her clients to post photos too.

Click over and give us a like!

Black Friday Bonanza

Catalogs.com is all about shopping - more Cyber Monday kind of shopping - but Black Friday gets us going, too.

Black Friday has been a PR bonanza, thanks to a couple great HARO leads, some really sassy list-making by my funnier-than-anyone cohort, Samara, who inspired a blog post to which I added the "meat," the Twinkies and the tattoo, and a cool connection made with FoxBusiness.com.

Here's my public relations ode to Black Friday insanity - and sanity:

On Wisebread:  Even More Black Friday Savings Tips From Shopping Experts

On FoxBusiness.com: Six Things Not to Buy on Black Friday

and, at our marketing blog:

What (really) not to buy on Black Friday

Pinning my heart out ...

I haven't been to Paris since I was there with a long-ago-love when I was in my early thirtys and living life in the arty lane.

It's time to go back, to reminisce, to renew, to introduce myself and the best guy who ever happened to me to the best city that ever happened to me. The place where I grew in the city of lights: at the marche aux puce, taking the metro to my piano teacher's cluttered ex-pat apartment, to the bois de bologne where we rented rowboats and laughed at the red-assed and obscene baboons.

So I am pinning my heart out ... because my heart belongs to Paris.

Click over and show my "Chic after Dark" board for Refinery 29 and Estee Lauder's Pinterest contest.

Super Advice for bloggers from BitRebels

I find wonderful direction and professional pointers everywhere, especially as infographics on Pinterest. I love this one from BitRebels:

Social media is like that bluelight thing

I had a thought about social media, and it pretty much works, if you're into metaphors and those kind of things.

Let's say your business - whatever it is, a service, a consultancy, a cute little store selling handmade soaps - is a great big "box" store. Picture one, it doesn't matter what the giant name is on the front of the store.

You, as a big box owner, use a variety of tools to communicate with your customers. These are your constituents. If you are a shopper, you've seen all of these.

That's when I had a funny flash of inspiration and drew a correlation between each one of these, and which social media channels we use for a similar type of communication.

• The "Meet Your Store Manager" sign = Linkedin

• The sales flyer by the door = E-newsletter

• Blue light special & loudspeaker blasts = Twitter

• Sales assistants and customer service desk = Facebook

• Aisle endcap = Pinterest

• In-store Smart Network  = YouTube

Thinking like this can help you decide where to invest your social media efforts. What does your "store" need? What makes sense for you?

Don't have blue light specials? Don't need to blast specials or hot tips over the loud speaker? Then you can probably do without Twitter. If you don't have a constituency waiting for your quick blurts of day-changing data, don't waste your time. Think about what your business needs.

Don't have any information that your customers want to pick up and read? Then you probably don't want to barge into their inbox.

Don't have big displays with great product and flashy images? Your Pinterest will be very shallow.

Unless, of course, you love it and you're having fun.

That's where I'm going with this. What do you think?