Massive growth and popularity prove Pinterest is a wise avenue for your next marketing dollars. But how can you use it?

Pinterest: A Guide for Marketers

One of the first things you need to understand about Pinterest is what the heck it is. The site is “A content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pin board.”

Pinterest allows users to create customized themed boards to pin their images, video and other objects to. The board and theme are as creative as the individual and for marketers this can be ripe ground for our talent.

Demographics

Hitwise classifies Pinterest users into three categories:

• Boomers & Boomerangs: Boomers and Boomerangs are a contemporary consumer segment consisting of baby boomer-aged parents and their grown-up children living under the same roof. In these upscale households, most of the parents are in their 50s and early 60s while most of their children are teenagers and young adults in their 20s.
• Babies & Bliss: Babies and Bliss represent the premier lifestyle for large families in America. With a majority of households containing at least five people, this segment is a haven for large broods living in new suburban subdivisions. Parents in this segment tend to be in their 30s and 40s.
• Families Matter Most: A fast-growing segment, Families Matter Most consists of young, middle-class families in suburban locations leading active, family-focused lives. Nine out of 10 households have kids (nearly two-thirds have multiple kids).

As far as gender goes, a large percentage of the users on Pinterest are women. Google Ad planner shows Pinterest with an 80 percent female and 20 percent male demographic, ages primarily 25-44. The site caters to their interests so there’s no surprise there.

Men, however, are slowly migrating to the site and finding interest in their own ways. Sports teams have even created Pinterest boards for their male audience.

The information shared by Hitwise and Google Ad Planner can help marketers to see exactly who makes up the user base on Pinterest and what industries may do well. What marketers should understand here is that women are the core audience right now.

Research shows that women make the online purchasing decisions for roughly 75 percent of American households. This highly coveted demographic can be worthwhile for your marketing dollars. Don’t forget, however, that the site also has its appeal to other demographics as well.

Benefits

There are many benefits to using this new social networking site for marketing a brand. Just like any other social site, brands stand a chance to reap the rewards of reaching more customers, driving more traffic, and selling more products.

Traffic

According to Shareaholic, Pinterest sent more referral traffic to websites than Twitter did in February this year. The site still doesn’t beat out StumbleUpon as a referral traffic source, but is slowly climbing the ranks becoming a contender.

Over the summer, Pinterest became the top social media referrer for MarthaStewart.com and MarthaStewartWedding.com. The site is sending more referral traffic than Facebook and Twitter combined.

Cooking Light magazine’s website shows Pinterest as the second highest traffic referrer behind Google. The most popular topics that seem to drive traffic are in the wedding, arts and crafts, culinary, décor, design, and fashion industries.

Sales

For Etsy store owners, Pinterest has proved to be a boon to their success. The site caters to the creative and interesting, the unique.

Users are encouraged to share the prices of items in their pins, by placing a “$” prefix before the price. Attractive prices can certainly garner a click through and potential purchase.

Pinterest recently updated their Terms of Service and took out their pin etiquette statement that requested users not use Pinterest for self-promotion. Concerns about self-serving promotion restrictions are seemingly over.

While we certainly don’t recommend promoting the heck out of your products, adding boards to showcase your products that in turn can help sell them is a good idea.

Reach

If people love your products, there’s a good chance you’ve already debuted on Pinterest. Here’s a trick: Check for yourself by going to pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com to see the users pinning your photos. You may find that customers pin many photos, have photos that get re-pinned or liked, and even have some Pinterest followers comment on their pins. These are all opportunities a brand’s name is spread and the reach is expanded.

Marketing on Pinterest: Quick Tips

• Legalities: One of the biggest concerns with a site like Pinterest is the copyright and trademark violation liabilities. When you pin content that doesn’t belong to you, you run the risk of infringing on the rights of that content. While some opt to tearfully delete their inspiration boards, others act more cautiously when utilizing the site. Post content you own the rights to or share content from others who own the rights.
• Stay Relevant: Pinning photos that relate to your brand and are organized in the proper board is suggested. Random photos that aren’t relevant to the themes and topics on Pinterest may not fare as well. Stand a chance at getting your pins seen by tailoring them to the topics popular on Pinterest. These popular pins show on category pages that receive many more Pageviews and can result in traffic and expanded reach.
• Optimize: A recent infographic put together by Pinnable business, illustrates the important optimization areas for your images in order to cater to Pinterest. From file naming to description length, each of these areas are important to understand and optimize. Additionally important is optimizing each pin description. Remember to add a call to action when applicable and you can even drop a link.
• Become Pinteresting: Simply adding a few boards and pins to Pinterest aren’t going to cut it. Find ways to create your own niche on the site. Garner a following; get known as the expert in a specific niche or topic on Pinterest by sharing interesting content. (Image via Agbeat.com)
• Hashtags: Pinterest understands hashtags, so use them. Use categories or keywords as hashtags, or even joke around with them to add some humor just like on Twitter.
• Add $: Remember, adding the “$” in front of a price will automatically add the pin to the Gifts section on Pinterest. When applicable, remember to add “$” to your pins.

Summary

Understanding how to use Pinterest and what marketing potential the site offers requires diving in and getting started. Test, measure, and track your efforts. Brainstorm with your team and look for opportunities outside the box. Continually tailor your efforts until you find the groove that works for you.

What are you waiting for? Get started today!

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SOURCE Search Engine Watch

Coors Light is using the new mobile campaign to target Mexico’s Primera Division soccer fans. Coors Light launched a Web site as part of the digital effort last year and is aiming to give consumers access to digital content from their favorite teams on their handsets with the new initiative.

“At Coors Light we understand that we need to constantly have a dialogue with our core Hispanic consumers,” said Cris Rivera, marketing manager for Coors Light Hispanic, Chicago.

“We listen to them and recognize what they want and where they play, and in that same vein we want to provide them with the tools to better connect with the sport they are most passionate about – Primera Division soccer,” he said.

“That is why we launched FanaticosDelFrio.com last year. The consumers spoke, letting us know they wanted access to the features of the Web site when they are on the go.”

The Primera Division league includes 18 different Mexican soccer teams and is part of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol.

Mobile fans

The digital push revolves around Coors Light’s sponsorship of the Primera Division.

Primera Division fans can type https://m.fanaticosdelfrio.com into their mobile browsers to keep up to date on the sports league.

After entering an of-age birthday, consumers can view a calendar of all upcoming games, read articles and play games. By creating an account, users can guess which teams will win each week.

Additionally, the mobile site encourages users to visit the CoolCast Web portal, which uses a desktop’s camera to let sports fans watch games alongside hostess Ms. CoolCast in a second-screen experience.

The Coors Light logo is prominently placed at the top of the mobile site and promotes the Fans del Frio Android app, which users can download to add game reminders to their device’s calendars.

The campaign also includes a SMS portion that lets consumers text in codes found on Coors Light bottles and cans for a chance to win a trip to the Opening Classic championship final in Mexico.

To enter the sweepstakes, users can text the on-pack codes to the short code 4COLD.

Engaged audience

Using a three-channel mobile campaign is a smart way for Coors Light to interact with sports fans.

Sports fans are a natural demographic to target mobile initiatives towards with their on-the-go lifestyle.

The Hispanic demographic is an also a strong mobile group of consumers who are plugged into their devices.

For example, a recent study from the agencies Sensis and White Horse found that Hispanic users have high mobile Web and social media behavior.

This is not the first time MillerCoors has used mobile to connect with soccer fans.

The company has a similar sponsorship with the Mexican soccer team Club Deportivo Guadalajara for its Miller Lite brand. Most recently, the company let sports fans watch games via a mobile site (see story).

“Not only does a mobile execution help us engage Coors Light’s Hispanic legal-drinking-age consumers, but it also allows them to interact with Mexican soccer, one of the most passionately followed sports in the Hispanic market,” Mr. Rivera said.

“As Hispanics over index on mobile usage, we want to be the vehicle by which they consume information on that passion point, providing them with exclusive and compelling content that is compatible with their lifestyle,” he said.

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SOURCE Mobile Marketer

Now Mike and Ike, the brand of chewy fruit-flavored candies, is announcing its pair is separating, and hoping the development captures the interest of younger consumers.

Packaging that began appearing in stores recently has logos with either “Ike” or “Mike” scribbled out, as if by a felt-tip marker.

On the back of packages with Mike’s name crossed out, a handwritten message from Ike faults Mike for “spending way too much time on his music.” Packages with Ike’s name crossed out have a message from Mike faulting Ike for “spending way too much time on his graffiti art.”

The packages direct consumers to the brand’s Facebook page, where videos document the split. One video features reactions from celebrities including the N.B.A. player Lamar Odom (“When I heard the news, I was devastated”); Greyson Chance, a 14-year-old pop singer (“I think Mike and Ike are going to be O.K.”); and Eden Sher, a 20-year-old star on the sitcom “The Middle” (“I’m totally Team Ike”).

Billboards will begin appearing in July, with what appears to be a sign painter on a ladder, but is actually part of the billboard itself, painting over either “Mike” or “Ike.”

Unlike the ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Mike and Ike do not exist. Even the candy’s parent company, Just Born, cannot pinpoint the origin of the name for the brand, which was introduced 72 years ago; the company speculates that the name came from a vaudeville act, a song popular in the 1930s or an internal naming contest.

The campaign, which will also include television advertising starting in June and an animated billboard in Times Square in July, will cost an estimated $15 million. That is a sharp increase for the brand, which spent $125,000 on advertising in 2011, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP.

The campaign, by the Elevator Group, a marketing and advertising agency based in Scituate, Mass., is primarily aimed at consumers aged 13 to 17.

“We think in the next couple of years we can easily double this business,” said Matthew Pye, vice president for brand development and corporate services at Just Born.

Mike and Ike had $31.1 million in revenue for the 52 weeks ending Feb. 19, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous year, according to SymphonyIRI Group, whose data does not include Walmart. Mike and Ike ranks seventh in what SymphonyIRI calls the nonchocolate chewy candy category, which is led by Starburst, followed by Skittles and Sour Patch Kids.

Sam Born, a Russian immigrant, opened a candy store in Brooklyn in 1917, and to promote the fact that his candy was made fresh daily, he stuck a sign in his window that played on his name: Just Born.

He adopted the name for the candy manufacturing company he started in 1923, which in 1932 moved to Bethlehem, Pa. Today, the company’s brands also include marshmallow candy Peeps and Hot Tamales, a cinnamon candy.

Mike and Ike was introduced in 1940, and for its first two decades there was no physical representation of the two. In the 1960s and 1970s two mustachioed men appeared on the boxes, one wearing a top hat and the other a bowler.

In the 1980s the men disappeared from the box, which then featured fruit characters until, in 2004, those characters disappeared, too.

The new campaign, in other words, is introducing Mike and Ike by saying they are parting ways. And while celebrities and others in commercials and online videos refer to seeing either Ike or Mike recently, neither will appear. The voices of the characters will be presented only in writing, which along with the messages on the back of packages includes posts on Facebook and on a Tumblr blog.

A conventional advertising campaign that promoted the candy as toothsome would hold little sway over the younger consumers at whom the effort is directed, said Mark Richardson, president of the Elevator Group.

“Teenagers who are the primary target are not receptive to advertising that would be a direct sell about the attributes of Mike and Ike candy,” he said. “They see it coming, and they don’t want to hear us talking about it.”

Many teenagers do, however, like to follow developments of friendships and romances on Facebook, Mr. Richardson added.

“What social media allows us to do, and which traditional media now reinforces, is to build and enhance the story over time and allow consumers to really get to know Mike and Ike,” he said.

The campaign will last for a year, when the answer to whether Mike and Ike reconcile will be revealed.

Brenda Fiala, vice president for strategy in the United States for Blast Radius, a digital agency that is part of the Wunderman unit of WPP, lauded the choice never to show the characters.

“In this day and age, everything is so obvious, it’s in front of you, you can see it,” she said. “This is at the opposite end of the spectrum because they’re creating intrigue by not showing the characters.”

The character Mike wrote on Tumblr on Tuesday: “So over it. Instead of all this hassle, now I’m just gonna jam.” Later, he adds, “I can’t wait to share with you all the stuff I have in mind — sick music festivals, dope new songs, a music video.”

Whether that sounds to consumers like a hip youngster, or a marketer in a swivel chair impersonating one, will determine the success of the campaign.

“The risk is that it may come off as inauthentic, as this fight is being manufactured by marketers,” Ms. Fiala said of the campaign. “As for whether it’s a brand builder, I think the jury will be out.”

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SOURCE New York Times

No group was hit harder by the Great Recession than the Millennials. Their careers are stalled. They hold record levels of education debt. And an estimated 24 percent have had to move back home with parents at least once, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Almost a quarter of them describe lives of financial desperation, reports researcher WSL Strategic Retail. “It’s a culture shock because this generation has grown up entitled,” says Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s chief executive officer.

That’s bad news for the movie studios, clothing retailers, and home improvement chains that had hoped for better. Walt Disney (DIS) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SNE) need Gen Y-ers to fill seats at summer blockbusters. Gap (GPS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are counting on 18- to 34-year-olds because they typically spend big on clothes. Williams-Sonoma (WSM) and Home Depot (HD) thrive on household formation—economist-speak for marrying, having kids, and buying a home—but many cash-strapped Gen Y-ers have put those modern rites of passage on hold. Twenty percent of 18- to 34-year-old respondents in a recent Pew survey said they had postponed marriage for financial reasons, while 22 percent put off having a baby for similar reasons.

It’s easy to understand why: In 2009 households led by those younger than 35 had 68 percent less inflation-adjusted wealth than such households in 1984, according to Pew in November. That compares with a 10 percent increase in net worth for all Americans over the same period. One contributing factor: Average student loan debt for 2008 grads receiving bachelor’s degrees hit $23,000, up 35 percent from $17,000 in 1996.

The job climate also hurts. The share of employed 18- to 24-year-olds in 2009 was 54 percent, the lowest since the U.S. began collecting data in 1948. “This customer doesn’t pay up for product, and they might not turn into a 45- to 50-year-old who will,” says Eric Beder, an analyst at Brean Murray Carret. “Retailers need to worry about how to build a relationship with this consumer.”

Hooking this generation was always going to be a challenge. Plugged into the Web’s endless information and choices, Millennials are pickier and less brand loyal than their parents. They also came of age amid eroding respect for institutions, including corporations and brands. Even before the recession they craved authentic products—for example, buying footwear from Toms Shoes, which donates a pair to poor children for every one it sells. The Millennial credo is “buy less and do more,” says David Maddocks, who runs an eponymous consulting firm that’s advised such brands as Nike’s (NKE) Cole Haan and Keds. “Boomers were about abundance, whereas this generation is about having enough.” The disproportionate impact of the recession could make Gen Y even less acquisitive.

Carmakers have struggled to woo the group. While Toyota Motor’s (TM) Scion has the youngest buyers of any car brand, sales have been paltry. And Honda Motor’s (HMC) youth-oriented Element sold so poorly that it’s no longer offered in the U.S. Clothing chains, however, have little choice but to chase Gen Y. Americans 25 to 34 spend the most on apparel and services annually of any age group.

Gap’s namesake brand chose Millennials as its target customer in 2010 and has since run ads featuring residents in young, hip enclaves such as Austin, Tex., and done design collaborations with fashion blogs popular with younger consumers. “Based on our research, we know style is important to them and they’re willing to spend money on pieces that are ‘trend right’ yet timeless in terms of quality and style,” says Art Peck, president of Gap North America. Macy’s (M) on March 21 unveiled its own Gen Y program, saying it will use social media, mobile shopping, and merchandise designed around locales and lifestyles popular with Millennials (say, college town or first adopter) to boost sales to them.

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SOURCE Business Week

The population that identified as Asian, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, grew by 45.6 percent from 2000 to 2010, while those who identified as Asian alone grew by 43.3 percent. Both populations grew at a faster rate than the total US population, which increased by 9.7 percent from 2000 to 2010.

New York City had the Largest Asian Population among Places

The 2010 Census showed that New York had the largest Asian alone-or-in-combination population with 1.1 million, followed by Los Angeles (484,000) and San Jose, Calif. (327,000). Three other places—San Francisco, San Diego and Urban Honolulu—had Asian alone-or-in-combination populations of more than 200,000 people. This ranking was identical for the Asian alone population.

The places with a total population of 100,000 or more with the greatest proportion of the Asian alone-or-in-combination population were Urban Honolulu (68 percent) and nine California cities—Daly City (58 percent), Fremont (55 percent), Sunnyvale (44 percent), Irvine (43 percent), Santa Clara (41 percent), Garden Grove (39 percent), Torrance (38 percent), San Francisco (36 percent) and San Jose (35 percent).

Out of the total US population, 14.7 million people, or 4.8 percent, were Asian alone. In addition, 2.6 million people, or another 0.9 percent, reported Asian in combination with one or more other races. Together, these two groups totaled 17.3 million people. Thus, 5.6 percent of all people in the United States identified as Asian, either alone or in combination with one or more other races.

3.4M Filipinos

The 2010 Census also provided information on detailed Asian groups. For example, the Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese populations each had 1 million or more people.

Chinese (4.0 million) was the largest detailed Asian group, with 3.3 million people reporting Chinese alone and an additional 700,000 people identifying as both Chinese and one or more additional detailed Asian groups and/or another race. Filipinos (3.4 million), followed by Asian Indians (3.2 million), had the next largest number of people who reported one or more detailed Asian groups and/or another race.

Among the Asian alone population that only reported one detailed Asian group, the order of the second and third largest groups switched—the Asian Indian (2.8 million) group was the second largest, followed by Filipino (2.6 million). The Chinese alone population remained the largest.

Among the detailed Asian groups with populations of 1 million or more, the Japanese population had the highest proportion that reported multiple detailed Asian groups and/or another race (41 percent). The Filipino population had the next highest proportion, in which 25 percent of Filipinos reported multiple detailed Asian groups and/or another race.

Geographic distribution of detailed Asian groups

The geographic distribution of the detailed Asian groups focuses on the population that reported one or more detailed Asian groups and/or another race. Among detailed Asian groups with a population of 1 million or more, Japanese (71 percent) and Filipinos (66 percent) had the largest proportions living in the West. Large proportions of Chinese (49 percent), Vietnamese (49 percent) and Koreans (44 percent) lived in the West as well. A much lower proportion of Asian Indians (25 percent) lived in the West.

Among all detailed Asian groups, the Asian Indian population was the largest in 23 states, of which 13 were in the South, six in the Midwest and four in the Northeast.

For every state in the West, either the Filipino population or the Chinese population was the largest detailed Asian group. The Filipino population was the largest detailed Asian group in 11 states, the Chinese population was the largest in nine states and the District of Columbia, the Vietnamese population was the largest in five states, and the Hmong population was the largest in two states.

Filipino was the largest detailed Asian group in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington, and Wyoming, while Chinese was the largest in Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. Outside of the West, Filipino was the largest detailed Asian group in South Dakota, while Chinese was the largest in the District of Columbia and North Dakota, as well as several states in the Northeast (Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

Among the 20 metropolitan statistical areas with the largest Asian alone-or-in-combination populations, Chinese was the largest detailed Asian group in six of the 20 metro areas (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Boston and Seattle). The Asian Indian population was also the largest detailed Asian group in six of the 20 metro areas (Chicago, Washington, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit).

Filipinos were the largest in five of the 20 metro areas (San Diego, Riverside, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Phoenix), followed by Japanese, Hmong and Vietnamese in one metro area each (Honolulu, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston, respectively).

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SOURCE Asian Journal

Call it luck or a craving, but for Montañez it all began while eating a cup of corn.

“I see the corn man adding butter, cheese and chile to the corn and thought what if I add chile to a Cheeto?” He asked himself.

It was an idea that would make him a legend.

Richard ran to his mom’s kitchen, grabbed some spices and made a test, his friends and co-workers loved it, he called up the president of the company and said he had an idea for a new product – that was the easy part.

The difficult part was in the sell.

How would janitor with zero-to-no English skills take a simple idea and turn it into a Flamin’ Hot product?

“I had two weeks to prepare a presentation for the company executives,” said Montañez.

So, he copied a marketing strategy from a book he found at the library, “I’m a little bit of an artist so I even designed the bags and put the Cheetos in it,” Montañez explained.

The president loved the idea and since then, the Flaming hot line of products was born, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos – which is Frito-Lay’s top selling snack.

Today, Montañez leads Multicultural Sales & Community Promotions across PepsiCo’s North American divisions. He still can’t believe the huge door he opened when he took up a challenge from the company president to think outside the box.

“Many times, greatness will come in ridiculous forms, a ridiculous idea might be a billion dollar idea,” says Montañez, and it certainly was.

Flamin Hot Cheetos influenced future ethnic products and the first Frito-Lay Hispanic marketing team. Montañez also helped influence Hispanic products and marketing promotions for KFC and Taco Bell.

With his contagious enthusiasm, Montañez keeps fundamental message in mind: “Never let anyone tell you who you are. Be yourself!”

Growing up he didn’t even know he was poor until someone told him, “I had so much fun growing up that I never thought I lack of anything,” Montañez remembered.

Growing up in a small town in Ontario, California, his days consisted of walking through miles and miles of vineyards picking grapes with his family, and sharing the food table with six or seven families at the community kitchen.

As a child, his life expectations weren’t very high.

“No one ever taught me what was on the other side of the tracks,” Montañez said.

His dream, like the rest of his neighborhood friends, was to get a job at the town’s factory.

“No disrespect to anyone, but my dream was to drive the trash truck,” he said.

But even as a child, sparks of Montañez’s entrepreneurial spirit were obvious.

“I was on the Latino side of the school during lunch time, but everyone on the non-Latino side was staring at me, it was because I was eating a burrito,” said Montañez, who saw this as an opportunity.

Three days later, he was selling burritos at his school for 25 cents a piece. He was only seven years old, but he had realized the value of being different.

“We’ve all been given an ability to do something great in this life,” he said.

But he couldn’t decipher what was his purpose in life and he dropped out of school.

“I regret it, but I didn’t understood the teachers and I felt they were holding me back,” Montañez said.

Without a high school diploma, he got a job as a janitor at the Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in California.

Montañez remembers that fateful day when the president of the company sent a video message to his employees.

“He told us to act like an owner, I looked around and didn’t see a lot of reaction from my co-workers, but for me it was the opportunity to do something different,” said Montañez, whose life was about to change forever.

But where did Richard find all this courage? He said, it all stems back from growing up hungry.

“The antidote to fear is hunger. When you have hunger for a job position, knowledge or a new house, you go and get it and fear will never get a hold of you,” said Montañez who lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife of more than 30 years, Judy Montañez. He is the father of three sons, and has four grandchildren. “Latinos who have made it like myself have a responsibility to open doors to younger generations and teach them that they can do it.”

Despite the success, he has been giving back to his community every day by providing college scholarships to young Latinos as well as food, clothing, school supplies and other services to people in need as part of Kits for Kids and Feed the Children.

Why?

“Because I can and it’s my responsibility, I know what it is to be hungry,” he said.

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SOURCE Fox News Latino