If you are new to Pinterest, make sure to check out this post and play around with a personal profile first. Then, follow these tips to get your brand “pinning” and noticed by your customers on Pinterest.

1) Identify what boards you will be pinning to.

Pinterest allows you to create your own custom boards, and this is a great opportunity to show some brand personality. Think outside the box with this one. Appropriate pin boards don’t have to just showcase your brand’s product. Take Whole Foods for instance. Of course, they share great recipes and organic food information, but they also have a board that shows off amazing kitchens and one that talks about their favorite books. Think like your customer. Figure out what other interests they may have and put your brand’s spin on it.

2) Content, content, content.

Like any social network site, content is king (or should we say queen) on Pinterest. The more you involve yourself in the Pinterest community, the more you will see what content people love to share. While re-pinning others’ pins is a great way to get involved, make sure that you are consistently creating original content that your customers and followers will want to share.

This can be a lot for one person to take on. We suggest sharing pin boards with multiple people in your organization, so more than one employee can contribute.

3) Grow your following.

What good is a pin board if you have no one to look at it? Get out into the Pinterest community and start accruing followers. Re-pinning someone’s post is a good way to get noticed, but sometimes all it may take is simply following someone to expose them to your brand’s pin boards and give you a follow.

Also, don’t forget your current customers. Chances are, a lot of them are already using Pinterest. Include the news that you are now pinning in email and website updates, share your links on your existing social networks, and include a Pinterst icon on your site.

4) Stay Active.

Just like any social network, you need to continuously fuel the fire to keep your customers engaged. Pinterest is a fast moving network that will require updates multiple times a day. If you are going to venture into the world of pinning, we suggest making sure that you have the assets available to keep your pin boards fresh.

If you have any questions on how you or your brand should be using Pinterest to accomplish your goals, feel free to send me an email at RWalters@mghus.com. In the mean time, happy pinning.

So what are these strange symbols, and how can marketers begin using them to drive business?

What are QR codes?

A QR code is a barcode containing a hidden message, which is unlocked by using an application on one’s smartphone.

Here’s how they work the real world:

1. John Smith spots a QR code on a window cling of a restaurant.

2. He pulls out his smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) and opens a QR code reader application.

3. He holds his phone over the QR code, and the phone’s camera recognizes the symbol as a QR code.

4. The application then “reads” the QR code, and provides him with a link to read reviews about the restaurant.

The QR code can be programmed to provide users with either a block of text (a special message, phone number, address, etc.) or point consumers to a URL. If unlocking a QR code with a URL, users are able to visit that website directly from their mobile device, alleviating the need to remember the URL for a later visit. Through QR code technology, marketers are able to directly connect consumers with websites and Web content via real-world locations.

Why do marketers like them?

The marketing community is all abuzz about QR codes, meaning that you’ll likely see them everywhere in 2011.

But why are we as marketers so obsessed with the technology? A few reasons:

• Simplification – When it comes to consumer marketing, the easier you can make things for people, the better your results will be. Through QR codes, we’re able to put a URL in the palm of consumers’ hands (almost literally), saving them from having to remember that Web address for a future visit. No more misspelled URLs. No more endless Google searches. Just think about the implications this could have for driving traffic.

• Interaction – The general consensus among advertisers is that if someone engages with your ad, they’re going to be much more likely to remember it. QR codes create a direct interaction with advertisements, ensuring that your ad will get more than just some eyeballs here and there.

• Eyeballs – Let’s face it, consumers ignore a lot of ads. There’s just so much competition out there, that’s it’s hard for marketers break through. But QR codes are different, and stick out among the clutter. They draw the ever-wandering eyeball, and could help drive impressions (at least until everyone else is using them).

• Cost – One of our favorite things about QR codes – they’re completely free. You can visit http://goqr.me (or a handful of other sites) to create your own.

Things to remember when using QR codes

Before you start throwing QR codes on every ad or piece of collateral, ask yourself the following questions:

• What am I trying to accomplish? If your goal is to drive new email subscriptions, you may want to program your QR code to point to a landing page with an email sign-up form. Or if you’re looking to increase awareness and understanding about your products, your QR could point to a video that explains their benefits. Know your goals and use them to tailor your QR code campaigns.

• Who am I trying to reach? We’ll admit it – QR codes aren’t for everyone. And they certainly don’t work for every campaign. So know your audience, and if you believe they’d gravitate towards something like a QR code, then use them. If not, save the real estate for something else.

• Are you mobile friendly? This is probably the most important question you can ask yourself before using a QR code – is my website mobile-friendly? If not, might want to hold off, or point people to an external mobile-friendly site with your content (example: YouTube). Test your website on multiple smartphone platforms, and remember that the iPhone hates Flash.

So those are the QR code basics. If you have any questions or are looking for more information on QR codes, feel free to contact us here (and keep an eye out for some exciting news next week from MGH regarding QR codes):

But it doesn’t need to be that difficult. Social media followers want to see “behind the curtain” to connect with their favorite brands. They don’t always need thought-provoking or action-driven posts.

And that’s where the almighty Flip cam comes in handy.

Flip Video camcorders, starting at $150 each and known for their simplicity and usability, can be a company’s lifeline for reaching out to followers and expanding their potential customer base. Adding visual multimedia elements like photo and video to tweets or Facebook posts not only piques interest, but creates a new type of connection with followers.

No matter the industry, photos and video can go a long way in making followers feel like they know a company as more than text on a page. Introduce yourself. Offer advice. Share an opinion. Give a tour of the office or show a behind-the-scenes look at how your product is made. Take a picture of your chef’s newest dish or of your boss’ new dog. When you’re at a loss for what to tweet on a particular day, grab your Flip cam and get creative.

Take Home Depot for example. With more than 25,000 Twitter followers and more than 4 million YouTube video views, Home Depot is one brand that has mastered the integration of photo and video with social media to attract and maintain its audience. From photos of customer service employees at work, staff charity events and finished DIY projects to videos of local store experts and product demonstrations, Home Depot excels at giving consumers an inside look at what their brand is all about.

Here’s an example of one of Home Depot’s YouTube videos that was shot using a low-budget camcorder:

As with any online social interaction, the key is knowing your audience. For a company preparing to release a new pharmaceutical drug, healthcare providers and potential patients aren’t going to be impressed by a picture of your office’s weekly pie eating contest. But for a local diner, this type of video might catch on.

By showing your followers that you want them to know you and your company outside of an advertising space, you’ll increase your chances of expanding your following and getting your existing audience to stick around. So get out there and start filming!

After reading about Advil’s desire for “deep emotional engagement,” it made me think. Is this a trend? Is this why I’ve been feeling so emotional watching commercials lately?

During the past few weeks, I have been struck by some overwhelmingly emotional ads that work to personalize both the product and brand – and play up your emotional connection to them. This isn’t a totally new idea, but it is an interesting shift. Just like there are trends in fashion, there are trends in advertising and the trends shift for different reasons.

Take for example, Toyota. Only a few months ago, they were in the midst of worldwide mechanical recall disaster.  After only a few weeks of running apology ads in February, Toyota teamed up with agency Saatchi & Saatchi to produce some really great ads – personal vignettes of everyday people and their Toyotas. Better yet, they went even further and rolled it out into a Facebook campaign, asking people to share their stories via Toyota’s personalized Facebook page – it’s pretty cool if you haven’t seen it, yet.

One of the ads focuses on Erica. She is a budding pastry chef who quit her job to go out on her own by opening a pastry business, which she operates from her home. The only catch, Erica doesn’t have a car. She has been saving for a Toyota Corolla for years.  We see her on bikes, trains and buses, carrying her cake and pastry deliveries to her clients. (We feel for her…) At the end of the commercial, she and her best friends are sitting around a picnic table for a birthday lunch and a brand new black Toyota Corolla pulls up with “ERICA” on the license plate. Erica is amazed and touched. (And so are we.) A heartwarming story.

What recall? We aren’t even thinking about that acceleration mess after watching this. We are thinking what a sweet story this is and how Toyota has given this woman the opportunity she needs to get her business on its feet. And, after watching a few more stories of other families and individuals who couldn’t imagine their lives without their Toyotas, we easily forgive and open up that relationship again.

What Toyota is doing is building a relationship with its current and potential consumers. At the end of each commercial, rather than referring you to its homepage or droning on about financing and interest rates, the commercial finishes by referring you to its Facebook page to share your story, or check out others. Toyota is creating a community that it hopes you’ll be a part of.

But it’s not just Toyota this is mastering this strategy – check out Apple’s newest band of iPhone commercials. The spots highlight the iPhone 4’s unique feature, FaceTime, which allows callers to have face-to-face video calls with friends and family. 

In the most recent round of ads, we watch as some of life’s most intimate experiences are shared “face-to-face” as only the iPhone 4 can do. We see and hear from a grandfather who is being called by his son – the son sharing the first moments of his newborn baby’s life with the older man who is now officially a grandfather for the first time in his life. The young man asks the older man how it feels to be a grandfather and the grandfather asks the son how he feels to be a dad.  Tears of sweetness well up in my eyes.

Another ad features a young girl who has just returned from the dentist with her new braces. She is on the phone with her father who is trying to get her to show him the new braces. She is reluctant, vowing she will never smile again. He eventually gets her to smile and says, “Come on, they look good.” “Really?!” the young girl says. “You look beautiful,” the father says.

And another ad features a pregnant mother receiving an ultrasound, and her husband who is presumably on overseas military duty is able to talk to his wife and see the ultrasound, which brings them both tears and smiles.

You can’t help but be visually and emotionally engaged in these commercials. These personal keyhole views into life draw out human experience in “everyday moments,” and both Toyota and Apple have tapped into that beautifully. These ads aren’t heavily sales pitchy; they are not filled with bulleted information or facts and figures. These commercials are all about people, their relationships and our ability to connect to these moments and experiences.

This is the kind of “deep emotional engagement and connection” that Pfizer’s Advil brand is looking for in its next agency. And it is this type of personal, emotional engagement that can build lasting brand loyalty more effectively over the endless attempts at product comparison and product parity.

The newer three-word tagline better communicates how the user uses the site – to look for answers to their needs – and how marketers position themselves as resources on the site – as the experts on how to help user accomplish those needs. Everything is clearer. And, to visually push the change in verbiage, the campaign’s imagery will also change by relying heavily on animated graphics, not photography.

The benefits of About.com’s branding change are two-fold.

First, About.com has found that consumers responded well to ads that helped them go from a “need” to “accomplish” state as a “decision making tool.” By narrowing its tagline to exactly how the customer feels going into and coming out of the product experience, a stronger and more specific message – for both the user and the marketer – is derived.

Second, the new branding makes it easier for About.com to secure new marketing partners, who can provide the expertise and knowledge users are looking for. As About.com’s CEO Cella Irvine said in an AdWeek article, “marketers are under more and more pressure to show results, [we’re] showing the value of capturing that with a [targeted] brand message.” Like any company, About.com needed to make its product clearer to marketers so that they understand how to position themselves towards consumers on the site to reach better results.

The Hudson Valley Renegades, a minor league baseball team in Fishkill, NY, has recently introduced a promotion that takes a jab at the biggest name in baseball – the New York Yankees.

In response to the Yankees’ decision to effectively ban iPads from Yankee Stadium, The Renegades have launched “iPad Mondays,” in which fans will receive a free ticket when they do bring their iPad to a game.

The team is also offering basic social media and iPad training for fans that bring their iPads to the stadium’s “ReTweet booth.”

Following the Yankees’ announcement to ban iPads, fans flocked to social media outlets in droves to voice their disappointment with the decision. Seeing a window of opportunity, the Renegades’ communications team have used the power of consumer opinion to take advantage of a major shortcoming by the biggest player in sports.

So that leads us to the following questions:

Where are your competitors falling short? And how can you expose their mistakes or weaknesses in order to further your business?

And, in conclusion:

Let’s go O’s!

Starting today, when you visit a venue’s page on Foursquare you will see a link asking if you are the manager of the business.

If you are, Foursquare makes it easy for you to claim your business and set up a special in just a couple simple steps.

Streamlining the process of claiming your business and special creation is not the only thing that Foursquare unveiled today. Once your business is confirmed, you will also be able to access tracking analytics for any venue that you manage. These analytics will allow you to see detailed information on your most recent and most frequent visitors, what time during the day people are checking in the most, how many unique visitors have checked-in and the promise of “more coming soon.”

To make it even easier for businesses to promote their presences and specials on the exploding site, Foursquare is offering a variety of tools on its site including logos, mobile screen shots and even static window clings for your storefront. You can access these at http://foursquare.com/press.

These changes are undoubtedly pointing Foursquare in the right direction to make an even bigger impact in the social networking world. Usability is key. The site has really stepped up to make its tool even easier for businesses to take advantage of, and through analytics, even easier to see the traffic it is bringing through the doors.

What are you waiting for? Head over to http://foursquare.com, and claim your business!

One of the main benefits of having contributors is giving followers insight into the people behind an account – “making the business to consumer communication more personal.”  Beyond that, the feature allows for centralized news, information, and conversation without the hassle of multiple users logging on to one account, or multiple accounts run by separate users.

Not every business account has access to the feature yet while is still in beta testing, but you can check out Starbucks or Twitter to see how they use contributors, or view behind the scenes screenshots on Mashable.

Using contributors may not be beneficial for every business – some will want and need separate accounts for different purposes, or maybe one account with one owner is enough.  Twitter has also indicated that it is only the first of many new business-specific developments, so maybe a future service will be a better fit.  But no matter how a business decides to use Twitter and its features, active listening and engagement are still the most important keys to building relationships with people important to their success.

*Image courtesy of Mashable.com*

Admins will now see an icon next to their Share button which allows them to narrow down their status update audience by Country, State, City, and even their language. If your fans don’t fall within the limits that you set, they will not be able to see your status update; not now, not ever.

This new feature is not only useful for larger brands with consumers spanning the globe who can use the feature to speak to customers in their native language; it will also be of use to any brand that has customers in multiple cities or states. Running a promotion in a specific region? Opening a new store location? Want feedback from consumers who shop in a specific city? Just target these, and other, updates to the fans that will most benefit from your message, without cluttering up the streams of those who aren’t relevant.

By geo-targeting and making your messages more relevant to consumers, you will not only be able to connect with them on a more personal level, you’ll be more likely to succeed at empowering them to take action.

-Kim, @kimberwom