With a weekend to reflect on the topic and its reaction online, we thought we would offer you a bite-sized review of the day.
As most of you will know, both Instagram and Pinterest are photo sharing platforms, and are great for humanising your brand, however they are actually quite different.
As Gordon explained, Instagram, whether through its video or picture function, is about ‘the moment’, whereas Pinterest is more about ‘bookmarking’.
Firstly, let’s look at Gordon’s opinion of Instagram. The platform, owned by Facebook, has millions of users and boasts a staggering 16 billion images to date - showing just how popular it is.
But, as Gordon reiterated, it’s not an overnight thing. To build a sizeable and relevant community takes time and commitment. You have to engage with others; which can be achieved by following them, liking their content, and communicating with them.
It’s actually a great platform for sharing, allowing users to share their content over seven different platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
But, and it’s a big but, you have to work at it. To make your content visible to as wide an audience as possible, you have to make use of the hashtag functionality on the platform.
And, unlike Twitter, you have scope to add as many hashtags as you like - not just 140 characters worth.
But how do you measure how successful your presence is? A good site is Statigram, which you can even set up to send you weekly email reports with detailed breakdowns.
But all isn’t rosy in the Instagram garden. Gordon explained that he can see a future where Instagram becomes monetised, specifically through its recently added video functionality.
Now Pinterest isn’t quite as limited as Instagram. You can do pretty much everything in the app that you can do on the website - which is quite a lot, unlike the site for Instagram.
And if you thought you could only pin pictures on this platform, you’d be wrong. Blog posts and videos can also be pinned to your boards. And don’t forget that hashtags and hyperlinks also work on Pinterest.
The majority of content - 80% to be precise - is made up of re-pins, leaving a lot of room for original content.
Pinterest also offers a business account, allowing you to have business boards, and to have boards for each member of your staff, allowing clients to see the human side to your organisation.
But images alone won't work. They have to be accompanied with good headings and descriptions, along with, of course, hashtags.
Gordon also recalled seeing somewhere, although unfortunately he couldn’t remember where (old age is catching up on him...), that Pinterest is now the fourth largest referral site.
Like Instagram, there are a whole host of third party apps, including free ones such as Pinstamatic, which are there to enhance your experience on the platform
Similarly to Instagram however, Gordon sees a future for this platform with dollar signs flying all over the place. He believes that a way in which the platform can make money, is through its ‘rich pins’, which are already available.
Of course, these are just Gordon’s opinions of how these incredibly popular platforms can benefit your business, and how their futures are going to pan out.
If you agree with him, or if you even disagree with him, we would love to hear from you. Simply leave a comment, or get in touch via Twitter and Facebook, or of course, Pinterest and Instagram!
Remember - don’t forget to book your place for our next New Media Breakfast, which will be focusing on the complex world of online competitions.
No comments:
Post a Comment