Following up on last weeks blog about mediocrity.
Bad service is very bad for business – Check out this very informative infographic from Zendesk – www.zendesk.com
Enjoy the day.
Webman
Tag: Pinterest
Pinterest – Everything you need to know
In our last blog we discussed how Pinterest is changing the game relative to social selling and e-commerce. Our friends at Hubspot (www.hubspot.com) have put together 10 infographics that illuminate everything possible about Pinterest. Well maybe not everything, but just about. Here is a peak at infographic numero uno.
The remaining Pinterest infographics can be found at http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33078/10-Pinterest-Infographics-Visual-Explanations-for-a-Visual-Social-Network.aspx
Enjoy the day.
Back with a new blog tomorrow.
Webman
Pinterest Moves Merchandise
In our previous discussions about Pinterest, we discussed why the easy to use site was growing like a weed and attracting new users at an incredible rate. For a quick refresher, Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, ‘re-pin’ images to their own collections and/or ‘like’ photos. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting” via a global platform of inspiration and idea sharing. Pinterest allows its users to share ‘pins’ on both Twitter and Facebook, which allows users to share and interact with a broad community. (Information sourced from Wikipedia)
Here is a brief tutorial to get you started.
Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular social network site in the world, and ecommerce stores can leverage its popularity to significantly increase traffic and sales, according to Shopify. Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows individuals and businesses to create online stores. They have over 25,000 on-line merchants using their platform. Nice sample size 🙂
Merchants care about moving product, making money and driving customer loyalty. They want us to buy stuff. Pinterest started as a pin board but now many of those pins come with price tags that enable you to click and buy the item you might be pinterested in (See what I did there). Here are a couple of examples.
So all you have to do is click on the price and you are taken to the site where you can purchase the item. Do people do this? You bet they do. Check this out.
$80 bucks per average order. More than all of the big players. Impressive.
The world of e-commerce continues to change. Check out the rest of the infographic at http://www.shopify.com/blog/6058268-how-pinterest-drives-ecommerce-sales
Enjoy the day.
Webman
Doodle.ly – New Draw Something
We have chatted recently about the incredible growth of Draw Something. Viral growth that is just staggering. Here is a quick summary of what has happened at Draw Something. I posted these statistics two weeks ago so I am sure they have gone up.
Some fun facts about Draw Something:
- Launched 7 weeks ago
- 20 million daily active users
- 37 million downloads
- 3 billion drawings since launch
- 1 billion drawings last week
- 2,000 drawings per second
- Number 1 app in 85 countries
Pretty impressive stuff. And now a new player has joined the scene (pun intended). The application is called Doodle.ly – www.doodle.ly. It is only available on the iPad right now but given the huge interest in Draw Something, this will likely be the next destination for the artist inside all of us.
The site, which describes itself as “a social sketchpad for self-expression, creativity and inspiration” lets you create and share your wonderful pieces of art on Twitter and Facebook, as well as on the Doodle.ly site. The cool part about Doodle.ly is that you can run into some amazing artists randomly, so this site is set up just for that.
If you find a piece of art that you like, you can share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, or pin it on Pinterest. The Doodle.ly iPad app brings a much better drawing experience, and has the pencil, ballpoint pen, highlighter, marker, and eraser that the site lets you use. You’ll also be able to browse work done by others, which will surely help the network grow once it gets more social features.
Take a look at this doodle. Many artists out there just starting to tap into their creative sides.
Take a look. I am not much of an artist, but always amazed by how creative people can be. The Doodle.ly iPad app takes this to the next level of social engagement. Do you think Facebook will buy them for a billion dollars, like Instagram? Stay tuned.
Webman
Teens and Phones
I have three daughters and to say that their phones are important to them would be an understatement. The days of talking on the phone are over for their generation. Really no need to have a voice plan for the children and they do not ever use it. Text on the other hand, downloading content, uploading pictures to Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and the like, now we are talking. I just received a text message from Verizon saying that one of my daughters had already used half of her monthly data plan and we are only a few days into the billing cycle. Geez!
As a parent it is always amazing to me how much time my children spend on their phones. I am sure many of you are wondering as well.
Just came across some updated information on teen phone usage – Parents, you are not alone 🙂
- 75% of teens between 12-17 have phones
- Teens send and receive an average of 2,108 texts per month
- That’s 556,512 words per teen per year, equal to War & Peace
- They also download on average 11 applications per month
- 65% of teens sent a text in the middle of the night
- 70% received a text from someone NOT in their contact list
- Parents are checking in on their teens with them locking phones during school, at night and instantly at times
Information for this blog was sourced from a very cool infographic I found on www.visual.ly – here is the link – http://visual.ly/those-phone-crazy-teens
Watch those kids!
Webman
Time for You
Moving way to fast for me. Every week is just flying by. So much to do and so little time. So much time taken up on things we do not want to spend time on. Being stuck in traffic, waiting in line at a store, another meeting, another conference call, another powerpoint presentation, getting to the airport one hour early, waiting for you luggage, dealing with yet another incompetent customer service rep, having to do something over because the person you asked to do it did not get it done properly or just doing it yourself instead so that you know it would be done right. (I think we all do this). Waiting for that follow-up call from your job interview. Networking on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Words with Friends, Apps, News, You Tube, Bloomberg, Google, Yahoo, ESPN and more. There are only 24 hours in the day, do we really have the time to spend on all this stuff that adds no real value to anything or anyone.
Some insight from Pink Floyd to start your morning. Back to my point shortly.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.
Time – Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
Time management is really difficult and yet it is so important. How many times have you thought “what the hell did I get done today?” If is wasn’t for that stupid meeting I would have executed my plan. Why did I even attend that meeting? I just spent 3 hours watching a movie I have seen 4 times. Should I really be watching the SVU marathon? How many times have I seen this episode of Chopped or Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. (I am getting in a little dig for one of my daughters here 🙂 )
Here is the headline for you. Take control of your time. Stop blaming everyone else for your lack of time. Eliminate the following sentence from your vocabulary “I did not have enough time.” You do have enough time if you plan it properly. Many years ago I learned a technique called Stop, Start and Continue. List the things that you spend time on everyday both at work and at home. That is a long list isn’t it? Now focus on how much time you are spending on things that you really want to do. Hmm, not enough of that time is there? No because most of our time is spent on the wrong stuff. Put your list into the three buckets of what you should Stop doing, what you should Start doing and what you should Continue doing. Now be really hard on yourself, stop a lot of stuff and try to free up just 1 hour per day. Not easy is it? May not be easy but find it and start doing something you want to do with that hour. Awesome isn’t it? You just took control. Well done!
Use this technique on a regular basis as new stuff you should not be doing will always creep into your day. Start with setting aside that one hour per day for you. Try to make it 1 1/2 hours next week. Take control of your time and stop making excuses. You always have enough time if you use it properly.
Start today -Time is on your side, yes it is – Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.
Enjoy your time.
Webman
Pinterest – Go Visual!
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linked In, YouTube, Google+…the list of social networks vying for your attention is already long and continues to grow. Everyone wants your time; they want to connect you to all of the folks in your life; they want you to share all of your experiences with as many people as possible. These companies make it really easy as you can post to Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and many of the others from just about every article you read, picture you view, video you watch, text you send and thought you might have. OK, we already have enough of these options, do we really need another? Yes you do, Pinterest 🙂
In a nutshell, Pinterest is an infinite bulletin board for your favorite pictures and interests. When I was young I had a pin board in my room for the important things like news articles, pictures, sayings, news clippings, etc. Same thing, just totally digital and really easy to do. Best of all you can now share your interests (Get in PIN INTERESTS!) with anyone you want, not just the people that stop by your home. Geez, I think I just dated myself a bit. OK, I am coming clean here.
Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate, and discover new interests by posting (AKA ‘pinning’) images or videos to their own or others’ pinboards (i.e. a collection of ‘pins,’ usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned. The social network is focused on lifestyle, allowing you to share your tastes and interests with others and discover those of like minded people. The social network’s goal is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Users can either upload images from their computer or pin things they find on the web using the Pinterest bookmarklet.
As with most other social networks, users can perform standard social networking functions such as following the boards of their friends, liking and commenting on other users’ pins, re-pinning content to their own boards, sharing others’ pins on Facebook and Twitter or via email, and even embedding individual pins on their website or blog. Here are some images from the Webman’s Pinterest pages – I am just getting going so the cupboard is still a bit bare. Their search engine sucks right now but I am sure that will get better.
Pinterest still operates under an invitation-only basis. That being said, you can request an invitation from Pinterest. Visit www.pinterest.com, click ‘Request an Invite,’ and enter your email address to be notified when you have access to create your account. Or you can ask a friend who already has a Pinterest account to invite you.
If you are interested in learner more about Pinterest please read more by accessing the following Hubspot article: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31147/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Mastering-Pinterest-for-Marketing.aspx#ixzz1l4tEVJvA
Pinterest is fun, easy and full of incredible ideas, concepts, sayings and inspiration. Check it out when you can. You might just find yourself using some of those other social networks a lot less.
Let me know what you think about this blog by commenting below.
Have a great day.
Webman
InfoPower and You
Yesterday we briefly covered the topic of ZMOT, the zero moment of truth. There are three key drivers making this pervasive:
- Ease of search
- Broadband/wireless accessibility
- Mobile access (Smartphones)
Many of us already have smartphones and those that do not will likely own one in the next year or so. Here is some interesting information from a recently published article in CNET, interviewing Marc Andreessen, general partner for the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Mr. Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation.
One of his key thoughts in the article centers on the prolific accessibility and growth of smartphones. Mr. Andreessen states “Most of the people in the world still don’t have a personal computer, whereas in three to five years, most people in the world will have a smartphone…. If you’ve got a smartphone, then I can build a business in any domain or category and serve you as a customer no matter where you are in the world in just gigantic numbers–in terms of billions of people.” So the headline is that unlike the PC world, most of the world’s population will be connected via a smartphone in the next three to five years. Big wow! Here is the link to the full interview with Mr. Andreessen http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57345138-93/marc-andreessen-predictions-for-2012-and-beyond/
Further supporting this incredible growth is the following technology adoption curve from Mary Meeker at Kleiner Perkins, one of the leading VC firms on the planet.
Right now we are all comfortable with text search but search has already taken on new forms, such as image search, QR (Quick response) codes and through new services such as Pinterest, which lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. You can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. So now you can also search for specific items of interest within the “context” of your search criteria. This is really advancing quickly!
All of this infopower is now in the palm of your hands. A very powerful way for all of us to become smarter, more knowledgeable, buy the right products and importantly save money for our lives.
Now you are the one in control!
Let me know what you think of this blog by commenting below.
Have an awesome day.
Webman
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