Following Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday is the next big shopping day that many businesses count on to jumpstart the holiday shopping season, particularly in the still-flailing economy. And this year’s Cyber Monday could be huge: Americans are expected to spend $1.5 billion, up 20 percent from last year on Cyber Monday. Another survey says 129.2 million shoppers will head to retailers’ websites on Cyber Monday.

WATCH: How Facebook Helps Small Businesses

“Whether from the couch or the cubicle, online shoppers will make this Cyber Monday bigger than ever,” said Vicki Cantrell, executive director of Shop.org, one survey producer. ”Retailers have honed and improved their websites, mobile sites and social media outreach to be better than ever and consumers know that come Cyber Monday, many retailers will have a slew of new promotions to help them make a real dent in their holiday shopping lists, without breaking the bank or even having to head to the store.”

Whether you’re a large, small or medium-sized business, managing your online relationships isn’t always easy. But when it comes to your brand’s reputation, there are some steps you can

Kathryn Rose

take to protect it and turn unhappy customers into loyal fans. Here are some tips from Kathryn Rose, an award-winning author, speaker and social media strategist and trainer, CEO of The Social Buzz Club, and author of Solving the Social Media Puzzle.

WATCH: How Startups Can Help Brands Reinvest Themselves 

As you or your brand becomes more engaged on the social channels, it is inevitable that you will see brand questions and comments, some of them negative. Many brands are still resistant to joining and actively participating in the social sphere for this reason alone. Even if you or your brand is not present, the conversation about your brand is still going on. Isn’t it better to find out what people are saying and, if it is negative, offer solutions?

Many times your clients just want to know that you heard them and that you acknowledge there may be a problem and will try and fix it. I’m sure at this point you realize that everything posted on line lives forever, so you MUST have a plan of action on how to deal with any negative postings. Keeping in mind, of course, the most important tenet of relationship marketing and customer service: The customer is always right!

Related: Customer Satisfaction — How Not to Piss People Off

With my clients, whether they be large or small, I always recommend that a communication plan be put in place. At the very least, consider the possibility that someone someday may not like you or your product. This way you will be prepared. For larger brands, it’s imperative to decide these strategies. When having an initial “on boarding” meeting with one of my clients, a major laundry detergent brand, I asked what would happen if someone posted that their laundry detergent burned a whole in their clothes – or worse, theyaccuse the brand of causing personal injury? That was something they hadn’t considered. So we took the time to put in place a plan that took into account the innocuous complaint or question; i.e., the coupons didn’t print, can they use the detergent on all kinds of clothes, etc., all the way to the worst case – someone was injured.

Click here to read all of KathrynRose’s tips on how to turn unhappy online customers into lifelong fans

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

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(originally $200)

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Are You a Small Business Owner, Entrepreneur or Marketer who

•  Wants to make social media work FOR you rather than you working AT it?
•  Wants to attract more QUALIFIED customers using social media?
•  Could use some guidance and FRESH ideas?
•  Wants real RESULTS from their social media efforts?

Get Ready for the Best Social Media LIVE tour – MA and CT

6 World-Class Experts Help you Build a Workable Social Media Strategy LIVE

Yes, the buzz around social media as a sales and marketing tool is strong. It offers direct contact with customers and prospects who were previously unreachable OR that were very time consuming and expensive to reach. This means greater exposure, increased traffic, and increased sales—all without costly advertising campaigns.
But if you’re like most business owners, you don’t want to try and be everything to everyone, you want targeted, qualified prospects and traffic to your website. You’re looking to choose your social media activities wisely, without getting consumed by all of the options.

You simply want to know WHAT WORKS BEST

Six of the world’s most respected social media experts have come together to share their newest strategies, tips and practical, real-world, proven examples. LIVE !

They’ll reveal all of the latest business-building tactics you need to know to immediately benefit from Google+, blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and more.

Speakers include:

• Kathryn Rose - award-winning, best-selling author of 8 books on Social Media Marketing, social media strategist and trainer.
• Apryl Parcher - award-winning blogger, best selling author, social media strategist and consultant
• Laura Rubinstein - Social Media Strategist and Trainer for American Express Travel Planners
• Michelle Fontaine - Facebook expert, blogger and trainer
• Lou Bortone - world renowned video marketing expert and trainer
• Lori Richardson - award winning sales blogger and Linkedin specialist

These experts have built successful social media communities for their clients totalling over 3 million fans, followers and connections.  They are live bringing you their best strategies and success stories to help you target and grow your business using the most effective social media tools.

Get beyond the hype and get a workable plan that will yield amazing, profitable results.

In addition to access to these experts for an entire DAY, each participant will receive:

• Digital copy of the best selling—Solving the Social Media Puzzle Book and Complementary workbook (value $39)
• 2012 Blog and Social Media Content Calendar - helps make planning your social media engagement that much easier
• Top 50 Blog Ideas - great for helping busy business owners get a head start on their blog
• 365 Quotes for Twitter - people LOVE to share quotes on Twitter – we’ve compiled a year’s worth all at 140 characters or under

And many more bonuses worth over $200!

Three cities to choose from!

Oct 24, 2012 — MA- METRO WEST BOSTON /Marlborough

Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center
181 Boston Post Road W, Marlborough, MA
7:30am – 4:30pm

Oct. 25, 2012  — MA – NORTH SHORE BOSTON/Danvers

Doubletree Danvers (formerly CoCo Key Hotel)
50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA
8:00am – 5:00pm

 Oct. 26, 2012  CT FAIRFIELD COUNTY/Norwalk

Norwalk Inn & Conference Center
99 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT
8:00am – 5:00 pm

GET YOUR TICKET TODAY – EACH EVENT LIMITED ATTENDANCE

To receive genConnect’s special price of $97

(originally $200) Click Here

Kathryn Rose’s latest book, Solving the Social Media Puzzle: 7 Simple Steps to Planning a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Business, is available beginning Aug. 22 with free products; read on as to why you need this book to help you formulate a comprehensive, effective social media strategy for your company

In my new book: Solving the Social Media Puzzle: 7 Simple Steps to Planning a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Business, my co-author Apryl Parcher and I lay out the steps to successfully planning a social media strategy to maximize your social media marketing efforts and chances for success.

In the last four-plus years of working with clients in the social media space, I found that one of the common issues with my clients is that they had no plan. Everyone wanted lots of fans and followers and their content to go “viral” but no one had a plan to get there. Most didn’t even have goals at all! They didn’t even know who they wanted to target most of the time.

Related: Tell Your Story With Facebook’s New Timeline

That is why it is it critical to plan before you get started. One of the biggest misconceptions of social media marketing is that it is free; it’s not free because like any other of your business efforts, it takes time, and time is money right? Without a plan, you will be wasting lots of time trying everything and accomplishing nothing.

The second question is “who are you trying to target?” Many times we get the standard old-school marketing demographic answer “women 25-54, upper level income” etc.

One of the greatest benefits of today’s social media and online marketing opportunities is that you can really target your audience down to their interest levels, their zip codes, what shows they watch and more, simply because they tell Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin what they like OR they talk about these things in their bios, tweets and online interactions.

Kathryn Rose

Related: Kathryn Rose: Add Spark to Your Marketing Mix

What does this mean for marketers? This represents a big shift in the way in which we communicate with our audience. Instead of trying to communicate with broad categories of people we need to have real conversations with real people. But how do you achieve this shift and figure out how to get to your goals? Simple–you need a plan and a strategy to get you there.

What will a plan do for you? For one thing it will take the blank page syndrome and the “what will I write about today” pressure away. Many people abandon their social media efforts simply because they don’t know what to say. What’s more is if you actually have a strategy in place, things like design changes in platforms which happens seeming daily, won’t leave you scrambling.

Related: Facebook IPO: What’s the Real Value in Social Media?

Lena West, Social Media Marketing Mentor at InfluenceExpansion.com says, “Everyone is so busy getting their nerves pinched when Facebook makes a change or when Twitter shifts their layout. The reality is if your business marketing is THAT reliant upon fancy graphics and welcome tabs, your problem isn’t what Facebook is doing, it’s what you’re NOT doing.”

___________________

Here are some simple tips from our new book that will help you begin to build the foundation of a solid social media marketing plan:

1. Talk to people not demographics. Use personas when designing your target audience. Give the target a name and characteristics like what they watch  on TV, do they have children, what do they like to do, things like that.
2. Think about your goals. What are you trying to achieve? I think everyone knows by now that the sheer number of fans (likers), followers, views and connections are not necessarily going to drive business.
3. Decide where you will spend your time. The big social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and Google+) have characteristics of the audiences they attract. If you are running low on time or staff, delve into which one (s) of these will really serve your needs and attract the audience you desire. Focus your efforts on that one or two for the next 90 days and then add others as you have time. Don’t try to be everywhere if you simply don’t have the time.
4. Use a content and blogging calendar so you can plan out a strategy. Here is the one that we use and you can download it free http://solvingthesocialmediapuzzle.com/calendar/
5. Have a system for measuring results. Now that you know where you’re going, how do you know when you’ve achieved them or if you’re even on your way?
6. Constantly be tweaking your strategy as new things come up. Read blogs that focus on the networks you’ve chosen, they often times will give great strategies and case studies that you can implement in your own business.

Solving the Social Media Puzzle: 7 Simple Steps to Planning a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Business, is a must-have for any business owner who wants to stop spinning wheels and get moving with a proven, concrete action plan that gets real results. It’s a quick read, and designed for businesses just like yours. It’s a useful strategy reference that you’ll want to have handy for years to come!

Solving the Social Media Puzzle is available Wednesday, Aug. 22, for just $11.99 at Amazon.com. If you order by midnight on Aug. 22, you’ll also receive these GREAT bonuses worth well over $200:

1. 100 page Companion Workbook to Solving the Social Media Puzzle – will help you take the strategies in the book to the next level
2. 2012 Blog and Social Media Content Calendar – helps make planning your social media engagement that much easier
3. Top 50 Blog Ideas – great for helping busy business owners get a head start on their blog
4. 365 Quotes for Twitter - people LOVE to share quotes on Twitter – we’ve compiled a year’s worth all at 140 characters or under
5. 10 Keys to Generating Facebook Buzz – Learn how to generate super charged engagement on Facebook
6. Content Marketing Template Ebook – another great resource to help you get going on your content marketing
7. 250+ Content Syndication Tools Ebook – great tools to help you syndicate your content and drive traffic

Click here to find out how to start building a winning social media strategy today!

For more from Kathryn Rose: Pinterest: 6 Ways New Social Media Tool Can Boost Business

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of Kathryn Rose’s latest posts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

Managing your online relationships isn’t always easy, but when it comes to your brand’s reputation, there are some steps you can take to protect it and turn unhappy customers into loyal fans

As you or your brand becomes more engaged on the social channels, it is inevitable that you will see brand questions and comments, some of them negative. Many brands are still resistant to joining and actively participating in the social sphere for this reason alone.  Even if you or your brand is not present, the conversation about your brand is still going on. Isn’t it better to find out what people are saying and, if it is negative, offer solutions?

Related: Customer Satisfaction — How Not to Piss People Off

Geoffrey Gitomer, best selling author and sales guru even wrote a book titled Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. I know in my own experiences that using the tenets of relationship marketing and generating and achieving that all important customer loyalty is often just simply about responding when your customer is unhappy. Many times your clients just want to know that you heard them and that you acknowledge there may be a problem and will try and fix it. I’m sure at this point you realize that everything posted on line lives forever, so you MUST have a plan of action on how to deal with any negative postings. Keeping in mind, of course, the most important tenet of relationship marketing and customer service: The customer is always right!

With my clients, whether they be large or small, I always recommend that a communication plan be put in place. At the very least, consider the possibility that someone someday may not like you or your product. This way you will be prepared. For larger brands, it’s imperative to decide these strategies. When having an initial “on boarding” meeting with one of my clients, a major laundry detergent brand, I asked what would happen if someone posted that their laundry detergent burned a whole in their clothes – or worse, theyaccuse the brand of causing personal injury? That was something they hadn’t considered. So we took the time to put in place a plan that took into account the innocuous complaint or question; i.e., the coupons didn’t print, can they use the detergent on all kinds of clothes, etc., all the way to the worst case – someone was injured.

Related: Delta’s Sky-High Customer Service

Here is the plan we drafted:

1. We conducted a listening campaign for the first month that included more closely monitoring the social channels to determine what, if any, consistent complaints or questions arose.
2. Then we compiled a document that included responses to the common questions and complaints. Both Twitter and Facebook responses were drafted – approximately 20-30 for each that way their legal department could review and approve them but customers would get a response more quickly and the responses did not look “canned.” We also performed the same exercise for other types of posts, including compliments. This way, we had all communications covered and we were able to engage more quickly.

Related: 7 Hottest Social Media Trends for Business (SLIDESHOW)

Example for complaint:  We’re sorry that you’re having trouble, [FAN NAME]. Please contact customer service at [800# or email] so that we can take care of this for you ASAP.

Example for compliment: Thank you [FAN NAME]. It always makes us feel good if we can help make life a little easier for our friends.

1. We decided which types of comments and questions needed to be routed to different departments. For example, if someone said that their product caused injury, those comments would be routed to the legal department for review and response.
2. There are several online tools that help with customer service (Facebook, in particular); but as the page grew, we contracted with Parature, a Facebook client services tool that routes consumer questions and complaints to individuals within an organization. This allowed the brand to keep a better handle on the types of comments and also to be sure they were routed to the correct person or department more quickly. Parature uses keywords set up by the brand to determine which posts get routed to which department. Also, Parature will automatically remove or “hide” posts that include profanity or include inappropriate content.
3. Lastly, the team decided specifically who would be responsible for responding to these issues. It was clear that if we did not have someone experienced or had a plan in place, things could go bad quickly; so we drafted a social media policy for distribution to all of the departments. In the case of Facebook, the new Timeline roll out will allow a team member to respond directly to a fan that sends the brand a message. This is a very positive enhancement and will be a great addition to your Facebook relationship marketing strategy. However, you still need to decide who will be responsible for these communications and what the acceptable responses are.

Kathryn Rose

Related: Tell Your Story With Facebook’s New Timeline; Pros and Cons

There is no doubt that it will happen eventually to you or your brand. Someone will post negative comments, but being prepared is the key. If your brand is under attack, your first reaction may be to defend it. This can make a bad situation worse. In the case of other brands I’ve worked with, this has happened with disastrous results. You have to resign yourself that you cannot please everyone but using a few of these tips your relationships can be enhanced, you can save a customer and, perhaps turn a negative experience into a positive long term raving fan for your brand.

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

Today, Facebook will announce the new Timeline Design roll-out for brands platform-wide that will take place on March 30th. You have the option to preview the design and upgrade early if you choose. What you need to know is that the current look will be replaced by the Timeline view you see on your current personal profiles.

Related: Facebook IPO: What’s the Real Value in Social Media?

How you need to prepare:

1.) Your current images, whether or not they are just your logo or you have a longer image, must be adjusted. Logo size is square no more than 180 x 180 pixels.

2.) The “cover photo” is a maximum 851 x 399 pixels. Please be advised, though, of the Facebook cover page guidelines. Cover images may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our web site”
• Contact information, such as web address, e-mail, mailing address or other information intended for your page’s “About” section
• References to user interface elements, such as “Like” or “Share,” or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

3.) Apps and custom pages now move to under the profile picture. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps.

Like before, you can move the “apps” and custom tabs around to highlight ones you would like shown; photos and Likes cannot be moved. To move the custom tabs, hover your mouse over the upper corner of the app or custom tab, click the pencil and then click “swap this with” and the app or page moves to that spot.

The unfortunate part is that you cannot select a “default landing tab” as before, so if you created a fancy welcome page or another kind of custom page, you’re out of luck unless someone actually clicks on it.

Related: Pinterest – 6 Ways New Social Media Tool Can Boost Business

4.) You can make a certain post “stick” by “pinning” it to the top of your page; “pinned” posts stay up for seven days.

5.) Your admin panel has moved to the upper right side of the page. From there you can manage most of the page functionality you had before. Selecting admins, adding apps, etc.

6.) A GREAT addition is the ability for your fans to private message the brand and the brand to be able to respond to the fan. Before, if a fan asked a question and you wanted to respond privately, you had to do so through a personal profile. Now you can respond as the brand, which will help with customer service.

Related: How Facebook Can Change the World

7.) You can play with the design until you’re ready to publish it or until March 30, because at that point, the page will be live on the new design.

You can see some of the new cover design with brands such as Coca-Cola here.

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

Social media consultant Kathryn Rose shows you how to use Facebook’s new “Timeline”, including highlights and pitfalls…

Facebook has started to roll out the mandatory redesign called “Timeline” across the platform. In the new updated version of my book The Parent’s Guide to Facebook: Tips and Strategies to Protect Your Children on the World’s Largest Social Network, I cover the new Timeline and the privacy and interactions associated with this new design.

The Facebook Timeline essentially aims to turn your Facebook profile into a kind of online scrapbook. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook describes it as: “Timeline is the story of your life … a new way to express who you are.”

Related: Facebook’s Carolyn Everson on How Facebook Helps Small Business

Once you are notified that your profile has changed to the new timeline, you will have seven days to review your settings and information before it is published to the public. You can decide at any time to publish it yourself. There is no way to revert back to the old design as it will be completely phased out. There are many phishing and virus laden links floating around the Internet promising to change your profile back. These are not real and you should not try and click on any of them.

One of the main differences is the visual design of the new platform.

Facebook now allows a “cover photo” which you can customize to feature anything you would like. Some folks upload an image of a favorite quote or a favorite family photo, etc. You can do an Internet search for free Facebook cover designs and see some options that sites are making available for you to customize this area.

Of course, unfortunately, as with all of the redesigns, this one offers some privacy challenges that users should be aware of. The first thing you will notice is that unlike in the past, if someone wanted to see your old posts on the network from the beginning when you joined Facebook, they would have to scroll to the bottom of your wall and click “see older posts” over and over again until they found the post they wanted. Now, with the new redesign, old posts, photos and videos are easily accessible to whomever you allow access to your profile by simply clicking a year on the right side. This may expose some older posts that you may not want visible.

Related: How Facebook Can Change the World

Imagine you joined Facebook while you were in college and some of the older posts contain embarrassing or borderline inappropriate content; this can be a concern.

I suggest once you have the new design, you take some time to go through your old posts and either remove them completely from the site, or hide them from your Timeline if you do not feel they represent you in a good light. Or perhaps there was a personal post you made that you’d rather not have new friends see or easily access.

Related: Add Spark to Your Marketing Mix

If you have been on Facebook for many years, like I have, this can be an arduous task, to be sure. It takes a lot of time to sort through each post and decide not only if you want it to be shown, but to whom. Many times, Facebook has changed the setting on old posts to ‘public’ meaning anyone who comes to your profile or timeline page can see the post.

To easily view your old posts you will need to click on the “Activity Log” area. This will bring up a screen ONLY YOU can see that is a complete list of everything you’ve shared from today back to when you joined Facebook.  You can go through each and every post, photo, etc. and decide if you want it displayed on the Timeline and change the security of the post.

You can click on the circle next to the post and decide whether or not this can be allowed on your Timeline. An open circle means that it is visible on the Timeline. A circle with a line through it means it is not. You can ‘star’ a piece of content and let it be featured on the Timeline.You can also click on the symbol next to the post and decide the privacy setting of who can view it.

Related: Facebook IPO: What’s the Real Value in Social Media?

Kathryn Rose

In the prior design, all of your personal information, birthdate, interests, education and work history etc. were housed under the “info” tab. In the redesign, you will need to locate these under the “Update Info” on the right side of the screen. In here you will also be able to control the privacy of each piece of information.

Options are also now available to choose the privacy level of every post you share. When you type something into the status update bar, you can choose from a drop down box a level of privacy.

The one thing I really want to caution people on is that Facebook wants you to feel comfortable sharing all the details of your life, including where you were born and many other pieces of information – that  is great information for identity thieves to have. Also, remember, all the information you share on Facebook is possibly being shared to advertisers and other data collection sites. This may or may not be a concern of yours but it is worth mentioning.

There is, of course, controversy surrounding this new redesign as there has been with each iteration of the platform. Be sure to take the time to navigate the new design and re-check your privacy settings so you can feel comfortable and enjoy your Facebook experience with privacy and safety in mind.

For more from Kathryn on genConnect: Pinterest: 6 Ways New Social Media Tool Can Boost Business

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of  Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

Image from Honestly, Now

Social media pro Kathryn Rose interviews the CEO and founder of new innovative social network, Honestly, Now.

Honestly, Now is a new innovative new social network I recently discovered. It’s still in beta, but users will see quickly how useful it can be.

In a nutshell, users ask questions like, “Do I tell my boyfriend I cheated on him?” or “Should I thank people for re-Tweeting me on Twitter?” and experts like myself and others answer the questions, as well as general users of the site. One user uploaded a picture of herself in her new glasses and asked for opinions from the user base. It is a great way to get expert and objective opinions.

Related: Kathryn Rose: Add Spark to Your Marketing Mix

I had the opportunity to interview Tereza Nemessanyi, the CEO and founder of this new innovative social network, on the story behind Honestly, Now and what users can expect when they join:

Q: What is the idea behind Honestly, Now? Why did you feel the need to start yet another social network?

A: My parents died rather suddenly after I had my first child. I found I had more questions than ever – personal questions, and important decisions. But my support structure was gone and I wasn’t sure my friends were telling me the truth. So, to recreate what I’d lost – great advice and honest, compassionate truth – I combined the best of social technology with what I know about market research techniques and expert networks. You can say I digitized my mom, in a way. There are important conversations women have every day – our most important conversations – that are not happening online and are not as good as they could be, because existing social networks don’t understand them. Said another way, we are disrupting “Dear Abby.”

Kathryn Rose

Q: Who are the experts?

A: Experts are a special status level on Honestly, Now and we showcase our experts to the community. They’re the top dogs and their comments have the most visual weight – they are the wise ones. We believe in the power of smart people helping others, and we want people to get to know these experts. We are always looking for new experts. Popular topics include social media, career and business, parenting, relationships and romance, fashion and style, travel, and technology. We want no great question to go unanswered. Because – for certain – there is someone excellent out there who makes a living helping people with that problem. We want people to know it!

Q: What do you want people to know about Honestly, Now?

A: We truly want to make the world better, and make great business for everyone, by being honest. I want us to create a billion ‘honest moments’ – moments where someone asks, votes, or answers. I truly believe that if we hit a billion honest moments, the world will be a much better place.

Honestly, Now can also be great as a business tool to do some crowdsourcing. I’m sure brands and businesses can benefit from asking poll-like questions to help in target marketing or test a concept.

Honestly, now … who wouldn’t want more honesty and making the world a better place? Give it a try! It’s a great way to get objective input on your most pressing issues.

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of  Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

A Pinterest design inspiration page

Looking for new, creative ways to further your brand? Social media consultant Kathryn Rose details how a hot new social network, Pinterest, can help

Ever heard of Pinterest? If not, you will soon. It is the fastest growing social network and is hot, hot, hot!

Basically, users create “boards” then “pin” interesting photos or videos to them. It is a very interesting and different type of social network and I really am enjoying using it. It can also be a major distraction. I spent over two hours trolling the Internet for pictures representing “Places I Love.” As a marketer and a business owner, I had to figure out how I could use Pinterest as a business tool. Turns out, there are great uses for Pinterest for business.

Related: Kathryn Rose: Add Spark to Your Marketing Mix

Here are a couple of things I discovered:

1. Drive traffic to your blog or videos by pinning images in your posts or the videos themselves. Once a user clicks on a “pin,” the image is a link to your post or video. Note: be sure to have a license to use images if they are not yours. No one needs a copyright infringement lawsuit.
2. Searchengineland.com did a great post on “How to Use Pinterest for Local SEO“  and suggested that users create keyword-rich “about me” areas and board titles.
3. If your business is well represented by a Google Places business page, consider using that as the landing page for your profile instead of your web site – particularly if there are great reviews of your products and services located there.
4. Make sure to use attractive images; Pinterest users are all about the visual.
5. If you add a price in an item’s description, a banner shows up in the corner of the image displaying the price.
6. You can set up a Pinterest account in the name of a business, unlike Facebook. See this great Pinterest page by my friend Susan Goldberg Zimmerman, owner of the boutique SueB.do.

Kathryn Rose

Pinning from the web is easy using the ‘pin it’ bookmarklet on the Firefox browser, you simply click on the image in your blog post and ‘pin them’ to a board. There are other ways to pin as well, you can upload photos from your hard drive or add pin it code to your posts.

In my research, I did find a couple of things to be aware of: First, it appears that Pinterest is “auto following” people based on your interests, so don’t be surprised when you first join and have not one pin posted, but you get e-mails saying “so and so is following you.” I’m not a big fan of this. Can you imagine how people would react if Facebook “auto friended” people based on your location or former high school or other interests? Second, there are absolutely no privacy settings. So, if you decide to create a board that has family pictures or pictures of your local town, people can view them and re-pin them. You must take care not to post private pictures on Pinterest.

Overall, I think it’s a fun, innovative network that businesses can definitely benefit from using. Keep in mind the privacy concerns and be careful when sharing. Also, like any social network, Pinterest can tempt you to fall into the rabbit hole. Use an egg timer or a downloadable timer on your desktop to prevent you from wasting time.

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of  Kathryn Rose’s latest posts, as well as the contributions from other experts on the site: Sign Up for genConnect.

Kathryn Rose

Bullying is reaching new heights and kids face threats everywhere; one mom took action when her daughter was a victim, and launched the Great American NO BULL Challenge

When Shawn Edgington’s daughter, Nicole Edgington, was bullied during her senior year of high school, stalked and physically threatened online, she knew she had to do something.

Shawn started her quest to help her daughter by writing the bestselling book for parents about understanding how to parent today’s connected teens called, The Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World. When researching the book, she came across this alarming statistic: almost 50 percent of teenagers have experienced cyberbullying, sometimes with deadly results.

Related: Children’s Health Foundation: Good Food, Safe Schools for Kids

She decided to take the lead and develop a nation-wide campaign that would use the power of the social media to draw attention to the issue of cyberbullying in a really big way. Thus, the idea for The Great American NO BULL Challenge, a video contest coupled with a teen video awards show, was born. The contest begins this Sunday, Jan. 15.

“The Parent’s Guide is a great success, and we received a great deal of press and attention to this important issue as a result, [but] I just felt it wasn’t enough,” Shawn told me. “I needed to do something on a national level to draw attention to this epidemic and empower students to make bullying the ‘un-cool’ thing to do.

“No doubt, the bullying conversation needs to start at home with the parents, but the bullying is happening because KIDS think it’s OK or are oblivious to how hurtful their actions are,” she continues. “If we can motivate kids to stop the conduct, that is where we are going to win big, which is what The Great American NO BULL Challenge is all about.”

As the author of The Parent’s Guide to Facebook, I have become very involved in the campaign to support and promote Shawn’s initiative. I wrote a blog post about working with her, even though we have books that have almost identical titles. Why am I promoting her book? The answer is simple: coo-petition. On an issue as important as this, it’s no time to compete against one another.

Just last week, there was yet another sad story in The New York Times about a teen in Staten Island who stepped in front of a bus and committed suicide allegedly due to bullying.

Related: How to Protect Your Child From Hazing

With The Great American NO BULL Challenge, Shawn aims to launch the largest campaign against cyberbullying in America’s history. The contest offers 25 million middle and high school students the opportunity to write and direct anti-bullying videos for the national competition. The Challenge is the first youth-led campaign that empowers students to become aware of what the effects of cyberbullying are, and shows them the power of standing up and doing the right thing, even when their friends are not.

Winners of the NO BULL Challenge will win prizes worth over $25,000 that include a $10,000 production deal, a trip to the NO BULL Teen Video Awards show in San Francisco, their video submitted and a trip to Sundance Film Festival, school scholarships, a Mac Book Pro, an iPhone and much more.

The formal announcement of the 15 finalists will be made on May 17^th, National Cyber Safety Awareness day. All finalists are invited to attend the star-studded NO BULL Teen Video Awards in San Francisco on July 21^st. At the Teen Video Awards gala, everyone will get to see amazing artists perform live and meet their favorite athletes and celebrities on the red carpet.  The NO BULL winning videos will be announced “live” at the Teen Video Awards, where their video will be introduced to the world.

Shawn has approached some of the largest social networking companies about getting more focused and involved with this issue, including Facebook and Formspring. With the help and support of the social media communities, she will be able to drive attention and action to this epidemic.

To find out more about the Great American No Bull Challenge and the NO BULL Teen Video Awards, go to http://www.nobullchallenge.org.

Follow them at @NOBULLcontest

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NOBULLChallenge

YouTube:  http://youtube.com/nobullchallenge

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Kathryn Rose

Social media consultant Kathryn Rose shares tips learned from Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp

Last month, I attended and spoke at the The Massachusetts Conference for Women’s Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp.  The event was part of the larger The Massachusetts Conference for Women’s Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp organized by Tory Johnson, CEO of Women for Hire and Spark & Hustle. Tory’s Spark & Hustle events have always been on the ‘must attend’ list for women business owners, and now she has teamed up with conferences for women groups across the country to bring her message to a larger audience.

Related: Tory Johnson’s 12 Tips to Make Your Resume Stand Out

Kathryn Rose with Vanessa Wilson at the Spark & Hustle Small Business Bootcamp.

The event was well attended; over 500 women in all and some great information was shared. My panel consisted of social media rockstars Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist with HubSpot.com and co-author of Twitter For Dummies, as well as Vanessa Wilson, aka, “Crafty Gemini,” who has made a very successful business out of using YouTube to teach people how to sew and create crafts. Laura stressed that social media was about “being useful” and offering information, not selling. Her three rules to remember are: Get found, convert and then analyze. Vanessa said you don’t need expensive equipment to be successful on YouTube, just a concept that offers information that people want to see and share. For my part, I discussed using personas instead of general demographics to target your audience. In social media, you speak to people, not demographics. Also, the importance of limiting your time on social media sites to the business at hand. I use the “3×15″ formula with my clients – 3 times per day, 15 minutes each.

Related: Watch Laura Fitton discuss OneForty.com with genConnect

Here are my top takeaways from the other fantastic speakers:

• Samantha Ettus - Personal branding expert and Forbes contributor, gave tips on how to tell our personal story, but leave out the gory details. Keep the highs and use the lows as achievements or stepping stones. Also, live in what she calls the ‘sunshine state.’ Stay positive and move forward. Don’t get stuck in the inevitable pitfalls of owning and running a business.
• Marley Majcher – Author and CEO of The Party Goddess!, told us not to forget ALL of our expenses when figuring out the bottom line profits. It is easy to just focus on the “cost of goods sold” and forget about the time each task takes and what that is worth, and what she calls the “Forget Me Nots” – all of the client meeting cups of coffee, lunches, parking fees, etc. that cut into our profits. She even devised an Excel spreadsheet on which she writes down every task she performs and the amount of time so she can keep track of these expenditures, much like lawyers or consultants do.
• Jessica Kleiman and Meryl Weinsaft Cooper, co-authors of Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Hired, and Rewarded at Work spoke about some do-it-yourself PR tips, reinforcing what Samantha Ettus said earlier – that your personal story is what will get you noticed. Have a story to tell, be ready with your key messages, and stress what makes you different or unique.
• Lena West, Susan Zimmerman and Yifan Zhang spoke about “sales for small business success.” The main takeaway here? You have to give to receive. Provide value and if you are enriching people’s lives, sales will follow. Also, build a trusted network, find the best possible people to work with, you don’t have to go it alone.

Next year will bring more conferences for women around the country and more Spark & Hustle bootcamps for women to help take their businesses to the next level; Spark & Hustle is now planning its 2012 tour. You can tell Tory Johnson why Spark & Hustle should come to your city here!

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