✔ Why Successful Retail Is Sticky Retail?

In a recent European shopper study we found 65% of shoppers in specialty high street stores in Italy left the store prematurely (summer 2012). In other words they engaged only once with either a product, some merchandising or marketing collateral and then left the store... does that surprise you? This statistic tells us that there is real opportunity for retail marketers to engage with shoppers more deeply.

Introducing a multi-platform experience is one way of improving that depth of the customer relationship. The more effort we spend changing how people interact with the environment the better. In the same study 75% of shoppers who made four or more interactions spent money. Positive proof that dwell times and stickiness drive are a consequence of buying behavior; the decision our clients face is what pieces of the retail-marketing puzzle go where.

Brand Perspectives
Brands own the retail relationship; they have the trust of the retail customer. Measures such as recognition, visibility, share of shelf, share of basket, dwell time, pick and take rate and sales densities help to define good and bad retailing.

Many brands are reliant on the retailer as an ambassador to raise awareness and sales. In highly competitive generalist retail environments brands that have two or more locations and more marketing collateral tend to score better for recognition and saliency. Brands with little or no support get lost very quickly. Smart brands use different channel touch point to get their message across.

Many brand owners use retail to change how people think about them. By approaching consumers out of context they can change they way we view them. Louis Vuitton in New York celebrated its collaboration with the Japanese artist Yajo Kusama, famous for red polka dots, will a life size mannequin of the artist to project their windows and capture the zeitgeist.

Retailer Perspectives
Retailers want to improve shopper numbers, frequency of visit and basket size. The different tactics used to drive performance influence placement, message and opportunity for brands. Future-facing retail is multi sensorial, respects the consumer and uses messaging to support brand storytelling by providing intimate moments at retail.

Size isn't everything - consider West Edmonton Mall reportedly the fifth largest shopping mall in the world (the largest in North America) and still with the largest waterpark in the world. It is relevant to future retail as long as it keeps offering what shoppers want in a memorable and competitive way. Contrast this retail giant with The Little Mule coffee house in Melbourne; a distinctive, individual, relevant proposition that shows real empathy in delivery. The shopper experience is enhanced every time by great staff getting it right.

The giants of retail experiences create solutions either through display or messaging. Category zoning is a useful device to pull and push shoppers through the retail space using dialogue effectively. Simple examples range from the hologram display at London Luton Airport that educates passengers about carry on luggage requirements to more impactful window displays like adidas in South Korea showcasing giant 3D holograms featuring exploded diagrams of the latest running shoes.

Nike's termini store in Rome, Italy, captures the spirit of Nike brand with a coherent on the go retail proposition. Its role is clearly to gain attention and interest; this often gets delivered through digital screens, interactive displays and three-dimensional collateral.

Shopper Perspectives
There are three drivers of shopper behavior: motivation, entertainment and ease. Individual shoppers are complicated, they are driven by sets of motivations, and are also looking to satisfy a need or fulfill a wish. They are influenced by promotion, by format and packaging and they are habitual and often  inconsistent in what they do. 

At retail we can compare similarities and identify patterns amongst groups of shoppers, and then predict future behaviors to maximize the opportunity the retail channel presents.

The shop is where people are engaged, interested and welcomed. The most efficient and effective retail experiences are about scripting, not just about proposition and product display. Demonstrations, evidence and experiences cut across all touch points, and shoppers are open to influence. Our studies prove that 60% of bar counter customers intent on buying the next round of drinks will up trade if an alternative is recommended by the bar staff, that's a whopping commercial opportunity resulting from observing retail behavior.

[ Reprinted from Contagious - Author Jonathan Webb is co-founder of shopper consultancy Retail in Action

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✔ How to select a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) partner?

For many businesses, hiring an agency to assist with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) represents the perfect balance between getting the necessary work done to ensure positive results with your company website and investing the time and energy needed to complete these tasks in-house.   However, although hiring an agency to carry out website optimization tasks might seem like a no-brainer, it’s important to be aware that not all SEO consultancies are created equally, so be sure to ask potential providers the following questions:

1 – How long have you been in the business of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Certainly, everyone needs to start somewhere – and there’s a chance the new consultant you hire will be able to obtain the same results you could achieve with a renowned SEO firm.  However, when it’s your hard-earned money that’s on the line, keep in mind that a long track record of successes demonstrates credibility.

2 – How does your company stay up-to-date on industry changes?

It's the difference between Penguin and Panda.  Because things change so quickly in the SEO industry, it’s imperative that you hire an individual or firm that’s up-to-date on the latest algorithm adjustments.  To determine whether or not your chosen agency makes ongoing education a priority, look for things like whitepaper publication, guest articles contributed to industry websites and presentations.  Really, any credibility indicators that demonstrate that your chosen agency is respected for its knowledge and expertise will suffice to prove that its SEO professionals stay on top of the latest news and releases. 

3 – Do you engage in any grey- or black-hat practices?

If you’re making the investment into hiring an agency to improve your website’s optimization, why risk blowing your money on consultants who use the grey- or black-hat practices that could eventually get your site penalized in the search rankings?  To avoid throwing your money down the toilet in this way, carefully question agency candidates on their ethics and the specific methods they use to promote their clients’ sites.   

4 – How do you approach keyword research?

There are as many ways to approach keyword research as there are SEO consultants working today, so while there’s really no right or wrong answer to this question, it is important that the agency you select uses keyword research techniques that are in line with your company’s natural search placement goals.  Pay special attention to agencies that promise high Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings for extremely competitive keywords.  If it sounds too good to be true it typically is.  While the eventual payoff may be nice, you’ll see much better results with a keyword research plan that will allow your company to micro-target.

5 – How do you qualify traffic in your campaigns?

Simply getting more visitors to your website isn’t always a good goal for an SEO campaign.  What you really want are highly-qualified visitors that convert well according to your company’s conversion rate optimization plan, so be sure to ask potential SEO agency candidates how they plan to filter visitors and build the right type of traffic for your site.

6 – How will the success of your campaign be measured? 

Just as a simple increase in site visitors isn’t enough to justify campaign success, be sure to ask your chosen SEO agency how they determine whether their efforts are in fact working.  Be sure whatever metrics are used to measure success are ones that truly indicate success for your business.  As an example, simply increasing average time on site – a commonly reported SEO metric – doesn’t matter if these changes aren’t tied to corresponding conversion rate increases and ROI.

7 – What types of reporting will you provide?

In order to protect proprietary SEO tactics, web optimization agencies may limit the scope of their reports to eliminate detail that could be used by competitors to recreate successful campaigns.  However, that doesn’t mean that you should be left in the dark about how things are progressing with your project.  Ask specifically about how frequently you’ll receive reports and what level of detail will be included to stay on top of your campaigns.

8 – How available are you for client communication?

The wonders of digital communication mean that you aren’t limited to choosing from SEO agencies in your immediate geographic area.  But whether you decide to work with a remote provider or a consultant in your city, be very clear about the level of communication you can expect to receive as a client.  If anything goes wrong with your site, you’ll want to resolve these issues as quickly as possible – but to do that, you must have access to clear communication channels with your SEO agency.

9 – Do you have any long-term clients who are satisfied with your work?

SEO agencies are occasionally criticized for drawing out the length of their projects in order to increase their billable hours.  So for this reason, it’s important to gather feedback from past customers who have successfully completed long-term projects with your potential consultants.  If you hear from several companies that investing in a full-length project with your chosen SEO agency resulted in positive ROI, that’s a good indication that you’ve chosen who will put your website’s needs ahead of re-billing priorities.

10 – Do you limit the number of clients you take on at once?

If you’re thinking of working with a larger SEO agency that has a substantial in-house staff, ensuring that appropriate focus is given to your project may not be an issue.  On the other hand, if you decide to work with a small team or a solitary SEO consultant, ask if your chosen provider sets limits on the number of ongoing projects that can be taken on.  Because SEO campaigns require consistent effort to be successful, the last thing you want is for the provider you’ve contracted with to bump your project to the back-burner to handle a bigger customer’s request.

11 – Who will be doing the work on my campaign?

Depending on the SEO agency you retain to work on your business’s web optimization projects, you could have a highly-qualified SEO technician performing ongoing on-page and off-page SEO work – or, you could unknowingly have certain elements of your campaign shipped off overseas worker where quality controls may be much more lax.

Finally, given all the different variables involved in selecting the SEO agency that’s right for your company’s needs, consider starting with a short-term project to get a feel for the caliber of the organization’s work.  Starting with a three-month assignment should give the agency enough time to produce some meaningful improvement in your website’s results, as well as providing you with enough information about the agency’s work practices to decide if they’re the right fit for your SEO needs.

And lastly - if you’re a brand manager looking for a proven, experienced cutting-edge SEO agency – give us a shout.  We’re always happy to see whether we can help.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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✔ TOSHIBA and INTEL ‘s “The Beauty Inside” Social Media-driven Movie

Last summer, Toshiba and Intel released a series of promotional videos together called “The Inside Experience,” in which the plot was driven by user participation on social media. 

The brands are teaming up again and next month will release a new social video series, “The Beauty Inside,” which will have stars along with unknown actors chosen at open casting calls. Along with the fact that anyone can audition, ”The Beauty Inside“ is a social series because fans will be able to interact with its main character, Alex, on social media sites, according to Creativity.

The voice of Alex is narrated by Topher Grace, however, the character’s face will keep changing. This allows the company to vet many actors for the role (starting today on Facebook) and give the campaign a transparent edge.  Last year, with “The Inside Experience,” Intel and Toshiba’s fans were given the opportunity to help the lead character, Christina, get out of a conundrum. In the introductory video, it appeared that “Christina,” played by Emmy Rossum, had been kidnapped, and fans could pour over clues she posted on Facebook to figure out how to locate her. The campaign, before it was even launched, received 1.75 million views on its trailer. “The Beauty Inside” is taking social participation to a new level by giving anyone the chance to be casted.

This global, social film is proof that the right technology can blend two major forms of entertainment and give a global audience the opportunity to be engaged and have a chance to play a role in a blockbuster-style Hollywood movie.

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✔ ❤ POV on Brands

✔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V80]

Hertz's most recent Facebook campaign brought 145,000 interactions and 800 new likes in the first week and won them Travel + Leisure magazine's first-ever Social Media + Tourism Award for best use of a social media platform -  PR Daily

NASA is using Twitter and YouTube to help build buzz and excitement online for the Curiosity rover's upcoming visit to Mars -  The NY Times

Pepsi, BOS Ice Tea, and The Coca-Cola Company are combining social media with vending machines to create a new experience for customers -  Social Commerce Today

Qatar Airways has launched their global "Tweet a Meet" social media campaign that gives their Twitter followers the chance to team up and win travel miles and plane tickets -  Creativity Online

Tide is running a social campaign through the 2012 Olympic Games that encourages fans to submit their own stories about what the American flag means to them on Facebook and Twitter -  Chief Marketer

Citi discuss how they use social media to deliver better customer service -  Useful Social Media

Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Chick-fil-A, and Dippin' Dots are using social media to drive buzz around their giveaways this summer -  USA TODAY

Revlon's talk about their new Facebook initiative that offers monthly beauty tasks and allows participants to post and share their experiences with friends -  WWD.com

Virgin America is looking to increase their Facebook and Twitter engagement with the announcement that Boo, the Internet's cutest dog, has become their official pet liaison -  Socialbakers

THE TAKEAWAY

BE FOUND - Search is still the killer app. It’s more location-based (knows where you are), personalized (offers to you), visual (Google Goggles) and real-time (price, availability, news) than ever. Roy’s Restaurants introduced hyperlocal ads, delivering clickable, down-to-the-block level information about a business at the right place and at the right moment – and got an 800 percent ROI on their advertising investment.

BE ENGAGING - You could be dull in another era. Not this one. For creativity, look at American Express mastering the art of the live stream – a newly potent medium. Their live-streamed concerts, ‘Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express,’ created an absorbing environment on the web and in the arena, engaging users with the music of Arcade Fire and John Legend – and with their brand.

BE RELEVANT - Real-world, real-time relevance matters more than ever. A Google client in the auto insurance business uses click-to-call so that when a potential customer searches their mobile phone for car insurance, the company shows them an ad that can immediately connect the customer to its call center and begin the application process on the spot. The consumer, right there on the lot, could get their insurance before they drive away.

BE ACCOUNTABLE - Ford has identified five key buying actions based on closely measured online behavior. If someone configures a car online, Ford now knows they are more likely to buy one. The car company uses this information to target digital advertising, generating high-value leads and test-drive registrations for its dealers. Unlike traditional local media, Ford can measure the exact return on this investment. Accountability pays.

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✔ Characteristics of Highly Persuasive Brand Stories

Compared to convincing a jury in a courtroom of something, car salespeople have it easy – as they control the environment and have the undivided attention of the customer.  

Just imagine for example that you were in a Lexus showroom listening to why you should buy one of their vehicles, and at your elbow was a BMW salesperson, periodically objecting to the Lexus pitch and then delivering her own. That’s the situation a lawyer must deal with in a courtroom.  Arguments are presented by one side and will be directly (and often mercilessly) attacked by the other side.   So what’s an effective way to make your point?  One trial-proven persuasion strategy is the use of stories.  

Researchers Philip Mazzocco and Melanie Green draw a contrast between rhetorical persuasion, in essence arguing with facts and logic, and the use of narratives to influence decisions. They concluded that stories are far more effective at changing those emotional beliefs that logical arguments have difficulty reaching.  There are also a number of other relevant takeaways to make stories more persuasive including:

Delivery Counts

For spoken narratives (as one normally finds in a courtroom), a good storyteller is more persuasive than a mediocre one. Dramatic pacing, use of imagery, and other factors affect the impact the story has on the listener. (If your story will be told in written form, it’s safe to assume that effective use of language and an appropirate narrative style will have that same effect.) And when a story is told properly, there’s a sort of mind-meld connection between the teller and listener.

Vivid Imagery

Immersive images will enable the audience to “see” the characters and scenes being described, and will trump dry factual information that lacks that impact. (If you have any doubts, brain scans show vivid action imagery lights up the readers or listener’s brain as if he were performing those same actions.  Even if you are painting a fictional picture with the story, its elements need to relate to the reality that the audience is familiar with, for example, basic human motivations. The audience must be able to understand the story.  Shakespeare, for example, resonates with many readers because he was so in tune with human nature.  So it’s clear that stories must be coherent (“narrative probability”) and consistent with the listeners past experiences (“narrative fidelity”) to be effective.

Structure

Stories need to flow in a logical manner, and therefore usually have a beginning, middle, and end. Suspense can keep an audience tuned in.  Starting with a provocative question or curious situation is a good example -as it makes listeners want to hear what comes next.

Context and Surroundings

The same story may vary in its persuasive impact depending on the context in which it is told. A story told by a pushy salesperson will be less believable because listeners will attribute ulterior motives to the person telling it. At a more basic level, problematic surroundings (like a noisy environment, or, presumably, a web page with distracting elements near the text) can also reduce the story’s effectiveness.

Audience

This is one factor you may not have direct control over: people vary in their ability to be transported by stories. Stories will obviously be less likely to persuade audience members who lack the imagination to visualize what they are hearing or reading. If you could identify your less imaginative prospects, though, you could attempt to persuade them with logic and argument rather than a narrative.

Rational vs. Experiential

Researchers Mazzocco and Green found evidence that human brains process information in two ways, rational appraisal and “experiential.” The first includes digesting facts, comparing new information to one’s knowledge and past experience, etc. The second, in contrast, “involves the construction of an imaginary world filled with quasi-experiences.” It’s the experiential processing – creating the experience (that didn’t really happen) in the customer’s mind that can be reached most effectively by stories. 

The authors suggest that we can only think in one mode at a time, so the persuader should shift approaches depending on which style would be most effective in supporting each phase of the argument.  There’s another way to look at this duality: We make our decision emotionally (and, to varying degrees, unconsciously), and then let our rational processes justify that decision with facts.

Takeaway

Even if you can persuade at the emotional level with a story, you may still need to provide factual persuasion elements to keep the customer’s entire brain happy.   

[ Original article by Roger Dooley.  Roger writes and speaks about marketing, and in particular the use of neuroscience and behavioral research. ]

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✔ Understanding Fan Participation On Brand-run Social Properties

For any conversation to be a success, you need some understanding of the people taking part. In social media, the majority of conversation will be driven by a group of fans who are more engaged than others.

The exact proportion will be different for each brand, but there's always a group who tend to post, comment, question and share more than the rest. Whether they're on Facebook or Twitter, a forum member or blogger, these fans are valuable and important for the health of your conversations and your community.

So what is it about these highly engaged fans you need to understand? The common factor for this group is that they all like to contribute. Look a bit deeper and you'll realize that they respond and interact in different ways, depending on the context and their own social motivations. It's these motivations, rather than demographics, that are the real story.

Consistent in Communities
Social motivations are complex and can be overlapping, but there are six behavioral characteristics typical of the most engaged fans. We've seen these consistently occur in communities that we manage, even though they may be different shapes and sizes, industry verticals and age groups. Use these six dimensions to guide interactions with your most valuable fans, and you'll have richer conversations that will be more rewarding for all involved.

The Responder - Count on these fans to answer a question, enter a competition, like your posts and generally follow your direction. They may need prompting but they will be there for you on a rainy day and will keep your overall levels of engagement up. Create regular opportunities for these fans to participate with straightforward instructions and thank them when they do so.

The Sharer - Extending the reach of your conversations, these fans love to redistribute social content to their networks. Think of Sharers as part of your social distribution network. It's important to make it easy for them to do what they do best: retweet, reblog, repost or sometimes remix. They may have a sizable or influential network of their own, so make an effort to understand the secondary audience, and consider providing them with exclusive content. If appropriate, look for ways to reward Sharers by involving them in the creation or curation process. Monitor what they share and how they share it to learn what works best. Beware that negative content can be shared just as easily.

The Expert Questioner - These fans like to demonstrate how much they already know by asking questions. They might be asking obscure technical questions, or how a specific component compares to the special edition model from two years ago. What they really want is a chance to show off their encyclopedic knowledge of your product line. Encourage these fans to help answer other questions from the less informed. Or go further and reward them by inviting them to visit your HQ. Their deep expertise could help craft subtle improvements in your products.

The Lazy Questioner - In some ways the opposite of the Expert Questioner, these fans ask the most basic (and sometimes irrelevant) questions, whilst making no effort to discover the answer. The Lazy Questioner hasn't bothered to Google a keyword or two, let alone visit your website, read previous blog posts or comments. They love your product or brand but they also love it when you serve the answers up to them. Demonstrate great customer service and create links to your product info that will be visible to others by answering them promptly. It's also an opportunity to defer to the knowledge of your Experts, who will relish the status you have bestowed on them.

The Specific Shopper - Another type of Questioner, these fans want to get involved in a conversation about specifics. Does it come in another shade of blue? Can it be gift-wrapped and shipped to Brazil? What accessories are compatible? These actively engaged people want to know the detail, either to get a product or service that's just right for them, or because they are investing a lot of emotional energy in your brand. They may have deep knowledge of your category, or be a novice, so try to find out their level of expertise if you can. Then show the community how much you care about your fans by giving them the detail they need. They may buy one for themselves as well as their friend in Brazil.

The Advocate - Over time and with the right treatment, the fans above may evolve into the most important members of your community. Advocates may talk about you unprompted, upload photos of themselves with your products, or privately give you feedback about that time you could have done better. They may be so engaged in the conversation they invite their friends to join in, and will share your excitement when you launch something new, have new news or big wins. They may also appear out of nowhere to defend you against criticism - especially valuable in times of crisis. The ultimate advocates generate positive conversation by encouraging others to try your products or services.

Constant Critics
Finally, remember that some of the most engaged people may be your critics, which is not necessarily a bad thing. These 'Constant Critics' may well be using your products and services already, and can offer valuable insight into where the pain points for certain types of customer are located. By listening carefully and treating them with respect, you may turn your critics into Advocates. Which is cause to celebrate.

[ Written for Contagious Magazine by Nathan McDonald and Leila Thabet at We Are Social.] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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✔ The Best Way For Brands To Use Photos And Image-Sharing Social Networks?

News of Kodak’s demise in January saw even the most dispassionate publications turn to the warm filters of nostalgia to cover the story – from rose-tinted references to Paul Simon’s 1973 song Kodachrome, to sentimental evocations of the brand’s 50-year-old ‘Kodak moments’ tagline. Then, only a few months later, Facebook bought Instagram –an app that lets people capture images through digital filters that evoke Kodak’s legacy, with a logo that references its Instamatic camera – for a cool $1bn.

Kodak’s fall and Instagram’s rise coincide with a period of explosive growth in our obsession with the photograph. At the end of 2011, 1000memories, a site that helps people get their old printed photographs online, estimated that 10% of all of humankind’s photos had been taken in the previous 12 months. Partly, that is down to the falling cost of digital imaging technology and the proliferation of mobile – even cheap feature phones now include cameras, turning pretty much everyone into an amateur photographer. But it’s also due to innovations in how we store, publish and share photographs: many of the fastest growing and most engaging social networks are primarily image-based, namely Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.

The emotional and memorial power of the picture – whether rendered in film or pixels – is timeless. Yet the digital age has given the photograph a new, social currency. ‘Images allow us to visually “staple” ourselves to places and other people – call this social and locational collation,’ says Grant McCracken, author of Culturematic. ‘This is critical not just to memory but to network building. Facebook beat Friendster because it allowed us to post photos, name people and circulate the image.’ Indeed, Facebook is now officially the world’s largest library of photographs – by quite a long way.

Following the people

As people have flocked to Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram, brands have dutifully followed. And perhaps with good reason. Online intelligence firm Convertro has found that Pinterest is the fastest growing source of referrals leading to purchase for online retailers: in Q1 2012, the site represented 17.4% of social media revenue for ecommerce sites, up from 1.2% a year earlier. The company predicts that the figure will reach 40% by the end of Q2 2012, bringing Facebook down to 60% from 86% a year ago. Now approaching its third round of funding, the site is rumored to be itself at more than $1bn (perhaps even $1.5bn).

It is somewhat inevitable then, that Pinterest has been quickly swamped with a deluge of marketing campaigns. Airline BMI partnered with London- based social media agency Rabbit, for instance, to launch its Pinterest Lottery, a competition centered around six boards related to different destinations: Beirut, Dublin, Marrakech, Moscow, Nice and Edinburgh. Each image across all the boards has a unique number. BMI has a weekly prize draw; people who have repined that image have a chance to win free flights.

It’s a similar story on other new platforms, too, with brands like Tiffany & Co, Ford and Neutrogena flocking to Instagram with similarly tactical and attention-grabbing initiatives. For example, Levi’s used Instagram to find the stars of its next advertising campaign (with Wieden+Kennedy, Portland). Using the hashtag #iamlevis, people were invited to upload their photo to the site. The faces of the campaign for the next Levi’s collection, due to run in September, will be selected from these entries.

Content not campaigns

But whilst many brands have been admirably quick to turn up to the party, is this really the best way to fit in? Competitions and campaigns don’t necessarily play to the fundamental truths about why people care about image sharing. Pinterest, for instance, has a fairly straightforward purpose: to curate and share visual content discovered on the web. Short-lived novelty campaigns are great ways to generate a quick burst of buzz, but most users are after new images that are in some way visually engaging. Brands should therefore be focused on providing content that people genuinely want to Like, Pin, and Note.

GE has done an admirable job in this respect, using Tumblr to share GIFs and Instagram shots of factories, turbines and engines – all recontextualised as beautiful, intriguing artworks (via Barbarian Group, New York). Adam Senatori, winner of its ‘Be the Next Instagrapher’ challenge, snapped many of the more recent pictures. It’s amazing to see the brand pull back the curtain on its operations in this way, providing new content that fills a particular niche, all in a visual language appropriate to the platform’s own users.

Fashion house Oscar de la Renta turned to Pinterest for a campaign (produced in-house) to build interest in its bridal fashion catwalk show, highly appropriate given that the platform has become a popular tool for brides-to-be as they gather inspiration and create moodboards for their own weddings. During the immediate lead-up to the event, images began to populate a designated bridal board on the Oscar de la Renta page, allowing fans of the brand – and weddings – to follow all the behind-the-scenes action.

Amazon has also made a significant investment in photography, specifically as part of its drive to conquer the luxury fashion market. The retailer now shoots 3,000 fashion images a day in its Kentucky photography studio and images of new items are posted online daily. Amazon has also developed a patent-pending technology where instead of using static images, models move around to show off the clothes. This is a smart strategy: by presenting products in a beautiful way, Amazon is setting itself up as a primary place to find shareable images of high fashion – again, perfect Pinterest fodder.  

The upshot is that brands need to start taking images seriously. ‘We are all hungry for content,’ says McCracken. ‘Photos give us the most content for the effort.’ One factor holding brands back from getting more deeply involved in image sharing has been the questionable legality of posting photos that one doesn’t own (a common use for Tumblr, and Pinterest’s raison d’être). Which itself raises a bigger question: once a brand or a person puts an image out there, is it possible to truly own it? All the more reason for companies to make the effort to create great original images for others to share, rather than trading in other people’s creativity.  In a recent blog post (on Tumblr, naturally), Rabbit suggested that organizations ‘need not only a social media strategy, but a visual social media strategy as well’.

But should brands turn to Pinterest, or Tumblr?  Facebook or Instagram?  In many ways, the platform is irrelevant. It’s still all about capturing those Kodak moments. 

[ Original article by John Ridpath on Contagious ]

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