The niche social network Pinterest is gaining popularity, and seems to be catching on quickly. If you are unaware, Pinterest.com is a virtual pin board, where you collect and admire images found all over the web. It’s like a bulletin board, only you are pinning up web images, on an online board. You can pin whatever images you want, and you can sort and organize your pin boards based on your interests.

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Are you on Twitter? (We are, follow us @mannixmarketing) If you’re not, I suggest you try it out. Many of you are probably rolling your eyes and asking yourself, “Why learn another social network?” or, “What can Twitter do that Facebook can’t?” In a nutshell, Twitter can easily connect you to industry experts, world news, and even your favorite celebrities, where Facebook connects you with people you know. There are some exceptions to this with the new subscribe feature on Facebook, but Twitter is still winning the game in this respect.  You don’t have to have a mutual relationship on Twitter, you just pick who you want updates from, and you can tweet to anybody.

Consumers use Twitter for many different reasons. Some tweet to their favorite celebrities, asking questions that may be answered by the celebrity, or anyone else that views the tweet (most tweets are public). Some tweet to their favorite sports radio show, hoping to get mentioned on the air, or get a retweet. Some don’t tweet at all, and just follow their favorite accounts looking for breaking news stories, or updates on Kim Kardashian’s latest marriage. Corporations use Twitter to announce new products and/or updates for old products. Marketers tweet about upcoming events, or promote new products and services to their followers. There are many ways to utilize Twitter, and everybody does it differently.

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I wanted to share a recent event that occurred with one of our clients on LakeGeorge.com, who was gracious enough to let us share his story with you! LakeGeorge.com, like so many other sites online today, allows users to post reviews. Every time someone posts a review, the client receives the review instantly so they can see what it says and react as they so choose…

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Attention ALL Clients that are advertising on Albany.com, Saratoga.com, LakeGeorge.com, GlensFallsRegion.com, Adirondack.net,  CliftonPark.com, GuideToWilliamsburg.com or our wedding sites: If you have not yet taken full advantage of your micro-site, now is the time!

The goal with your micro-site is to provide enough detail and calls to action that the site visitor (your potential customer) will be strongly compelled to call you, contact you, or visit your business – sometimes without even having to go to your website! Below, I have compiled my top 10 tips to maximizing your microsite. (more…)

Want to get more readers for your blog? Maybe you’ve just started a new blog, or maybe you have run out of steam on your current blog because you don’t have a large readership. Whatever the case may be, there are tried and true methods to gaining new readers for your blog, and they’re just waiting for you to give them a try. Here we have pulled together a few of the really good ones…

Have quality content with a clear focus

Choose a clear, specific focus for your blog. So instead of a general “cooking” blog… you may choose to do “organic cooking on the cheap” or “gourmet meals even your 5 year old will eat.” Whatever your topic, hone in on what your passion really is, and make that your blog focus. Then do it better than anyone else. It’s also key to step back and evaluate whether there are enough prospective readers in your chosen niche. It’s better to be brutally honest with yourself than to toil away and end up disappointed.

Become a guest blogger

Ask a related blog if you can contribute a post to their blog. Contributing content to someone else’s blog may seem crazy when it’s YOUR blog you want to boost readership for, but it’s a solid strategy to gain exposure for your own blog and build your subscriber base. Just make it very clear to the blog owner that you require a very brief byline at the end of the post, which includes a link back to your own blog. And make sure it’s original content, not something recycled off of your blog. This way, you are contributing meaningful content to their blog (win for them) while gaining exposure to their readers (win for you).

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