Pinterest is the latest and greatest Internet obsession that has everyone talking. It’s one of those things that I wish I had thought of. It makes perfect sense, especially to those who are highly visual learners, like me!

If you’re not familiar with it, I find that the best way to explain it is as a visual bookmarking site. It’s the online version of tearing recipe, hairstyle, outfit, and decorating ideas out of a magazine and pinning them to a corkboard or sticking them to the refrigerator with a magnet. Except instead of adding clutter to your walls and appliances, you can make as many virtual boards as you want to accommodate all the fabulous stuff you find on the Internet.

The most common thing I hear people saying about Pinterest is how easily you can get sucked in and “waste” time looking at all the pretty, inspiring, amazing, funny things that people pin to their boards. But it’s also a fun way to pass some time when you’re burnt out on other online activities. One2One Network member, Justice Fergie, says in her MomCrunch article about Pinterest, “Whenever I need to unwind at the end of the evening or am looking for something mindless to do that uplifts the spirits and entertains, I find myself turning to Pinterest.”

Did you know Pinterest can also be a valuable tool for bloggers? I often use it to research ideas for my One2One Network and Blissfully Domestic articles. This is a board I started for a Fourth of July article:

Bloggers can also see what articles of theirs have been pinned on Pinterest. This tip from Alli Worthington will help you see which of your posts are popular with readers and “pinners”!

Use the following URL set up to do it: http://pinterest.com/source/blissfullydomestic.com/  - will show you all the pins from Blissfully Domestic. Now I can find other fans of the website and readers who are enjoying the content from the site. I can also see at a glance which articles are popular with the Pinterest crowd and how they are responding. Replace the /source/blissfullydomestic.com part with your our url to see what’s being pinned from your site, and who is pinning it in what topic areas.

You can also increase traffic to your site by pinning your own articles on Pinterest. When you work hard on a post that includes photos showing steps in a recipe or a DIY project, you have created a very pin-worthy post! When you write a post about how you found a creative way to store Legos or spices or how made over your laundry room, don’t hesitate to share it on Pinterest just like you would share it on Twitter or Facebook. Just remember that your post must include images (your own or properly credited ones) in order to be pinned.

Example of Pinterest referrals to a blog

I hope this gives you some food for thought about how Pinterest can be a useful tool for you and not just a dizzying trip into Wonderland! Now, let’s have some fun. Are you on Pinterest? If so, link your profile here so that we can all follow each others boards! If you’re not on Pinterest, you need an invite to join. I can definitely help you with that. Just leave a comment requesting an invite and the email address where you’d like the invite to be sent.

Tell us, what is your favorite thing about being on Pinterest?

Pinterest definition & happy place graphics found on Kristi Quill’s “Pinteresting” pin board.

Word of mouth is so much a part of our everyday lives that we don’t always stop to think about how we are affected by it. The landscape of social media is covered with word of mouth marketing, some of it organic (when you simply rave about a product or company that you love just because you love it), some of it sponsored (when you share information about a product or brand because you got something in return for it), and some of it orchestrated (when you share that YouTube clip or funny picture that has already become or will soon be “viral”).

Last weekend, my husband asked me if I knew anything about Super 8 and would I like to go see it? My reply was, “I have no idea what it’s about but I know it’s good!” You know how I knew that, right? Word of mouth. I had seen many, many tweets and Facebook status updates in the previous twenty-fours about this new movie from J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. It turns out, the marketers behind Super 8 pretty much expected that to happen:

Super 8 is expected to bow at between $25-30 million. This is an original, not a sequel, and for a reported $50-million summer movie with no stars, that’s just fine. And for all those who believe that the film cost closer to $95 million, Paramount should be able to skate by with that bow. Why? As their Twitter sneaks attest, the studio is confident that the movie will play once moviegoers start spreading good word-of-mouth, especially in summer when midweek business is strong.

They were right. The buzz around Super 8 has been loud. And yes, if you’re looking for a great summer flick, I highly recommend Super 8! (It’s a well-deserved PG-13, so keep the younger kids at home.)

And speaking of buzz, I think entities like Ripley’s Believe It or Not and circus freak tents were the founding fathers of the Internet hoax. We are easily fooled on the Internet and have seemingly forgotten the old adage of, “if it’s too good (or too weird) to be true, then it’s probably not true (or real)”. And while it’s quite true that people out there do some really bizarre things, when it comes to viral images on the Internet, everything needs to be taken with a healthy does of skepticism, otherwise, we’ll keep getting hoaxes, albeit benign ones, like the Facebook Tattoo Video.

ReelSEO Editor-in-Chief, Jeremy Scott explains why the hoax worked, “Viral hoax videos work best when they are squarely on the line between being incredible and being hard to believe. On the one hand, most viewers were critical of the girl, having a hard time understanding why anyone would get such a silly tattoo–and such a big one, covering the entire arm. On the other hand, the clip is completely believable, because honestly… people tattoo unthinkably weird crap on their bodies every day.”

When it comes to word-of-mouth marketing, I like nothing better than seeing people supporting each other in their ventures. It’s my favorite thing about working for One2One Network. The O2O team is incredibly supportive and loyal to relationships fostered over the years. And when our friends succeed, we love to cheer them on and spread the word the best that we can. That why when I saw this article about a fairly new website called HelloGiggles, I just had to grin. Not just because it’s a fun name but because it’s success has largely come from friends supporting each other and spreading the word about it through social media outlets.

Deschanel, Rossi, and McAleer are all big on the social networking scene with plenty of followers but moreover, all three have naturally likeable personalities. At one point or another, the modern young woman has wished she had one of them as her college roommate or coworker in the next cubicle over. As spokeswomen for their own brand, the threesome sold it better than any high-profile advertising or marketing campaign ever could. With only a handful of printed interviews and a giggly when your cursor brushes over it avatar of the trio’s bobbling heads, HelloGiggles created the buzz solely online and kept it going long after the launch of the site.

These examples speak to the fact that word of mouth marketing isn’t just about writing a blog post about a new kind of cookie, as much as we love cookies! When we are touched by something, whether it’s being blown away by great cinematography, beguiled by stranger than fiction or drawn in by really good content, word of mouth is our best and most powerful way sharing a part of ourselves with those around us, on and off the Internet.

photos from iCLIPART

A couple of weeks ago, I had the delightful opportunity to speak with Kaira Rouda over the phone and ask her some questions about social media, being an author and philanthropy. Kaira is the author of the new novel, Here, Home, Hope. One2One Network members are currently reading and reviewing Kaira’s book on their blogs and we’re excited to read what they have to say about it. Kaira lives in Malibu, CA with her husband and four kids. Her first book, released in 2008, is Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs and Here, Home, Hope is her first published novel.

I’ve been looking over your Facebook page & Twitter feed. You do a really great job of keeping them current and responding to fans. How has social media helped you in your professional life? In your personal life? With your teens?

Social media had been critical to everything that I do. Long before I started writing fiction I found out that the power of connections is just unstoppable.  And when I wrote my first book, which is for women entrepreneurs, it was right on the dawn of when women started harnessing the power of the internet, using it both for business and personal life. That’s when the playing field started leveling and you could get your message across but keep in touch with everyone you care about. I’ve made it a part of my life. And I *love* Twitter, I’m not really sure why, and people would make fun of me but it’s just been amazing.

One of the tenants of my first book was that you need to be able to describe yourself in a word and it’s interesting because it was right around the time Twitter was starting. So if you think about it when you can summarize who you are and what you believe in, in as short a way as possible, you can get your message across and Twitter feeds right into that whole notion.

What about your kids? Are they involved in social media?

My middle son is going to be publishing an book in August, too. He’s starting to learn about Twitter, to establish himself on there. They all, of course, are huge users of Facebook and our rule as a family is that we’re all friends with each. I don’t stalk them but we’re on friends on Facebook. It’s a way that we can all connect. My oldest is in college and he’s quite adept at using Facebook to update everything he’s into. He has a class about using Twitter, so he’s out there getting on social media as well.

I also see you have a blog on your website, have you had other blogs?

I’ve been blogging for a really long time. Since I’m a writer at heart, even when I was working in business, I’ve always felt like writing was the cornerstone of everything. My last career I was president of Real Living, a residential real estate company, and real estate was an early adopter of blogging and the power of blogging. I didn’t use blogging as much to promote myself and business until I released my first book in 2008. And I’ve been blogging pretty steadily since then.

You’ve said that writing a novel has been a long time dream of yours. When did the idea for Here, Home, Hope come to you? When did you know it would be more than just an idea, that it would be a full fledged novel?

It’s been a dream to publish a novel since I think fourth grade. This particular novel takes place in the setting where I also have a few other finished manuscripts. It’s a fictive town of Grandville, a suburban setting, a lot like where I was raised and my kids were raised. I think for me, the setting is something that feeds the story but it’s also the basis for the story.

The book came to life when I was sitting in a dentist office (like the opening scene of the book). It’s the notion that if you’re blessed (socio-economically and otherwise) and you live in the suburbs…because of that lifestyle that the characters live they can feel restless and have the opportunity to consider their life and think about what’s next. And then Kelly started coming to life as a character, and to me when stories start coming to life, they keep going. It’s fun, the title will pop into my head and maybe a scene or character and then the story just takes off from there. I’d say it was about 3 years ago that this book came into my head.

You have been involved in helping support and encourage many different charities. Now that you’ve moved to Southern California, are you working with any local organizations?

The first activities that I’ve been involved in started in the kids’ schools because moving and getting them resettled that was where my focus was . I’m part of something called the Shark Fund which is a charity that helps support and fill in the gaps where the public school system has had funding cuts. And volunteering in the kids’ schools.

Just recently, I got tied in with an organization called the Human Rights Watch for my book launch party. They’re a part of Women’s Rights division. I’ve always been a firm proponent of women’s rights. It’s [women's rights] part of what I’ve done with the homeless shelter [in Ohio] and in trying to keep women in the center of what I hope to touch and reach and empower. I’ve had the opportunity to learn about them and the amazing work they do all over the world.

There’s a wonderful teen center in Malibu, the Boys and Girls club, part of the global organization. And Melanie, in the story [Here, Home, Hope], is a perfect example. We have this opportunity with our young women to support them and help them and that’s what this Boys and Girls club does. A young women, who was helped by the club here [in Malibu], is the Teen of the Year in the state of California. It’s just so amazing  what can happen because she had such positive role models at the club. They helped her fully find her voice and her life.

So I tend to focus on organizations that support women and girls. Those two are the ones I’m involved in right now.

Is it a family thing? Are your kids and husband involved?

Yeah absolutely! I think that if you raise your kids that that’s part of what you do, that you give back and it’s an honor to that and blessing to be able to help others then it’s just what’s expected. They’re always a part of whatever I’m doing and I love that we’re together in that.

What kind of books do you read?

I read so much, I’m a voracious reader. I love to read. If you looked around my messy office at the moment, you’d see stacks of books every where. I tend to read, I guess what would be considered women’s fiction, the most and that’s the genre that I write in. I guess you write what you know. I was an English major, so I’ll pop open a classic too.  My kids, now that they’re in high school, I look at they’re reading lists. I’ve always been a huge fan of The Great Gatsby, so every time one of my kids is assigned it to read and they roll their eyes about it, I get to read it again. That’s fun. And when they love a book, too, that’s so cool.

The coolest thing about this journey so far has been, if you look at the back of the book [Here, Home, Hope], you can tell the support from these established women’s fiction authors who agreed to read the advance reader copy and endorse it.  Which to me was such a kind and generous thing to do for a first time novelist with a small publisher. These amazing women with these amazing careers in fiction. It has been such an example of when women support each other. It’s been so amazing. And when they would write back or call and say “I’d love to endorse your book”, you wouldn’t believe, I would sit here bawling. I couldn’t believe that these women that I respect and have been fans of for so long would actually do that.

Thanks so much to Kaira for taking the time to speak with me! Here, Home, Home is available for purchase in stores and online. Kaira is currently traveling around the country on a book tour, find out if she will be near you!

One year ago, BP faced it’s worse PR nightmare ever. The explosion of an oil rig and subsequent leaking of oil in the Gulf of Mexico left the company scrambling to not only save the environment but save face as well. The company made PR mistake after mistake in the days following the disaster but when they did finally grab the reigns and really took control they were able to deftly utilize a powerful tool, social media. As I listened to a story about BP and their PR blunders, one part stood out to me,

“During the peak of the crisis, tens of thousands of people were following BP on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Marino says people’s rage toward the company came through loud and clear.

‘We let people vent their anger and their frustration on Facebook or in response to any of the tweets that we put up there,’ says Marino, … ’I think the best thing that social media did was to give people that outlet and allow people to feel that BP was hearing them, which they were.’“

I found myself vigorously nodding as I listened to the radio program. That has got to be the best summation that I have heard as to of why social media has gained such ground over the years. We all just want to be heard. And we want to know that someone is listening.

And while it’s true that anyone can get on Twitter or Facebook and proclaim to the Internet their feelings about everything from politics to music to sports to what kind of washing machine is best (or worst); I feel that bloggers, especially those of us who have ever accepted product from a company and shared our thoughts about it on our blogs, have a slightly different responsibility when it comes to being heard. I don’t just say this because I speak to you now as a representative of a company that works with brands to put product in your hands for review. I found this to be a common sense ethic the very first time I was sent a product and asked to give my opinion on it. If I wanted to continue being approached to do reviews and spread the word about products, I needed to behave myself and tone down the criticism. Someone is always listening on the Internet.

However, I don’t think this means that we must be social media doormats and only tweet benign statements like, “blue is my favorite color but if it’s not yours that’s totally cool too”! As bloggers, we have proved that we have powerful voices, ones that bring about change, that rally aid and spread valuable information and content. Some of the most inspiring events that I have witnessed over the past few years have happened online. We know that we are being heard.

As bloggers, many of us find ourselves in contact with PR firms, sometimes on a daily basis. And one of the biggest complaints of bloggers is that PR doesn’t seem to listen. I offer this suggestion to you: become the PR firm of your brand, your site, your online presence. Take a page from BP’s book, learn from their mistakes. No, you’re not a multi-billion corporation, but you do have value. Think before you tweet, Facebook, blog or vlog. Then turn the tables and be the one who listens instead of always trying to be heard.

You are your own brand, how are you representing yourself?

This is an Op-Ed article by O2O Community Manager and Blog Editor, Malia Carden. The opinions expressed are her own.

Images from Microsoft ClipArt Online.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was perusing our Twitter stream, I saw this tweet:

Word-of-mouth conversations happen all the time, whether it’s sponsored by a brand or simply friends sharing their latest and greatest finds. And while social media has been a wonderful tool to enhance this very old practice, it is true that most word-of-mouth type conversations still happen offline, even as much as 90%. [source]

Why then does social media and online marketing get so much attention when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing? For those that do spend a lot of time online, the Internet is where they often go first to get information about potential purchases, everything from cars to electronics to music to restaurants. It’s been shown that “90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users.” (Econsultancy, July 2009)

That’s where the community aspect of blogging becomes very tangible. When you have formed relationships with your readers, you end up in the category of “people they know” and they’re more likely to trust what you have to say about that product or service. A survey from Manage Smarter (Sept 2009) says, “Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place.”

Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases, according to ZenithOptimedia. (AdAge, April, 2008)

Over the past several years, the way information is spread via word-of-mouth has significantly changed. You may remember your mom and next door neighbor trading tips on which food brands were best or dad and his buddies regaling the finer points and downfalls of automobile makers. That information was retained until the next time came to make purchases.

The average consumer mentions specific brands 60 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)

Nowadays, if you’re curious about the difference between brands of spaghetti sauce or what quirks to expect from a certain kind of car, you still ask friends and family AND you look to the Internet. New media has a very big role when it comes to online word-of-mouth with impressive ROI results, “53% of people on Twitter recommend companies and/or products in their tweets, with 48% of them delivering on their intention to buy the product.” (ROI Research for Performance, June 2010) and “Facebook, blogs, Twitter and customer reviews are considered the most effective tactics for mobilizing consumers to talk up products online.” (Etailing survey of 117 companies, September 2009)

Members of One2One Network are the movers and shakers of the online word-of-mouth movement. They are Internet savvy, effective communicators and have a knack for creating community. We hope you all know how valuable your contributions are to the projects we bring to you!

Quoted statistics are from Bazaarvoice, unless otherwise linked. Images from iCLIPART.