Banking & Pinterest go together like Peanut-butter and Tuna Salad

Wait What?

 

Pinterest is one of the newest popular social media platforms. It’s just three years old and boasts 70 million users.  This fast-growing outlet is catching the attention of banks and has them wondering, “Should we start pinning?”

Pinterest is a collection of pin boards that people share with one another. It’s primarily an image-sharing tool. If your pin doesn’t have a great visual, it’s probably going to get overlooked. Most pinned images link back to a website. Any particular pin can get repined (someone “shares” your pin to be seen by others) or get a click-thru (someone clicks your image to see the original site the image came from). Clean, clear, and colorful images are most likely going to get you more attention, repins, and click-thrus. So if you’re going to jump on the Pinterest train, you’re going to have to get visual.

Corporate Insights, a user experience research firm based in New York, recently released seven ways that financial institutions can be successful on Pinterest.

1. Retirement – interactive marketing campaigns focused on visuals
2. Savings and Investment goals - sharing photos of goals
3. Credit Card Rewards – highlight credit card reward options (ex. Travel, merchandise, etc.)
4. Lifestyle – share photos from sponsored events
5. Corporate Mascots – feature proprietary imagery of mascot
6. Contests – rewards for liking or repining
7. Charitable giving – showcase philanthropic endeavors

Just like other social media platforms, brand recognition is sometimes hard to measure. Getting financial institutions successful on Pinterest is going to take some time, work and experimentation. We must keep in mind – it is possible.

sources:  http://www.corporateinsight.com/about-us/in-the-news/2003-banks-take-first-tentative-pinterest-steps.html

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/

Written by Codi Mast, Optimum Companies

A traveling billboard for you

Travel promotional products have the potential to be seen by thousands of people each year. These items are lugged through airports, carried on public transportation, and hauled through hotels every day. Utilizing this opportunity is a great way to promote products and increase brand visibility. 

A sturdy, attractive product will be associated with quality and durability. Products could vary from travel pillows, to raincoats, to suit bags. This is a perfect mass-media canvas to create recognition among your brand.

Travelers themselves often give off a sense of importance or confidence. If they’re carrying your promotional product, these qualities could transpire to you and your message

Think of these products of a billboard for the masses, always moving! 

 

Check out some of the travel products we offer!

Blood Cancer Awareness Month

September was named Blood Cancer Awareness month in 2010 by US Congress.

So this month we want to spread the word about leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myelodyspastic syndromes (MDS).
These are types of cancer that can affect bone marrow, blood cells, lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. They’re all related since each of them are likely a result from acquired changes to the DNA of a single stem cell.

According the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society:

• One person in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer approximately every 4 minutes
• An estimated combined total of 149,990 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma in 2013
• An estimated 1,129,813 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma?

Want to know more?

 

You can also check out the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society website to learn more or donate! 

No one likes a faker

Slowly but surely, community banks are jumping into the social media revolution. And the reasons why, just keep piling up.

It’s a great idea for banks to at least join the prominent platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter. Not only does this provide an official presence, but you’re reserving your bank’s name. Reserving your name prevents pranksters from impersonating your organization through fake profiles.

The Bank of America knows all about the trouble a fake profile can cause. Soon after Google Plus introduced its company brand pages, some prankster created a fake Bank of America profile.
Their headline? “We took your bailout money and your mortgage rates are going up.” The profile was complete with the Bank of America logo, link to their official website, and the address and phone number of its New York Headquarters.

The prankster, live for about a week, accumulated over 1,200 followers. “Big company party in foreclosed house #2340087 tonight,” read a post making fun of homeowners who couldn’t pay their mortgages. Another one said, “You will sit down and shut up, or we will foreclose on you,” to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Although the profile was eventually taken down, the damage had been done.The takeaway idea is even if you may not have the ability to manage numerous social media profiles at the moment, still create that official presence. It reserves your name for you – not for a prankster trying to be funny. 

sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/bank-of-america-google-plus_n_1096140.html

Written by Codi Mast
Optimum Companies