What's a Picture Worth? How Pinterest Is Reshaping Social Media Referrals

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AppId is over the quota

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of Pinterest, it's worth thousands of customer referrals.

Founded in March 2010, Pinterest has become the fastest-growing social media site on the web, gaining 145% more users since January 2012 alone. But more importantly it has become a referral powerhouse, surpassing Google+, StumbleUpon and Twitter in driving referral traffic to brands.

And you can be sure those referrals are high-value. Data collected by e-commerce platform Shopify found that not only are Pinterest users 10% more likely to buy than customers referred from other social networks, but are likely to spend double the amount per purchase.

So what's behind the "pinning" wildfire sweeping the web?

A recent study from ComScore found that there is a huge shift towards visual content as an influencer of consumer click through rates and social media sharing. And unlike other social media sites, Pinterest is all about visuals.

Pinterest is a textbook example of referral marketing at its finest. For one, it highlights the utility of visuals for generating social media buzz. With thousands of updates berating online shoppers, catching someone's eye with an appealing image can mean the difference between glossing over text and real engagement with your brand.

Pinterest is also highly effective at introducing new customers to brands, making it an excellent source for "top of the funnel" leads. The social network provides users tools to create online billboards (or "pinboards") where they can share images of products and group them into specific, targeted categories. It's a feature that helps companies better target the customers that are most likely to be engaged with their brand.

Because Pinterest leads users to discover a brand for the first time, it's not simply reinforcing previous purchasing decisions, allowing you greater influence over how you introduce them to your brand. Once you've got them engaged you're one step closer to building them into a powerful brand ambassador.

Pinterest also helps with building a more passionate advocate base that will pin your products and share them across the web. Like all social networks, Pinterest is a two-way street.Pinning other business' products to your own board will engage new brand advocates online by driving traffic to your pinboard and eventually your landing page.

So yes, time has shown that a picture is indeed worth a thousand referrals. That's definitely more helpful for an online business than a thousand words.

What have you been pinning? Let us know how your business is gaining traction through the power of images.

Want to start getting high-value customer referrals from Pinterest? Start supercharging your fan base today with Ambassador, the end-to-end social media referral solution. Visit our website at:

https://www.getambassador.com/

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2 Easy Ways To Get New Referrals For Your Site

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AppId is over the quota

If you're looking for an excellent way to get free traffic to your website, then you should consider the marketing technique of "referral marketing". This is something that offline service professionals use and implement in their business to attract a lot of new clients, but you should know that you can do the same thing for your internet business.

In today's lesson, I want to share with you some tips on how you can implement referral marketing in your online business, so that you can get more free traffic that converts very well when you sell to them. The more referrals you get on a daily basis, the more your website traffic will increase, and the more sales you will get as a result of it.

These strategies are easy to use and very effective, so I highly suggest that you start using them in your business today. They're incredibly simple, and once you have them set up, you will wonder to yourself, "Why didn't I think of this earlier?" Lol I'm kidding. Here's the first referral marketing technique that you can use in your online business.

1) Ask your prospects, subscribers, and customers

The fastest and easiest way to get more new referrals is to simply ask your closest assets for them. Many will in fact, and it works even better when you tie in a freebie with the referral. Promote something of value and offer it to your email lists. The best kind of free gifts that you can offer is information products.

"Information products" are simply products that deliver information. There are many forms of information products, but the most common are: CD's, DVD's, ebooks, books, reports, newsletters, and even membership sites. All of these kinds of free products can help you to get more new business in a short period of time. Here's another tip for getting more customers using referrals.

2) Send them a postcard in the mail

First of all, your customers will be surprised to see that you're taking an extra effort to build a relationship with them and communicate with them. So you'll get 2 thumbs up for this effort. And then when they see that you're offering something worth of value for free - just for referring someone to you, they will be more than happy to do so.

This technique is devastatingly effective. First of all your conversion rates will go up and more people will respond to the request as opposed to just sending them an email. And also, sending out a postcard is cheap! This should be good news for you if you're looking to market more effectively without spending a lot of money to do so.

Marketing your website online isn't hard, and referral marketing should definitely be something that you should implement as a part of your overall marketing strategy also. Using the 2 tips in today's lesson... you'll be well on your way to improving your sales and profits without spending a dime to do so.

Good luck with using these tips to get new referrals for your online business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Randall Magwood is one of the most respected and highly-regarded online marketing experts on the internet. He has a website about internet marketing that helps small business owners learn how to market their business online simply and easily. To learn more, simply visit his website here: Internet Marketing Secrets

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