“Content curation and sharing startup, Pinterest recently took some heat for making money using Skimlinks to replace product links on the site with affiliate links that provide revenue directly to the company. Some critics are questioning whether this is a potential FTC violation, while others simply feel Pinterest should have been more forthcoming with its approach to monetizing the site. Pinterest has stopped using Skimlinks and added a section to their help page about making money. On reading the Pinterest Terms of Use, which few members have or they wouldn’t be sharing anything, it is pretty clear Pinterest intends to use content as they see fit.

By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploitsuch Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.

The above is the second sentence from the Member Content section (emphasis added by me) of the Pinterest Terms of Use. In layman’s terms, uploading a photo to Pinterest would give them the rights to sell t-shirts with your kid’s picture on them, use your likeness in advertising their site, and generally do whatever they please with anything posted to the site. Monetization of links certainly falls under the “otherwise exploit” verbiage.

Affiliates already market with Pinterest

Savvy affiliates are already using Pinterest as a way to generate revenue by pinning product images and linking to an affiliate offer or landing page. I’ve run across a few examples of Amazon affiliate links among my own friends on Pinterest, which is just the tip of the iceberg. From an affiliate perspective, Pinterest is no different than using any third-party site, like YouTube or a forum, as a means of generating revenue. I know from personal experience that YouTube can be an effective source of affiliate revenue, so I’m sure with some experimentation, Pinterest will be too.

How are affiliate managers dealing with Pinterest?

Keeping up with social sites and how affiliates are using them is not an enviable job. Affiliates often enthusiastically test new markets and beg for forgiveness rather than asking permission first. But should Pinterest be a point of concern for affiliate managers?

I already know of one affiliate program explicitly prohibiting the use of Pinterest. The Wayfair Affiliate Terms of Service start section 6 with the following, “Submitting affiliate links to social sharing sites such as Pinterest, Reddit.com, Digg.com, Twitter, StumbleUpon.com, and others is prohibited.”

Right now, it seems Pinterest raises more questions than answers for affiliate managers. Does an early move to prohibit the use of Pinterest signify anticipation of a potential marketing disaster? Could it be a preemptive measure to make sure affiliates aren’t competing directly with the company, much like prohibiting keywords from CPC campaigns would be?

If you are an affiliate manager, are you seeing significant traffic to offers via Pinterest? Does this traffic convert any better or worse than traffic from other traffic sources?

More to the point, does your affiliate program have a Pinterest policy? Why or why not?”

“If you are posting Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest you may be wasting your time. Pinterest is stripping the tag={YourAffiliateID} out of the link before passing the link on to Amazon.

Tricia Meyer first reported on Pinterest stripping Amazon affiliate tags last week, with confirmation by Affiliate Summit’s Shawn Collins.

You can see the link altering in action on this Pin from Shawn’s board.

Even if you are using short links to cloak the Amazon affiliate link, Pinterest will follow the link and strip the tag={YourAffiliateID} before it gets to Amazon.

Amazon Isn’t the Only Affiliate Program

Any affiliate worth her commission check knows Amazon isn’t the only game in town. As of this writing, virtually any other affiliate link I tested, from the affiliate networks like CJ and Linkshare, to in-house affiliate programs powered by HasOffers, all continue to work. Considering the thousands of affiliate programs out there, Pinterest must realize breaking links is a game of whac-a-mole it simply can’t win.

For affiliates, this leaves the door wide open to plenty of revenue opportunities, though be sure to read the fine print. As I pointed out back in February, some affiliate managers are putting Pinterest on their banned sites list. It may be safer to put the affiliate links on a site you own, with a link from Pinterest to the site.

But wait, Amazon Links Aren’t Completely Worthless… Yet

There is an Amazon linking method Pinterest hasn’t shut down just yet, though this article may be a catalyst. As of this writing, integrating the affiliate code in the Amazon URL, like one of the following methods below, will still result in a trackable link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470651733/{YourAffiliateID}/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470651733/{YourAffiliateID}

Since Pinterest seems to be pattern matching against ?tag={YourAffiliateID} and removing everything from the question mark on, eliminating either of these types of link codes will take more work. There are times when Amazon puts other data in the URL before their own product identifier.

Notice that code is very different than the code automatically generated using Amazon’s link building tools. You can verify you’ve made your link correctly using the Amazon affiliate link checker.

Note: If you test either of the links above, they should go to Geno Prussakov’s book, Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day.

Are you seeing affiliate traffic from Pinterest? Is it worth the time or will Pinterest eventually kill all the affiliate links?”

“Google recently released one of the biggest changes to its search engine in a decade.  With the input of only a few characters you will get personalized results based on content from Google+  profiles, posts, photos and business pages.

Google explains,  ”We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships.”

 

 

3 User Benefits From Google Search Plus Your World

1. Find People Online – when you start entering characters in a name you will begin to see Google+ results of  people matching your search. You will see results from Google+ profiles that match your search term.  If you’re signed in to your Google account you can easily add them to your circles from your search results or your can delete them and continue reviewing your search results.
2. Find Content from Your Connections - your Google search results will show content that people in your circles have shared or published.  Results also include personal content and photos that you shared or published.  These results are your personal results and are only seen in your results page.
3. Find Branded Content  - with the launch of Google+ pages for brands your search now includes content from those pages.  Results can be from the profile and/or the content the brand shares. Good news for brands because the user can immediately add the brand to their circles.  Brands jumping on Google+ will see increased traffic from Google if they properly optimize their profiles and posts.

“The Social Buzz Lab frequently conducts training and seminars on Social Media. We recently had our first gathering of the new year for our Meetup2.0 Group in Roanoke, VA.  John Lusher and I (add me to your circles) did a 45 minute training on how to get started with Google Plus. We started with the simple steps and ended the meeting with a hands-on live Hangout.

10 Simple Steps To Get Started With Google+

1. To set up a Google+ account you need a Google account (Gmail works). Once you login to your Google account you will see the +You (your first name) on the left top navigation.
2. Upload your profile photo. If you already have a Google profile your info will be automatically imported into your Google+ profile
3. Set your privacy and visibility. You can change the privacy settings on the left side of your profile to make this data public or private.
4. Create a meaningful profile and include your keywords. This will be displayed under your ABOUT tab.  First add your tagline and include a few important details or keywords.  Add your personal information to each area and includes a Bragging Rights section, Places You’ve Lived, Other Names, Nickname and Search Visibility options.  Be sure to include your interests and hobbies and ways people can contact you.
5. Include all of your social networking links including your business website and any special pages.
6. Begin adding people to your circles. Organize them in categories.  This is key to how you will use Google+. You can add people to more than one circle.  Look for shared circles that you can add the entire circle to your circles.
7. Start sharing content by +1 posts that others have shared.  You can click the +1 box on any post. Share other posts from your circles feed.  Share as you read blogs and news feeds.
8. Publish your content in a post.  You can include links, photos and videos in your post. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, a great feature of Google+ is that you can edit your post at anytime.  So if you make a mistake or need to make a change you can edit the post by simply clicking the arrow at the top right of the post and selecting edit.  Make your changes and save the edited post.
9. Add photos to your scrapbook stream. These 5 photos will show up on the top of your profile page. You can also upload videos.
10. Another cool feature is the Hangout, a video chat feature.  You can hang out with up to 10 people. To get started you click “Start a hangout” on the right sidebar. You may need to download the Google Voice plugin to get started. a video chat window opens. Check to make sure your mic and video settings are working.  You can invite others to join the hangout or you can hangout by clicking the button in a post. Once your hangout is live, your friends will see a prompt in their stream. Check out this list to locate a hangout!

Don’t be afraid to get started!  Check out Mashable’s Google+ The Complete Guide for detailed instructions on everything you need to know about Google Plus.  Another great resource regardingmarketing tips is from Social Media Examiner.

Once you’re all set up on Google+ consider adding  The Social Buzz Lab to your circles!  Share your experiences below in the comments. Tell us how you like Google Plus!”

“There’s no denying that there is a new kid on the social media block and her name is Pinterest and she is creating a big BUZZ.  Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board that originally appealed to mostly woman but has now been grasped by businesses and savvy marketers.  Similar to the new visual direction of Facebook’s timeline, Pinterest is also visual.

I am a huge fan of infographics, in fact, follow me on Pinterest to see my board on Fantastic Infographics.  There are some great infographics explaining the how’s and why’s of Pinterest.  Using some of the best visual examples I could find I will explain Pinterest.

1. What Is Pinterest?

Infographics Labs takes a look at what Pinterest is, who is using it, pin etiquette, Pinterest slang and a brief how-to. I love the tip about adding a price in the description to get a price banner on your image.!

Pinterest – The Social Media Darling Of 2012: Infographic by Infographiclabs

 2. Who Uses Pinterest?

Blacksburg based digital advertising agency, Modea created a fact based infographic that captures the user demographic. Their findings show some impressive data including 68.2 percent are female with nearly 30 percent pinners  having an income  over $100,000. Interestingly, users spend more time on Pinterest than they spend on Facebook or Twitter.

3. What Is The Power Of Pinterest?

Compiling data from numerous sources, Internet Marketing Inc. came up with a comprehensive “everything you need to know about Pinterest” guide for TechCrunch.  Impressive points worth mentioning are the fact that Pinterest is a leading referral traffic generation for retail brands and 80 percent of pins are repins. The number of Pinterest users to visit the site daily has gone up 145 percent since the beginning of 2012.

4. Should Your Business Be On Pinterest?

If you’re contemplating whether your business should enter the Pinterest scene this infographic byIntuit can help you decide by answering a few questions. Are you a product or service related business?  Are your products visually appealing and do you have the resources to create quality images and is your website accommodating? These are things to consider before a business should consider Pinterest. This is one of my favorite Pinterest infographics.

5. Why Is Pinterest Addictive?

Flowtown created this graphic with Column Five Media. Points taken are the secret weapon is with the simplistic design where the image takes center stage. Many pinners seek refuge from the drama on Facebook and Twitter and the fact that it is so accessible with the browser plugin.  WARNING:  Pinterest can become addictive!!

6. How Can You Make Your Images Stand Out?

Using some simple practices you can get your pins recognized and repinned. Mashable posted this awesome infographic by Pinnable Business that explains how to optimize your pins in 10 simple steps and 5 bonus tips. This is really good advice and if followed will increase your followers and pinners. Note that you can also pin videos as well as images.

7. How Do You Get More Pins And Repins?

Dan Zarrella, with Hubspot, gathered information on over 11,000 pinned images and did some analysis to create the infographic below.  Here you can see how important description length, certain keywords and size are to getting repins. A surprising take away for me was that taller images are more repinnable.

8. What Works Best?

Founders of a new tool and dashboard, Pinerly compiled some statistics on what time to pin and what types of pins are most effective.  Calls to action in the description produces 80% increase in engagement.

9. Need A Marketing Strategy?

It’s all about marketing and here is a great graphic by Maria Peagler, founder of SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com.  Here are 64 cool ideas to help you market your products andservices on Pinterest. Let’s get started!!  What are you waiting for?

“

Almost every company we work with is interested in running cohort analysis on their data. This comes as no surprise to us because cohort analysis is an extremely powerful tool with many potential applications.

Many companies understand that cohort analysis can be a valuable tool, but they ask an important, fundamental question:

How can I use cohort analysis to improve my business today?

Here, we step through an example of how a fictional company uses cohort analysis to make smarter business decisions. This example was compiled based on observations of how real companies are using the cohort analysis functionality in our online dashboards.

A Cohort Analysis Example

Let’s use our Vandelay Industries demo data set. There are a few important things to know about this business.

• Ecommerce site
• Actively spending on acquiring new users
• Some users buy immediately upon signing up, others only after a while, and others not at all
• Cost per acquisition for paid search is $80
• All-in acquisition cost (including discounts and revenue splits) is $60 for a group buying site

Based on this information alone, it makes sense to double down on group buying, because it has a significantly lower cost. The missing information is what these users do after they are acquired. That’s where the cohort analysis comes in.

Below, we have two weekly cohort analysis charts. One is for customers acquired through paid search, and the other is for a group buying site. The average incremental revenue from customers acquired through group buying sites is significantly smaller than other customers. Once the data is presented in this way, it’s easy to see that our strategy of focusing on group buying rather than paid search is shortsighted.

Three months in, users acquired from paid search generate $140 and group buying generate $75, almost 50% less.

• Paid search 3 month net revenue per user is $140 – $80 = $60
• Group buying 3 month net revenue per user is $75 – $60 = $15

We could look at the data for different cohort time periods, or in different segments, but the underlying message is the same. Without the benefit of cohort analysis, the folks at Vandelay would be acquiring drastically less profitable customers.

For a real life example of how one of our customers uses this analysis to make smarter customer acquisition decisions, see the Jackthreads case study.

You can also test drive the Vandelay Industries demo to run this analysis yourself, or start your free trial of RJMetrics to run cohort anlayses on your business’s data.

“Last month, we released an in-depth report on Pinterest user behavior.  The general theme among our many findings was that Pinterest users are deeply engaged and remain highly active over time.

This led many people to ask a logical follow-up question: what exactly is everyone pinning about?  With about a million pins still sitting in an RJMetrics hosted data warehouse from our previous report, we decided to answer that question.

Our full report is below, but here are some of our key findings:

• The all-time most popular pinboard categories are Home (17.2%), Arts and Crafts (12.4%), Style/Fashion (11.7%), and Food (10.5%).
• Good news for e-commerce players looking to cash in on Pinterest: Products I Love is the third most popular pinboard name, and pins that exist on pinboards about Products are the most likely to be liked by other users.
• Food is the fastest-growing pinboard category.  Food is also the most likely category to be repinned, on average generating over 50% more re-pins than the next most repinned category, Style and Fashion.

How We Did It

We sampled just under one million pins from pinterest.com by browsing Pin ID Numbers and usernames from the general population.  These pins were from about 9,200 unique users and were stored across pinboards with about 15,000 unique names.

We mapped pinboard names to content categories by identifying the most commonly used words and phrases and mapping those to specific content categories.  This allowed us to categorize the vast majority of the pinboards we identified into a handful of distinct categories.

As always, RJMetrics was our secret sauce.  We conducted the analysis for this article with just a few clicks from our RJMetrics online dashboards.

Most Popular Board Names

Most pinboard names are used by many different users throughout Pinterest.  In fact, some board names represent as much as 3% of the total pinboard population.  The 10 most common board names, along with the percent of boards they represent, are listed below:

• For the Home (3.15%)
• My Style (1.97%)
• Products I Love (1.86%)
• Books Worth Reading (1.68%)
• Food (1.23%)
• Favorite Places & Spaces (1.00%)
• Recipes (0.75%)
• Craft Ideas (0.74%)
• Christmas (0.72%)
• Crafts (0.65%)

Those who are excited about Pinterest’s use as a product recommendation engine will be happy to see Products I Love as the third most popular board name, representing about 1.9% of pinboards.

Most Popular Board Categories

In addition to the popular names listed above, there are thousands upon thousands of additional unique board names in our sample.  By isolating key words and phrases, we were able to bucket about 85% of the pinboards from our sample into categories.

The top 10 most popular categories are listed below:

• Home (17.2%)
• Arts and Crafts (12.4%)
• Style/Fashion (11.7%)
• Food (10.5%)
• Inspiration/Education (9.0%)
• Holidays/Seasonal (3.9%)
• Humor (2.1%)
• Products (2.1%)
• Travel (1.9%)
• Kids (1.8%)

Note that over 60% of pinboards fall into the top 5 categories.

Emerging Trends: Food Trumps Fashion

If we look at these top categories over time, by and large it appears as though their relative percentages are holding steady.

As you might expect, the only line showing some degree of seasonality is the one related to holidays and seasonal content.

As a next step, however, we isolated the two categories that had shown the biggest changes in market share over the past 12 months and uncovered something interesting:

In the early days of Pinterest, Style and Fashion represented twice as many pinboards as Food.  However, in recent months, Food has gained more ground than any other category, and has actually become more popular than Style and Fashion among new pinboards created.

This could be a reflection of Pinterest’s increasing popularity in the mainstream, as Food is a far more populist topic than fashion.  As one of Pinterest’s newer (and less trendy) members, I confess that I’d be more likely to pin about cake than couture.

Most Viral Categories

We looked at the average number of repins and likes for the pins across the different content categories we identified.

Check out the average repins by category below:

Hands down, Food was the most likely category to be repinned.  This could explain its increasing share of the category landscape.  Style and Fashion is a distant second, and Holidays/Seasonal was the least likely category to be repinned.

Interestingly, the most liked categories were NOT the same as the most repinned.  Check out the average number of likes per pin by category:

Here we see that Products is actually the most likely category to be liked.  This is surprising, particularly given that Products sat in the middle of the pack when it came to repins.

Humor is a similar story, ranking second most liked but not standing out based on repin frequency.

Conclusion

With Pinterest continuing to explode in size, it will be exciting to see how broader adoption shapes the voice of its community.

Pins about the home, arts and crafts and inspiration continue to dominate the content landscape, but the growing popularity of more broadly-accessible topics like Food and Product Recommendations could indicate that Pinterest is heading toward a more mainstream and commercialized future.”

With an international team spread across the world; Hong Kong to Taipei to Germany to New York to Toronto, we understand affiliate program management on both a local & international level.