Approximately 70% of brand engagement on Pinterest is generated by users, according to a recent study by Digitas and Curalate.

However, companies in the fashion retail and automotive industries aren’t capitalizing on Pinterest’s engagement. According to Digitas, the lack of brands using Pinterest leaves a gap in overall marketing strategies.

“Brands need to go forth and pin,” said senior vice president of social, mobile, and content lead at Digitas Jordan Bitterman. “This study reveals the opportunity for brands to drive the conversation on visual platforms like Pinterest. By leveraging rich consumer insight, brands can take the guesswork out of their visual content strategy, and share the types of images their audience wants to see.” Read more…

More about User Generated, Branding, Ugc,

The competition to become the top smartphone brand is definitely cutthroat, and it’s one that Nokia has dominated for the past 14 years. It looks like that’ll all change soon, with Samsung poised to take that first place spot from Nokia to become the top smartphone brand in 2012. That’s according to a new IHS iSuppli report, which claims that Samsung will account for 29% of all smartphone shipments by the end of the year.

Last year, Samsung only managed to take 24% market share for itself, which couldn’t beat Nokia’s 30% market share. This year the tables have turned, with Nokia projected to drop down to 24% and pave the way for Samsung to take the crown. Apple is projected to hold steady at third, gaining three percentage points to settle at 10% market share for the year.

That means Sam...

Your Digital Brand is the recognition of your business in the online world. Branding is much more than logos and color palettes. It is everything that your business stands for.  Use digital branding to reach your potential customers.

Your digital brand should do 3 things. It should create recognition, loyalty and trust. To do this you need build your brand personality and connect with your likely customers. Use branding to cut through the marketing noise and reach people at an emotional level. Your brand needs to offer the opportunity to connect and interact.

Build Your Digital Brand

1.  Know your audience. Understand customer’s digital needs and behaviors. This means their demographics such as sex, age, income, etc...

Posted by dohertyjf

Companies want to grow. Obvious statement, right? This is the reason why we all have jobs as marketers; companies need to grow and they need people who understand how to do that.

I have a startup client who uses this as one of their mantras:

I think it's true. Today I want to talk about how small businesses and startups can grow their brand company through smart marketing even when they don't have a huge budget.

Let me also say that I have stopped telling companies "Oh sure, we'll get you ranking for (insert keyword here)," because that's a small-minded approach to marketing and growing a company (especially a startup). I now tell startups to focus on growing their branded traffic, because that is ultimately how you get links, mindshare, and win online...