pinterest - 24 fingers

Google seeks to seduce Pinterest devotees with new sharing app Keen

Scheenagh Harrington — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:03:14 +0000

God loves a tryer, so they say, and they don’t come much bigger than Google. It’s dominated the world of search so completely, it’s hard for any single company to even think about giving it a run for its money. But Pinterest is giving it a damn good try.

It’s evolved from its early incarnation of a pin-board site into a sophisticated, smart platform that has more than earned its e-commerce stripes, turning engaging and eye-catching content into shoppable products for discerning customers and bringing marketers flocking to its door.

Understandably, Google isn’t taking the competition lying down and has launched Keen, a web and Android app that offers users a “place to grow and share your interests with loved ones”, according to a blog post from its creator, CJ Adams.

“You say what you want to spend more time on, and then curate content from the web and people you trust to help make that happen,” Adams wrote. “You make a ‘keen’ which can be about any topic, whether it’s baking delicious bread at home (Ed’s note: sourdough, anyone?), getting into birding or researching typography. Keen lets you curate the content you love, share your collection with others and find new content based on what you have saved.”

If you’re thinking it sounds a LOT like Pinterest, we’d say you’d be right, but there is a little more clout to Keen. It draws on the might of Google Search and the latest in machine learning to identify content related to users’ interests – something that could potentially be very useful for marketers.

Keen isn’t the first crack Google has taken at Pinterest, in fact it’s been rolling out tools and features mimicking the platform for almost two years. Whether it’s genuinely hit on something this time around only time will tell, but we’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on this new kid on the social media block.

Are you a devoted Pinterest lover looking to hook up with more social media platforms? Drop us a line at 24 fingers and let us play Cupid.

The post Google seeks to seduce Pinterest devotees with new sharing app Keen first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Google seeks to seduce Pinterest devotees with new sharing app Keen appeared first on 24 fingers.

How social media changed fashion

Yvette Murrell — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 16:18:09 +0000

As #LFW is about to take over our lives, we take a look at how social media has changed the look of the fashion industry.

The rise of social media with the likes of models and designers has put high-fashion right in the palm of everyone’s hands. Instagram stories have been flooded with clips from bloggers, designers, photographers and models at NYFW, with no signs of changing pace as Fashion Week comes to London. And it’s not just the shows – it’s the behind the scenes, real-time access too.

The new generation of models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid have given their followers (Kendall has 65.6m followers and Gigi has 22.8m on Instagram alone) virtual backstage passes to the hottest fashion shows and photoshoots, in a way that we would have never seen a few years ago. Their selfies and Snapchats have given us a greater glimpse into the lives of supermodels, and have personally introduced us to many new designers, photographers, makeup artists who may have otherwise remained unknown outside the tight-knit fashion house world.

Live streaming has also made a huge impact on the fashion world. Burberry has led the way, and was one of the first major fashion houses to live-stream its catwalk shows online. Last year they also debuted their SS16 collection on Snapchat, before the official catwalk show.

And it works both ways. Recently, Desigual used Snapchat-inspired make-up on the catwalk. Others, including Topshop, have encouraged their followers to post user-generated content by uploading their own selfies wearing the designer’s clothing accompanied by specific hashtags. Allowing users to communicate with brands directly, and vice versa, means the brands can connect better with their target audience.

Other popular platforms, such as Pinterest, allow users to easily create their own fashion boards – which fashion designers can take advantage of with simple click-through steps to buy the items. Higher levels of engagement + growth in online sales = happy brands and happy consumers.

Social media is a power tool that is tailoring the future of the fashion industry, and one whose star is very much in the ascendance.

The post How social media changed fashion first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post How social media changed fashion appeared first on 24 fingers.

Which social media platform is right for my business?

Emma Goode — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 13:30:28 +0000

Today, it’s more important than ever to have a presence online, but which social media platform is right for you and your brand in a crowded marketplace? With so many to choose from, it can be a bit overwhelming when you’re starting out. But you don’t have to be on every single one – in fact spreading yourself too thin can be worse than have no social media presence at all.

Find what works best for your brand, and focus on quality content. It is far more important to be interesting and engaging online, than to churn out the same content over and over again using a one-size-fits-all approach. How much more effective to craft content that takes each social media platform’s unique strengths and makes the most of them. Gets a like from us.

Think about who your target audience are and what content they are seeking. Check out your competition to see where they devote their attention, and use our guide below to work out which social media platform is right for you.

Facebook

Active users: Over 2.7 billion active users per month

Most well-known/popular
A great starting point – business pages can be used like a mini-website with many functions
Powerful targeting options
Group functionality allows you to build communities
Sponsored/paid posts available to reach out to new audiences
Great for sharing links to websites or news articles
Wide demographic – huge range of users from your teen, your Millennial and your nan.

Instagram

Active users: over 1 billion with 500 million people actively using Instagram Stories

Visually driven – photos and videos
Continual development from the platform for small businesses’ use.
Most popular amongst those aged 18-35

Twitter

Active users: over 300 million users

Public – tweets can be easily found on search engines
Good to show off customer service
Very fast-paced – great to keep on top of current trends and be quick to reply
280 word character limit – short messages but good for sharing links
Most popular amongst those aged 18-49

Pinterest

Active users: over 250 million users per month

Visually driven – share images of products, recipes, how-to infographics etc.
Consists of boards with different themes to share images on
Most popular amongst females aged 20-40

Linkedin

Active users: over 260 million users per month

Great for building your professional network
Showcase your company’s values, mission and achievements
Get your product and services in front of your ideal buyers, either organically or through targeted options.

There are also many others including Snapchat as well as many more niche apps to try out. We recommend starting with just one and build up your online community on there – it’s much easier to build new followers on other sites once you have created a solid foundation and loyal following on one.

Of course, using a combination of these platforms give you variety and a wider reach. If that sounds a bit much for you, we can help with that too.

The post Which social media platform is right for my business? first appeared on 24 fingers.

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