While most stand on the outside looking in, Susan Wenner Jackson, VP of content partnerships for the content marketing startup Ahalogy, has the opposite view, at least where it comes to Pinterest.
That’s because Ahalogy recently became one of the few companies lucky enough to be given access to the official Pinterest publishing API – which essentially makes pinning with Ahalogy the same as pinning through Pinterest itself – allowing the Cincinnati-based company a leg up over its competitors.
Now, the rest of us get a chance to glimpse behind the veil, as Jackson was kind enough to bring her unique perspective to this edition of the Manly Pinterest Tips Show.
Jackson offers us insights into Pinterest’s new smart feed, how Pinterest engagement benefits the visibility of your pins, and how we all can optimize our pins.
Susan’s road to Ahalogy started in academia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Miami University, and then went on to earn a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She went on to work as a journalist, copywriter and editor, social media consultant, and as a PR professional.
In 2006, Jackson co-founded the popular blog Working Moms Against Guilt, a site that explores the opinions and experiences of the working mother. She joined Ahalogy in May 2013, where she runs the Ahalogy Content Network, a content-creating partnership with writers, bloggers, designers, and photographers.
Susan also is a regular contributor to iBlog Magazine.
Here is a list of questions we discussed:
- How did you get involved with social media, and, more particularly, in Pinterest? (1:34)
- What was it that initially attracted you to Pinterest? (3:12)
- What exactly is Ahalogy? What are the kinds of services it offers? (4:15)
- Whom do you mean when you say “publishers?” (4:49)
- What is the ‘official’ Pinterest API and what does it mean to have access to it?
- What are some of the general changes that are coming to Pinterest? (7:18)
- Is the smart feed a game-changer for Pinterest? How big a deal is this change? (9:54)
- Do you think Pinterest is still tweaking the algorithm in regards to the smart feed?
- Is the ‘Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down’ feature on both the desktop and mobile versions of Pinterest? (13:06)
- Are there are certain types of pins (like rich pins) that smart feed likes more than others? (13:42)
- Considering how the smart feed algorithm rewards popular content, should bloggers and content creators make a stronger call to action to get followers to pin content? (16:42)
- Is Pinterest engagement measured by how much you actually are on Pinterest? (19:08)
- How can bloggers and other content creators optimize pins for interest-based search? (20:38)
- Do you have a specific length for pin descriptions? (23:10)
- Are there any thing else we can do to optimize pins? (24:44)
- Is it harder now for small businesses to get noticed on Pinterest? Is there anything they can do when they first start? (27:10)
- Use silly symbols and characters? (29:47)
- What are some mistakes you made on Pinterest when you first started? (30:12)
- What advice do you have for guys using Pinterest? (31:02)
Thanks For Watching And Listening!
I really appreciate you joining me for this week’s episode. Have questions or comments? Leave a message in the comment section below!
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If you’d like to learn more about a certain topic or have something you’d like me to talk about during the show, feel free to contact me.
Thanks to Susan for being such a great guest. See you for the next episode where we’ll be adding testosterone, one pin at a time!
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