Best Practices for Business

Transcription

1 Best Practices for Business

2 Start hearting Establish a deeper emotional connection with your audience through We Heart It. Our community connects to and discovers their world by hearting images they love. Discover, collect, and share inspiring images that express your brand s personality and connect with influential millennial tastemakers through your We Heart It canvas. Hearting what you love With the Heart Button, people heart images,.gifs, and videos from both the web and personal photo streams. Others re-heart the content, adding it to their own canvases our version of a personal profile. All content links back to the original hearter and source. Web Gathering what you love Mobile Collections By organizing their hearted content into larger thematic collections, our community expresses themselves through images on topics they care about. Collections are searchable, making it easy to find images for your favorite categories. Discovering what you love Through search and the all images feed, people constantly encounter new content for their canvases. They also follow specific collections, brands, and people, providing a rich source of content tailored to their interests. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 2

3 Your inspiring profile 1 Verified status Start with a trusted, verified account by logging in through Twitter. A check mark appears on verified accounts The basics Choose a username consistent with your username on other social media profiles. 1 Select an image, such as your logo, for your profile picture (432 x 432 pixels). Pair that with a beautiful cover image (1000 x 452 pixels). Check out how it looks both on the web and mobile. Add a fun, concise bio (under 90 characters) to set the tone for your canvas and link back to your website. The concert series, Life in Color uses an exciting, fun cover image that provides people with a strong vision of the brand promise Brand logo serves as brand avatar Direct link out to the brand s website Tight tag line for the brand s bio We Heart It verified account shown by check mark 1 If you have a trademarked brand name that s already taken as a username, let us know and we ll help. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 3

4 Mobile first Our mobile app offers creative ways to share your primary canvas page with your followers. On mobile devices, your avatar sits in the middle of your hearted images. You can select the background to include images from a specific collection, a collage of images from your latest hearted images, or a singular image from a collection with only one image. Follow and be followed Single image background Default multi-image canvas Follow people and collections that resonate with your brand. Following your superfans sparks a sense of recognition and can develop deeper brand affinity with them. Following people also lets them know about your presence on We Heart It and can spur reciprocal following. Check your notifications weekly to stay on top of your new followers and people who heart your images. Consider following the ones most active with your collections. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 4

5 Inspirations Find people to follow by browsing the Inspirations section, which is one way people discover specific types of content. Our Inspirations feature lets our brand partners find and connect with our community based on shared interests. Our community can customize their feeds based on inspirational categories like Art, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness, Food, Home, Music, Photography, Travel, Sports, and more. Add categories that inspire your brand to your canvas, too. Prep your canvas privately After creating your profile, if you d like to ensure your brand does not appear in search until you re ready to launch your canvas, please contact us and we can hide your canvas from our community while you build it out. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 5

6 Your curb appeal: collections Starting a collection Begin building your profile by uploading a handful of aesthetically beautiful images grouped by a fun topic or theme in a collection. Compelling collections contain at least eight images. Title collections creatively to showcase your brand s voice while telling a story. A great title can help people discover your content through search while getting a flavor for your brand s personality. Show off your brand s multifaceted personality with diverse collections covering an array of topics and themes. Include sneak peeks to unreleased content, timely images (such as holiday, milestone, or newsworthy themes), and editorial imagery. Our most successful brands connect with their audience on several levels. Publisher Simon & Schuster collects content it uploads along with user-generated content. Its collections reveal both parts of its business as well as its brand personality Add a collection description to explain the collection s content and provide context for it. The last three images you heart in a collection serve as the collection cover. Every image you add to a collection will also appear on your canvas. The most recent collections and images surface to the top of the feed. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 6

7 The heart Our hearters love emotive, aesthetically captivating content that inspires and uplifts. As you browse We Heart It, you ll notice a distinct look and feel to the images that perform well. Upload and heart expressive, high quality images with an artistic and inspirational focus. Including scenic backgrounds, casual and relatable models or people, and candids that are real and imperfect can help you earn more hearts from your followers. Check out the images uploading checklist at the end of this document for additional guidelines. Content that resonates Keep the quality of your posts high. Upload stand-alone images, rather than multiple images stitched together with a frame. Given our community primarily uses mobile devices to access We Heart It, larger, single images are easier to see. Vivid images featuring quotes, photography, lyrics, art, style, food, fashion, and nature all strike a positive chord with our community. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 7

8 Branded content and style Our community appreciates branded imagery with an artistic slant. Upload images similar to the ones users post. Vintage filters, bright colors, angles, close-ups, and quote overlays perform well. Images that are overly staged, include white backgrounds, or have models looking directly into the camera typically receive lower engagement. The images on this page are some of the top hearted images on We Heart It and demonstrate organic brand affinity. Check out the to search all-time most hearted content and tags We Heart It Best Practices for Business 8

9 Native feel Spend some time browsing We Heart It to develop a sense of the look and feel of usergenerated content. Strive to generate a similar aesthetic on your canvas. Brands that upload native content receive deeper engagement with our community. Adding creative that is nearly indistinguishable from native content enables brands to seamlessly integrate their presence within the community and build a deeper brand affinity. Check out the two sets of images below. Without deliberately mimicking any specific image, both Old Navy and Hollister Co. created imagery that engages our community while influencing their style and taste preferences. In the first set, Old Navy s creative team uploaded an ad with a striking resemblance to the type of content popular on our platform. Hearter image Old Navy image Hollister s creative team regularly uploads native content that naturally fits with the look and feel of user-generated content. Without specifically emulating the original, Hollister created a unit with a similar look to a hearter s image, which garnered more than 100,000 hearts. Hearter image Hollister image We Heart It Best Practices for Business 9

10 Complement with text Thoughtful, evergreen image captions showcase your brand s voice. Capture this opportunity since there are few text fields on the platform. When people share We Heart It on other platforms, like Twitter, the image description is what will appear. Consider adding a hashtag or your Twitter handle in the image description to make your hearted images easier to find on other social media platforms. For its Back to Campus campaign, Victoria s Secret Pink included brief descriptions, tags, and its Twitter handle on its images A fast-growing trend involves including a subtle, semi-transparent watermark on images to ensure people know who hearted the content. Given the widespread practice of overlaying text on images, a washed watermark provides an unobtrusive way to include your brand name. CBS Films What If used a heavier watermark on some of its images While images dominate our community, you can add.gifs and video from YouTube or Vimeo through our browser extension. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 10

11 Strategic posting Our hearters love new content. For every image you re-heart, upload three images of your own content to keep your canvas fresh. New uploads garner more engagement than re-hearts, because you re the original hearters and you get more prominent attribution for the image. Daily posting to your canvas increases the number of followers you ll have and the likelihood your images will make it to the all images feed, which is seen by our entire community. Content related to the seasons resonates with our community. Images of snow in winter or the beach in summer resonate well (summer countdown or sweater weather are powerful themes, for instance). Posts around forward-looking holidays like New Years often receive many hearts because our global community can relate to the promise of the future rather than US-specific celebrations like President s Day. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 11

12 Discovery Our community adds hundreds of millions of new images every month. Understanding how to elevate your images on feeds and through search is critical to sharing your brand s story. Verify your account As a verified user, you become the top hearter result in search, making it easier for people to follow your canvas and engage with your content. Relevant naming schema for your collections also makes it easier for people to find and follow your content. Tag, tag, tag for search Many people use search as their primary means of uncovering content, and search is based on tags. Tagging with descriptive words that explain an image serves as a solid start. Consider emotional and evocative words or brief phrases. Tag your company on any image that directly relates to you. Strong tags create more organic content discovery and increase engagement. Note that you do not need to use a hashtag symbol when tagging images. Hollister Co. uses its brand tag along simple, popular tags on most of its images to make it more likely its images turn up in organic search We Heart It Best Practices for Business 12

13 All images feed Everyone sees the continuously flowing all images feed. The feed brings the most immediately popular content on the site to the fore. A flurry of hearts on a recently uploaded image can help it turn up on the feed, exposing more people to the image. The all images feed Following feed Your collections and images will appear on the feed of the hearters who follow your brand. Depending on how many people and collections they re following, the tailored content in this section stays visible longer than content on the all images feed, which cycles through quickly. Acquiring both profile and collection-specific followers will ensure your followers see more of your content. Likewise, as you follow superfans and brand evangelists, you will be exposed to more user-generated content you can then highlight in your collections. The following feed Inspirations Inspirations are categories to facilitate the discovery of relevant content. People explore Inspirations on broader topics they care about, making it easier to find images to heart. When you tag content and add it to collections, the content is more likely to surface in these broader categories. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 13

14 Making the most of your hearts Cross-platform social media strategy alignment continues to be more and more critical to a unified brand and powerful digital marketing. To optimize the value We Heart It can deliver to your brand, fully integrate the Heart Button into your website design and other social platforms. The Heart Button makes it possible for our community to engage with the beautiful, inspiring imagery you add to We Heart It. Link your communities The Heart Button allows people to heart from your website in one easy click. Copy and paste just a few lines of code to put Heart Buttons next to images and content on your website. The more places you encourage people to heart your content and follow your We Heart It canvas, the more our community can continue to share and engage with your brand. This includes placing the Heart and Follow Buttons on your website and app, marketing, social channels, packaging and advertising. You can also embed your hearts, a collection, or an image on your website or blog with our widgets. Across your social media channels, referencing content on your We Heart It canvas can help jumpstart your following on the platform We Heart It Best Practices for Business 14

15 Specs & analytics Specs Double check your image specs to ensure your content will appear optimally on We Heart It. Profile picture 432 x 432 pixels Cover image 1000 x 452 pixels Image uploads to your canvas 300 x 250 pixels Analytics We re continuing to build out our analytics capabilities, so you can track the performance of your canvas and images and quantitatively demonstrate the rich engagement our community craves with brands. Until we roll out our analytics tools, you can contact us with inquiries and we ll do our best to get the data you need. We Heart It Best Practices for Business 15

16 Image uploading checklist Aesthetics Does the image have a similar look and feel to user-generated content? (see section on The Heart for more on this) Sizing Is the image 300 x 250 pixels for optimal viewing on both web and mobile? Description Is there a concise description and did you include your company s Twitter handle and relevant hashtags? Tags Did you include at least eight tags, including your brand and other popular tag phrases, prior to upload? Source link Does the image link back to your preferred source site? Using tracking links to measure clicks from individual images can make it easier for you to measure image performance. Added to a collection Is the image included in at least one collection? Mobile and web check Did you check out the image on both mobile and web to make sure it appears the way you want? We Heart It Best Practices for Business 16

17 for more information check out business.weheartit.com for success stories, our blog, advertising opportunities, and everything else you need to build your presence on We Heart It We Heart It Best Practices for Business 17