loop88

We create experiences for the visual web

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Introducing Instant from loop88

For the past 3+ years – starting as Pinbooster and then as loop88 – we have worked with brands and agencies (public relations, advertising and digital) of all sizes. Through that time, we’ve learned what is and is not working for our clients, and help them work on Pinterest to be a success.

(pin by Paula Coop McCrory for Unsimply Stitched)

And on the other side of the equation, we continue to build up our loop88 network of influencers to connect the right people with the right networks with brands, and create, manage and promote the best of the creators.

With this experience, knowledge and network, loop88 is launching Instant today. What we have heard is that Pinterest is a more difficult site to start with, and launch. While we all know the great value Pinterest has for brands, it is a different way of thinking and operating in social media. Instant is here to help brands and agencies test Pinterest and find the right mix for social media marketing plans.

Instant is similar to a test campaign. As brands and agencies want to see what Pinterest is able to do for campaigns, Instant sets them up with an influencer who creates content for them for a one-month trial, and then loop88 tracks the data and creates a reach report. loop88 chooses the most compatible influencer – with the right, germane following – that will help spread the marketing messages in an authentic, creative way.

Instant is also perfect for the smaller brands and agencies -  we understand that budgets come in all shapes and sizes, and that smaller brands and agencies want to be on Pinterest as well but might not have the budgets. Instant brings Pinterest to them, hooking them up with the appropriate influencer and getting the value of a campaign in a short spurt with the value of evergreen content on Pinterest.

We’re excited about Instant, and how it will help our community grow and do more, as well as helping brands and agencies get to know Pinterest better and work smarter on the site.

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Have you met Stacie Vaughan of Simply Stacie? She’s one of our fantastic loop88 influencers, here to answer a few of our questions. We love her Pinterest profile and we think you will too! Give her a follow, repin some of her pins, and help all of us grow into a big, supportive community!

loop88: How long have you been on Pinterest?

Stacie Vaughan: I knew I'd been on Pinterest for a few years at least. I searched my email and found my welcome email from Pinterest. I joined June 7, 2011!

l88: How do you use Pinterest?

SV: Pinterest is my obsession! I use it daily to promote my blog posts. I schedule my pins via Ahalogy. I also love to pin my fellow bloggers’ content. I schedule 10 of my own pins and 13 of other bloggers' pins every day. I also pin randomly throughout the day when I come across a post I love and want to save to my boards. 

Another interesting thing I'm noticing is that I'm using Pinterest for search more than I use Google! I love the visual layout of Pinterest and how easy it is to find what I'm looking for quickly.

l88: What is the one thing people are surprised about when they meet you?

SV: People always tell me that they are surprised how down to earth I am. I guess that's a good thing!

l88: How long have you been part of loop88? What's your favorite part of loop88?

SV: I joined in 2012 when it was called Pinbooster! I love how easy it is to work with the loop88 team. They are very responsive, friendly and have a knack for making the campaigns fun. The recent campaigns that I did with loop88 were some of my favourite campaigns ever. I really enjoyed creating organizing projects for Brother and whipping up delicious one-pot meals for Ragu. Hanna from the loop88 team is a gem! [Awww, Stacie! Right back at you! -Hanna]

l88: Which of your boards should the loop88 community follow?

SV: Of course, I'm going to say Stacie's Kitchen since that's the board where I pin all my recipes! I also recommend Pasta Salad , Slow Cooker and Cleaning and Household Hacks.

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loop88′s Amy is in Calgary right now - wide open roads!

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loop88 and Buy It Pins

With the launch of Buyable Pins from Pinterest, retailers and companies can do more with advertising on Pinterest beyond Rich Pins. When a potential customer sees a product on Pinterest, there can now be a blue “Buy It” button next to the red “Pin It” - commerce comes to Pinterest, already one of the leading sites for purchasing.

And loop88 is here for you, to help you get on-board with Buy It pins with programs that are tailored for your audience and influencers. Read more about the Buy It feature on the Pinterest blog - https://about.pinterest.com/en/buy-it - but also make sure to contact us to launch your Buy It program!

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Guest creator Gabriel Li for Brother P-touch

When Brother invited photographer, art director, and Pinterest influencer Gabriel Li to create new projects using their popular P-touch label maker, they knew they’d be getting something special.

Take a peek at some of some of his amazing ideas right here.

It’s been suggested that plants live longer and happier lives when you talk to them, so naming them must have amazing effects as well, right? Meet Thelma!

Never lose track of your usb key (or your key key) again!

Gabe used the iron-on labels to keep tabs on his favorite jacket.

Say no to orphaned umbrellas - you know you’re going to need yours when you least expect it!

For more of Gabe’s photography, check out his brand new food photography website and his Instagram.

And for more custom-designed creative projects for labeling and organization, take a peek at what all the Brother influencers created on Brother’s #LabelIt board on Pinterest!

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That time Dave brought his sewing skills to WebSummit

What turns a good conference into a great one? Informative speakers and interesting exhibitions are important - but the real magic comes from actually connecting with people on a level that makes sense to both parties.

(Photo and button sewing tutorial from The Art of Manliness.)

At your next conference, ask yourselves these questions. Are the people you meet the right ones? Do you have conversations that mean something? Do (or will) those conversations lead to a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties?

For loop88 (and me), Web Summit answered all of these questions with a resounding YES. And it went further, not simply connecting me to the right people but also creating the right conditions for serendipitous encounters.

If not for Web Summit, loop88 would not have cemented an investor for our Pinterest marketing platform. If not for Web Summit, loop88 would not have landed a new client for our platform. Though in the interests of accuracy, I should say “Web Summit and my mother”, because she taught me to sew and told me it was a skill that would always come in handy. And my mom is almost always right.

Let me explain. One Web Summit afternoon, I was meeting the CEO of MediaLink, Michael Kassan, in the lobby of his hotel when he asked if he could personally make an investment in loop88. I was touched. Michael is one of my favorite people - honest, direct, kind.

Just as we were finishing up, Shelley Zalis of Ipsos arrived to meet with Michael for dinner. But right when she walked up, a button popped off of her jacket – and neither she nor Michael knew how to sew. As my Mom taught me to always be prepared, I quickly volunteered to help sew the button back on. My pinners would be so proud of my DIY moment.

(Photo and button sewing tutorial from The Art of Manliness)

As I carefully sewed, Michael began to talk with Shelly all about loop88 and the amazing work on Pinterest we have been doing. It was meant to be. Shelley has since become a mentor to me and Ipsos has become a valuable partner through their Ipsos Girls’ Lounge – a place for female executives to connect at industry events.

An investor, a partner and a mentor – serendipitous moments like these make Web Summit a great event. It's being open to opportunity - and maybe being a decent schmoozer - that help make those little moments turn into something much.

Dave Weinberg- CEO of loop88

Originally featured on the Collision Conference blog.

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The Outreach Marketing Virtual Summit

UPDATE: All the speaking sessions are now available for streaming.

I’m so thrilled to be speaking at this year’s Outreach Marketing Virtual Summit, hosted by Group High. Attendance is free of charge, sign up is easy, and the conference will be streaming live all day on Tuesday, April 28th.

From case studies to best practices to social channel specific strategies, The Outreach Marketing Virtual Summit is a day-long resource to lift any brand or agency. Don’t worry, after the event presentations will be available on demand so you’ll be able to tune in to ones you miss.

I’ll be presenting some Winning Strategies for Pinterest - catch my presentation live on April 28th at 11.30 am ET. During and after the presentation I’ll be answering your questions on Twitter @loop88tweets (hashtag #OutreachMarketing)

Hey, and why not pin along on Pinterest too?

- Hanna, Talent & Production at loop88

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Pinterest Tip: Spring Cleaning

We sincerely hope that you are one of the lucky ones living in a part of the world where spring has sprung! (A couple of our team members aren’t) If so, this is the perfect chance to freshen up your Pinterest profile. And what’s our number one tip for freshening up your Pinterest profile?

UPDATE YOUR BOARD COVERS!

It only takes a few minutes to choose new board covers that represent the warmer weather, but these few minutes make a huge difference to someone coming across your profile for the first time. 

How to change your Pinterest board cover:

1. When you’re in your board view, click the “Edit”button under the board.

2. Click “Change Cover” in the editing box that pops up.

3. When the cover editor pops up, keep clicking the right arrow until you find your next cover (these options come from the pins you’ve pinned to this board).

4. Click and drag the image around until what appears in the box is the perfect cropping for a board cover.

5. Save your changes in this pop up and then save your changes in the next pop up.

6. If you don’t see the change right away (or if it looks like it changed only for a second and went back), don’t worry. Usually, all you need to do is refresh the page and you’ll see your new cover.

We would also suggest moving your winter boards down closer to the bottom and use your prime profile real estate for seasonally appropriate boards. 

LOOKING FOR MORE PINTEREST TIPS AND TRICKS? SIGN UP FOR LOOP88′S FREE BOOTCAMP FOR PINTEREST!

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New “Pick a Board” search feature on Pinterest

Woooo! No more scrolling all the way through your alphabetically sorted boards when you want to pin something new. With Pinterest’s new board search feature, finding the board you are looking for is easier than ever.

Know the name of your board? Just type the first few letters and the board you are looking for will appear. Makes the pinning process SO much easier! We're fans - how about you? (Don't stress if you're not seeing it yet. Pinterest is rolling this out as we speak, so it should pop up very soon.)

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How we hacked AngelList: One Week Later

Last week, Ariel and I went to #StartupGrind, a global summit of startup founders and investors gathered in Silicon Valley for a couple days of inspiration.

One workshop, run by Jim Scheinman and Gil Penchina, got us excited: "Optimizing your AngelList fundraising: Syndicates and other SEO-like tricks to get the most from your fundraise."

In a standing-room-only space outside the main hall, Jim and Gil laid out their strategy for raising money on AngelList, building a syndicate (crowdfunding and curating a fund on the network) and gaming the system.

Their expertise rises from the fact that Gil leads the #1 Syndicate on AngelList and Jim is close behind with his Maven Ventures.

These guys were totally open and brutally honest - i loved it! We were there to explore if raising via an AngelList syndicate was a legitimate way to close our round. Just a couple weeks ago, we closed the first part of our seed round and are still putting the pieces together to close the final portion.

For anyone who has ever raised money for a startup, it is not for the faint of heart. Rejection is terrific when compared to the “slow no” of most encounters. We have been blessed with amazing investor-partners who truly believe in loop88 and in us as founders. Nonetheless, we went a pretty traditional route of reaching out through advisors, lawyers, friends and pitching-refining-pitching-refining-pitching-closing.

We are big fans of AngelList, having joined nearly at its launch and using it to promote, share and hire. Job listings and the matchmaking side of AngelList are a hidden gem and will be the source for another blog post.

Gil's advice: Get on the trending list and ride the wave. Get more followers, post activity, request recommendations. My favorite comment? "Even if an investor passes, ask them to give you a mention on their wall."

So, how does one “trend”? Activities on AngelList, lots of them. Comments, likes, follows, job postings, reviews, and recommendations all help.

We left with a mission and within an hour had embarked on a heads-down, focused trending effort. Every investor, every partner, every client, every friend got a quick update and plea to follow loop88 and "extra brownie points if you have something nice and genuine to say."

[Side note: Neither of us are interested in fake comments and have aimed for an exceptional customer service experience for everyone on our journey since day one.]

So.... one week later, how has this experiment panned out?

Great in some ways and still a mystery in most others.

We managed to solicit 18 comments and 35 new followers plus a few investor mentions on their own profiles. Since we were already members of the platform, we had our team fill in their profiles and connections and began to list our open positions a day or two apart.

Aside from the direct effort on AngelList, we promoted our related posts on Facebook and Twitter to capture conference attention to our cause.

All this effort has led to a MAJOR uptick in activity for us on AngelList with real results.

Investors: We went from having one investor view every few days to 7-10 a day since the peak of 25 on day one (February 11). If we choose to self syndicate on the platform, this exercise alone resulted in 3 new investment offers.

Recruiting: We went from 5-10 interested candidates (views of our listings) a day to over 200 per day! Finding incredible talent is easier when more people seek us out. As I write this, the weekly AngelList job newsletter went out - loop88 was included at the top for some people.

Mystery: We have yet to actually trend and I have no idea what the numbers or timing involved are in making that happen.

Was it worth the sideshow? YES! The experiment was short and still within my fundraising effort - plus it was fun.

So... please FOLLOW us on AngelList soon :)

Sidenote: We had a terrifically upbeat week in and around the company which I am sure contributed to our uptick - though there is no way of knowing by how much. Over the week, we signed a major deal, closed an influential investor and got wind of news from Pinterest that spammy affiliate links were finally killed off (read more about that in my previous blog post).

Dave - loop88 CEO

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So, Pinterest pranking is a thing.

On Valentine's Day Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky decided to show his love respect disdain for Hillary Clinton by creating a Pinterest profile in her name. That's right, folks, politics have officially come to Pinterest!

“...if Hillary Clinton set up a Pinterest page, we can only imagine it might look like this.”

The page has since been removed, but it featured a board that highlighted Mrs. Clinton meeting with some of the world's more controversial leaders, showed off lowlights from her presidential campaign, and suggested a few of the worst interior design plans we've ever encountered on Pinterest. (Perhaps a round of our Bootcamp for Pinterest would set Senator Paul straight.)

Hillary, you know where to find us when you're ready to ACTUALLY build a Pinterest profile. We've got your back! And Rand, we can definitely help you out with those decorating issues you've been having.

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Pinterest Bans Affiliate Links

Hey friends, we're not sure if you've read the latest, but yesterday Pinterest announced that it has started taking action on pins that don't abide by their terms of usage (yes, we're talking about affiliate links). I know that sounds scary, but the good news is that if you've been working with us, nothing will change! We've always been big on supporting Pinterest in their efforts to keep the platform as authentic as possible, which is why we've always followed their rules.

To hear it from Pinterest, Venture Beat reported the news with a clear and concise statement from a Pinterest representative:

"We are removing affiliate links to ensure we’re providing the best possible experience for Pinners. Recently, we observed affiliate links and redirects causing irrelevant Pins in feeds, broken links and other spammy behavior. We believe this change will enable us to keep the high bar of relevancy and quality Pinners expect from Pinterest."

VentureBeat reported that Pinterest has "automatically removed all affiliate links, redirects and trackers on Pins."

While a lot of Pinterest enthusiasts will consider this a good thing because they weren't fans of spotting affiliate pins in their feeds, there are a lot of pinners who will unfortunately be seeing some of their monthly income disappear. Fear not and rest assured that Pinterest has left open other options for you to monetize your well-curated Pinterest presence and your hard-earned following in more organic and authentic ways.

We want to invite you to get to know loop88 better: you actually know most of us, since so many of the top influencers on Pinterest already call loop88 home. We spend time one on one with the senior team at Pinterest as often as we can to understand their needs and vision in relationship to you, our influencers, and to our clients, who are some of the top brands in the world. Our Pinners are involved creatively and paid appropriately for each campaign. Oh, and did we mention compensation is agreed upon up front, not based on performance or clicks? That is the way Pinterest likes it and that is the way we like it. Find out more on our website or give us a shout out at [email protected] if you'd like to explore what we have to offer.

We hope this news wasn't too painful. As it is said, when one door closes, another window of opportunity tends to open at just the right time.

Looking forward to having you on the loop88 Pinterest team!

Dave - loop88 CEO

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It's Show Us Your Favorite Weird Mug Day at loop88! We'll show you ours if you show us yours. #mug#coffee #tea #latte #panda #nopants #niagarafalls#hearts #balloons

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No "L" Word Valentine's Day Cards

Picture this: you're standing in the greeting card aisle, excited because you're going to celebrate Valentine's Day with your new boyfriend/girlfriend. You're thinking about how well this new relationship is going as you pick up your first card option. It has hearts all over it and says:

"I love you more than words can say."

Umm yeah, you just started dating so dropping this kind of bold statement is a little much. You try another one:

"Choosing you was the best decision of my life."

Yikes. That's a little intense for someone you met last month. You're sure the next one will be more appropriate:

"I can't wait to get married and have lots of babies."

Ok, maybe it didn't say that, but it may as well have.

I'm sure that I'm not alone in this. You just want a nice card for your significant (but not quite that significant) other and your choices are only for people much further along in their relationship than you guys are. 

Which is why we've come up with a few things we would like to see in a Valentine's Day card:

What do you think? Pin these little guys to show us which ones you like!

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