When new social media sites pop up I do two things 1) I create an account because I like to secure my name, and 2) stubbornly ignore it. This is exactly what I did with Pinterest. I created an account, pinned a few things, then never went back. However, several things have happened in the past month that has made Pinterest, well, Pinteresting…
First of all, what is Pinterest? Pinterest is a “Virtual Pinboard” that allows you to organize and share interesting things you find on the web. A pinboard is a bulletin board where you can “pin” items.
What can you do with Pinterest?
- You can browse pinboards created by your friends and others
- Discover interesting new things
- Get inspiration from people who share your interests
- Create a pinboard to plan your wedding
- Create a pinboard to redecorate your home
- Share recipes
- Get vacation ideas
Pinterest F.A.Q.
- What is a board? Boards enable you to categorize your pins.
- What is a pin? A Pin is an image added to a board. It can be added from a website OR you can upload your own pictures.
- What is a repin? A repin is adding an image you find while browsing Pinterest to your own board.
- What is following? You can “follow all” meaning any time a user pins anything new, you’ll see it in real-time on the homepage. Or you can also follow specific boards to narrow what you see from a particular user.
- Is Pinterest just for girls? No, boys are welcome. But if you feel it isn’t manly enough you can try Dudepins.com, the side for men and manly interests.
What caused me to go back to Pinterest?
My sister-in-law Kathy, who is an elementary school teacher in Tucson, showed me how she collects creative ideas for classroom projects from school teachers across the country. She shared several craft ideas that I would like to try “someday, but not today” and some delicious looking recipes that I have saved for later.
She did a great job of showing me the value of using Pinterest in my everyday life. It’s not only fun but an interesting way to express myself through images and an easy way to remind myself of things I want to try, buy, or revisit.
The next “big thing” that caught my attention was this article by Sara Perez:
Pinterest Usage up 4000+%
“Pinterest’s growth was calculated using both unique visitors and clicks from search engines, said comScore, and it was found to be the fastest growing network in both categories. The network saw +4377% growth between May 2011 and May 2012, the firm reported. Meanwhile, Twitter grew less than 100% (58%). LinkedIn grew 67%, Tumblr 168%, and Facebook 4%. However, Facebook had the highest amount of reach during that same time by a longshot. Pinterest users were found to spend more, buy more items and conduct more transactions online than other social media buyers, but brands are still working out how to integrate their presence into the site for now.”
(Holy Cow! That’s impressive!)
Pinterest for Business Owners
I don’t believe Pinterest can help all business owners. However, for certain industries, Pinterest can be a goldmine! Consider this:
- Pinterest has more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined
- 28% of users have a household income of over $100k
- 21% of Pinterest users have purchased a product after seeing a picture on the site
Is Pinterest right for you?
If you are curious about Pinterest or think it might be a good fit for your business, give me a call. I would be happy to share with you more research I have found on this exciting new social media platform including:
- How to use Pinterest to increase online product sales
- Best time of the day to pin
- Pinterest “etiquette”
- Image optimization and sizing
- How to avoid copyright and trademark violations
- How to integrate Pinterest into your marketing plan
Happy pinning!