You have heard the buzz about Pinterest… but what it is you ask and why should you care? Is it just another social media fad? Is it another productivity killer?
All great questions… the answer is yes.. and no.
Many social media sites have come and gone; some were more engaging and some silently disappeared. We believe Pinterest is here to stay.
In 2011 Time Magazine listed it as one of the top 50 websites of the year, in December 2011 there were reports it drove more referral traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ … so yes it is worth paying attention to this new comer. By the way, if you are marketing to women; did you know that 97% of the LIKES on this site are made by women?
Let me state for the record I LOVE Pinterest. It is a visual pin board to share what you love – that’s it… there are many other business and personal applications and it is worth taking a look.
As my gettin’ geeky friend Gina Schreck says in this cool video – you need to ‘stay curious’ – it is worth investing 15 minutes of your time today, log in, check it out and have a play.
Check out this great article on business applications for Pinterest by Debbie Hemley.
I originally called Pinterest a productivity killer and now I retract that statement. We realize it is a productivity re-energizer, let me explain…
Pinterest allows you to escape, dream, enjoy, admire and to lose yourself in the magnificent photos and funny quotes posted on boards. Not every aspect of every day needs to be productive (yes I said that out loud) some moments are for pure enjoyment … or what we call recovery time.
Pinterest allows you to expand your creativity and to seek input from an international audience, all sharing what they love most. Previously we escaped in magazines and travel shows, now it is online for you.
Pinterest provides inspiration for friends for gifts ideas, creating food to take their home and decorating ideas. One of my girlfriends recently shared one of her visitors checked out her food pin board and made one of the desserts to share at a party in her home – how clever is that! What a lovely idea.
If you want to start using Pinterest try these ideas to help you get started:
- Get invited – this is an invitation only site – get someone to invite you.
- Set up Boards – create a selection of boards for things you enjoy, admire, places you would like to go, words and phrases you like – check out other’s boards for inspiration.
- Start pinning – it’s that simple, click on a photo you like and add it to your board.
- Add the Pin It Button to your browser – when you are on a site and see something you love you than then share it with the Pinterest community.
- Connect your social media profiles – you can add Facebook and twitter.
- Use hash tags – this works the same as twitter.
- Follow fabulous people – find your friends, find others that have similar interest to you and see what they are pinning.
- Link to your website – if you have a product, get yourself on Pinterest!
To pin or not to pin… that is a question for you to answer for yourself, we warn you … when you start you might find yourself addicted… enjoy!
