Pinterest is all the rage these days. No doubt you've seen articles, blog posts, and status updates on Facebook. You may be seeing "Pin It" buttons on blogs as well. And for good reason. Pinterest as grown nearly as fast as the speed of light in the last few months. [Not sure what Pinterest is? Click here for info.]
Naturally my interest is in how to use it for business without being spamy. I joined Pinterest a few weeks ago and set up boards for Business Blogging Tips and Online Visibility Tips, in addition to personal boards for travel, running and books. My intention is to share not only my own posts on blogging and visibility but great content by others as well so there is a well rounded selection for visitors to choose from.
Quickly I observed dozens of "likes" and "repins" of my posts. And, new traffic to those posts. Cool!
Next I set up a community board for Social Marketing Tips. I've invited people in my LinkedIn group to share content on this board too. [If you want to contribute your posts and other great content to the Social Marketing board, let me know in the comments below and I’ll add you to the community. Be sure to include your Pinterest profile URL so I can follow you, too.]
I don't know how this will evolve for businesses, but from a visibility stand point, I'd recommend anyone who deals with visual arts in any way to get started, if you're not already. Restaurants, photographers, crafts people, builders, artists, architects, and designers of all types can benefit. If you demonstrate your product and services visually, get those images pinned and linked back to your site.
Tips for Getting Started on Pinterest
- Take the time to fill out your profile completely, including your bio. I've clicked through to a lot of profiles that have no bio info. This is a an opportunity to tell your visitors about you and your business. Include your picture. Set up a few boards and pin a couple of things right away.
- Add links to your blog, Facebook page and Twitter account
- A recommended tactic is to post your images on your blog FIRST, then pin to a board. This is an opportunity to attract people back to your site where they can go deeper into your content.
- If you create your own images and photographs, take the time to add a watermark with your URL. Courtesy of Elizabeth Cottrell, here's an article reviewing several watermark plugins for WordPress.
- Connect your Facebook profile to your Pinterest account with the Pinterest app, if you want to share your activity with your friends. I'm getting more activity on Facebook since I added the app.
- Add the Pin It button to your blog and make it easy for your readers to share your images and posts. The Pin It button is included in the Digg Digg social sharing plugin and there are stand alone Pin It plug ins as well.
- Encourage your readers, friends and followers to pin your content.
I saw this post (image above) in my Facebook newsfeed. This is an excellent way to enage your friends. I clicked through to the article and then pinned the image to my Running board. The only thing missing was the Pin It button on the actual post (a missed opportunity). I had added a Pin It button to my bookmarks tool bar so it's easy for me to pin anything on any site.
Another cool feature is that people can embed your Pins on their blogs. This one is from Tom Treanor's board about Pinterest tips…
Source: theblogstylist.com via Tom on Pinterest
So much has been written about Pinterest for business in the last few weeks. I've curated a list of posts for you that I've found helpful if you're ready to dig deeper.
Top Tips for Brands on Pinterest from SimplyZesty.com – there are some great tips for all businesses in this article.
How an Alaskan Mom Brings Millions to Her Carpentry Blog – a great case study on Social Media Examiner
To Pin or Not to Pin: An Indepth Look at Pinterest – detailed article by Kathryn Rose
10 Tips on Using Pinterest for your Business
thenextweb.com1/20/12
The most obvious use for Pinterest from a business perspective is to market and sell your products. By adding a price to your pinned item, you can direct users to your online shop, and your post will be automatically listed …
Pinterest Drives Enormous Blog and Business Success | Business 2 …
www.business2community.com1/30/12
This is Kate. She's a hairstylist, jewelry maker, and all-around crafter based in North Carolina. Kate started her blog (thesmallthingsblog.com)
10 Pinterest Ideas With SEO Benefits | Business 2 Community
www.business2community.com1/27/12
If you haven't heard of Pinterest, it does what it says on the tin – a virtual pinboard of interesting things. You find something you like, you Pin it to.
How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Business [Infographic …
How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Business [Infographic]. One of the “new kids” on the block…..Pinterest is doing very well in 6 months…….read 11 million visits in a week in December 2011 obviously you need to have a …
At the time of writing this post, Pinterest is still invite only. If you would like an invite, post your request in the comments and I'll send one to you. If you'd like to contribute to the Social Marketing Tips Board, post your Pinterest URL in the comments and I'll add you. If you'd like to connect with me on Pinterest, click here.
Feel free to share your tips and thoughts about Pinterest below…
Could you send me an invite? I’m interested in seeing how Pinterest works.
Thank you Denise for insight from you, an online marketing pro! I am waiting to be pinned (ha) — I sent request on 2-1-12 and a follow up this week, I haven’t heard back from their team of 20 on staff up in Northern Cal., any suggestions on how to get that pinned invite approved soon? They just sent email saying thanks for requesting invite.
Is there any way to track our ROI of time? We all can have thousands and millions of followers, supporters and views but … for all hours invested to pinning etc., how many of the traffic stoppers on our websites equal sales? Maybe we just have to look at our unique views on webistes and sales for that week/month to see if increase? Any suggestions?
Love this post Denise. I’ve used pinterest (http://www.livelifehappy.com) to drive quite a bit of traffic to my website http://www.livelifehappy.com. Thanks for this!
Hi! Could you send me an invite? I’ve been very interested in Pinterest and your article is super helpful!
Denise,
Thank you for sending me an invite to Pinterest. I’m instantly hooked.
I checked out the stuff you have there. Great stuff you got. I especially love your pins about Pinterest and social media marketing. I’ve started following you.Cheers!Phoebe
I would love to know how to add the pin it to a ecommerce site. When you try to use their goodies link it gives you all kinds of strange code that makes it useless to use. If you want to setup a pin for just one item how does one do that? I love your article, its full of great info!
Yes, please send me an invite to Pinterest. Thank you for an interesting article
Username
http://pinterest.com/william2233Children author from Concord, Ca
I just joined last month and learning fast, from a children author
Hi, Denise.
Wow! Great article you got here. I’m trying to learn things about Pinterest and I’m so glad I came across your article. I’ve already requested for an invite from Pinterest.com so I could try it out, but haven’t gotten one yet. Could you please send me an invite? Thanks a lot.
Just a footnote: if anyone can figure out why my avatar is pulling this photo, I’d be very grateful 🙂
Thanks for this info packed article, Denise. I setup a Pinterest account a while ago, and literally, without even posting anything ended up with 75 followers. Then I uploaded a random “pin” or two, and more followers. So, last week I concluded I should figure out what this is all about… and lo and behold I came across your article over on Cinch. As always, I appreciate all you do to continue to be a resource for us all.
Denise,
Thank you so much for this article. It’s given me a head start on Pinterest. I’d love to join your Social Marketing Tips Board on Pinterest – my url is: http://pinterest.com/danettemoss/
Danette, I’ve added you to the Social Marketing community board…pin on!
John, I have you to thank for turning me on to Pinterest! I think the way you’re using it to create vision boards for clients is brilliant and a perfect way to integrate it into your business. Do you let your clients Pin on their boards when they find stuff they like?
Hi Denise! Pinterest has been a tremendous boost to my online visibility, and I’d love to join your Social Marketing Tips board. I’m at http://http://pinterest.com/resonancesocial.
Rachel, I’ve added you to the Social Marketing board. Look forward to your pins!
hi Denise, would love to join your Social Marketing community on Pinterest – my url is http://pinterest.com/njjsocialmedia
Enjoyed your article 🙂
I’ve added you to the Social Marketing community board, Naomi. Look forward to seeing your pins!
Thanks & will keep an eye on yours too!
Great article Denise! I’m going to make sure my community reads this. I’m on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/phylliskhare The only thing I did recently was Hide my Pinterest app from my Facebook stream because it seemed like too much for my community. And I joined for personal reasons as it seemed a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful images. I still use it primarily for that, but I’m sure I will be using it as a business tool, too, at some point.
Thank you, Phyllis. I’ve subscribe to your boards and look forward to seeing your pins!
Check out how Gary Vaynerchuk is using Pinterest to educate and sell wine from his ecommerce site. He’s got a Wine board:
http://pinterest.com/garyvee/wine/