My latest love in the social media is Pinterest. I was going to write some more about mailing lists but I changed my mind, as I am really happy with my new social media friend. So here is everything you will need to know about Pinterest. At least for now…

What is Pinterest?

Well as the social media defines itself

“Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard”.

In other words Pinterest is a social media that lets you pin and organize various images you find on the internet. You pin the images you like on boards based on a common theme; for example you can create a board named “My Furniture” and pin images, you found online, depicting interesting furniture you would like of are thinking of buying.

Terminology

As every social media Pinterest also has its own lingo. Here are the basics:

Pin: A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer.

Board: A board is a set of pins. As we’ve mentioned a board can be on any topic and you can add as many pins to a board as you want.

Following: You can either follow a user, by pressing the “Follow All” button under the users photo, or just follow a specific board. If you follow a user then all of their pins on all their boards shown to you in real-time on Pinterest. If you just follow a board then just the pins from that board will show up. You can un-follow a user anytime without them being notified.

Repin: A repin is adding an image you find while browsing Pinterest to your own board.

Like: Liking a pin adds the image to your profile’s Likes section.

Mention: To mention a pin to a Pinterest user, you first need to be following at least one board belonging to him/her. Then, type the @ symbol immediately followed by his/her username. Potential matches to this username will begin to load; when you see the person you want to mention, click his/her name.

Getting a Pinterest Invitation

Pinterest, to date, works on an invite-only basis. So you will need to get an invitation in order to join. Fortunately that is pretty easy.

You can either “Request an Invite” form the social media itself or ask a friend who is already there to invite you. Asking a friend is a faster way but Pinterest does actually invite you within a couple of days so it’s not that much of a difference.

Now you Joined, What Can you Do?

Once you have received your invitation the first thing you should do, of course, is edit your profile. You will find the link to do this in your main profile page. If you are using the profile for your company enter your company’s name, your company’s logo, a brief description and links to your website. Also don’t forget to link your Twitter and Facebook profiles so people can find you there too and so that when you pin your images you can share it across your social media profiles.

Now you can begin pinning!

First you will have to create a board. To do this press the “Add +” link which is on the top right side. You will get the following pop-up:

Press create a board. Give your board an interesting and descriptive name, related to the pins you plan in pinning on it. Then select a related category and who you want able to pin on it. If it is just you select just me.

To add images to your board, again select the “Add +” link. As you can see you can either enter a URL where you have found the image you want to pin or upload an image from your computer. If you chose to add a pin from a URL then a link will be added to your pin towards the website you took the image from.

Once you select “add a pin”, you will be asked to provide the URL and then after you click “Find Images” you will be presented with a selection of images from that particular page. Click next until you find the one you want to pin, chose the board you want to pin it to and write a brief description. If you want to promote your website, through an image that you have on there, also include a link to your homepage in the description.  You can always edit a pins details by pressing the “Edit” button above the pin.

You can now go about creating all sorts of boards and adding all sorts of pins. Further more you can like your and other people’s pins on Facebook and tweet about them on Twitter.

Discover Interesting Pins

By going to Pinterest’s front page, you will see all the pins pinned by people you or on boards you follow. To discover new pins, boards and users just click on “Everything” and select the category you are interested in. You can “Like ” any pin you like and you can repin any pin that has a theme relevant to one of your boards.

Marketing Tips for Pinterest

Pinterest can be and is used for online marketing purposes and with very impressive results. However the site specifically states:

Avoid Self Promotion

Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.

In other words it is not really acceptable to blatantly promote yourself; this means you will have to find other ways to promote your business through Pinterest. Be creative and have a look around to see what other brands are doing to promote their company.

This being said, here are a few tips to help you along the way

• Always add visual content to your blog posts and articles. You should already be doing this of course, as it helps your site for SEO purposes, but now try choosing clear images, having a good idea about how you can also add them to a relevant board on Pinterest.
• Try to create boards with themes describing how your product can be used or what lifestyle your product or service promotes.
• Promote your pins by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Comment on the posts and encourage others to also comment on them.
• Interact with pinners you think would be interested in your services; here of course i mean in a natural way not obviously promoting yourself.
• Create boards that are more likely to be repinned, followed and liked. This lets it’s content reach a larger audience and is more likely to bring people to your profile.
• You will see for yourselves that it is actually quite easy to get pins liked and repinned.  The goal is however to get them interested in you. Show images of your best products, or of interesting statistics that you might have, book covers from ebooks you might be offering; get creative and see how you ca promote yourself and be subtle at the same time.

I hope that was helpful. Any questions you may have about Pinterest feel free to leave them in the comments section or email me.

~Eleni