Pin it with Pinterest

There are so many new social media websites out now-a-days; it is hard to keep up. I, myself, make use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and never saw the purpose of even looking at Pinterest until I was forced  (you know me and change aren’t friends!) by one of my colleagues to look at it and well….I haven’t looked back.

I’m in the wedding business and brides are always looking for ideas on what to wear, what to do for their weddings, how to use certain things in their weddings and with Pinterest, it’s made collecting ideas and information together a whole lot more simple.

I’m now able to visit various websites and blogs and pin photos to different boards. For example, last week I created a blog about an Alice in Wonderland Wedding Theme. I trawled the internet looking for photos with ideas on this theme and each time I found a photo that I thought was appropriate, I “pinned” it to the Alice in Wonderland board I created.

What I found most useful is that fact that I didn’t have to bookmark the pages or download all the images and use up my disk space and have a different files recording different information e.g. the image, where the image originated, who must receive credit, etc. I could have one central location for my ideas and when I was ready to do my blog post, I had all the images available to me PLUS where they all came from so that I could give all the necessary websites credit.

So, what is Pinterest?

Their website states as follows:

“Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.
People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.”

So, a quick summary:

Your Pinterest account is made up of lots of boards which you can create when you go. So, say you want to redo your home, you could create a Pinboard called “Home Décor Ideas”. When you are on the internet and you see a décor idea that you would love to keep in mind for your home décor redo, you would “pin” the photo to your “Home Décor Ideas” board. So, using the “pinning” option, you can collect a set of of images within your board and from there, you can share it with friends, family and your interior decorator!

How do I pin to my pinboards?

Easy-peasy! Install the Pinit button in your browser, go to websites you love, click the Pinit button and select the image you want to pin and which board you want it to go to and voila! You are on your way!

How can it help your business?

Let’s face it…. human beings are driven by visual stimulation – pictures sell quicker than words do – wouldn’t you agree?

With that in mind, here are the top benefits for your business that I could come up with:

• It drives traffic to your website – if someone pins something in their boards, other people will see it and people will come to your website to see more.
• Turns more browser visits into buyers – it has been proven that Pinterest is able to convert leads into sales and / or increase conversion rate. People see something, they like it, they buy it. Think about it….would you be more inclined to buy something you have seen vs something you have only read about via Facebook / Twitter?
• Easy integration into your website(s), Facebook and Twitter – You can use pictures from your Pinterest.com account and if you use your Twitter / Facebook account to log into your Pinterest.com account, you can post it to your wall quickly and easily! There are icons and little pieces of code you can implement on your websites that allow people to pin from your website quickly into their pinboards.
• Market Research – it’s a great platform to find out what trends are out there and see what people are loving at the moment.
• Keep an eye on the competition – because Pinterest is pretty social, you can see what your competitors are up to and stay on top of your game!
• Saves your PC space – this is possibly a small issue for most, but for me, images take up a LOT of space on my already filled up server. I really like the fact that I can centralize photos I like and still have the information on where they came from so I can return to the sites more easily and I can categorise or group things neatly.
• It’s an easy way to get your products out there – people share it and keep sharing it – it has a ripple effect, so use it if you can!

Useful Links

• Q&A for Pinterest
• Logos, codes and “Pin It button” information