Very Pinteresting

In all the hubbubs of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus, the world of crafters and artists has been more taken with sites like Flickr, Etsy, and the newest arrival Pinterest. The single thing, in my opinion, that makes Pinterest unique is that it’s not just a social sharing of images and it’s not just a search engine – it’s both! It’s an elegant assortment of timeless, searchable information, current trends, fashion, art, design, and more all organized by the people (pinners) into files called boards.

While it’s not the biggest social media network nor is it the peak of search engines as of December 2011 it is in the top 10 social networks with 11 million total visits a week and an Alexa rank of 135. CNN has cited Pinterest as one of the top 50 new tech tools of 2011. And, as of January 30, 2012, Pinterest was considered the top traffic driver for retailers by Mashable.

Pinterest seemed to quietly come on the scene, lurking under the radar during 2010 and most of 2011 while quietly becoming a favorite for people who love cooking, art, “up-cycling” and now just about anything under the sun. The highly visual aspect of Pinterest feeds right-brained people who are normally bored with lines of text. It seems to be a delightful combination of fun and information that is social because of the following aspect but it’s searchable like Twitter and Google.  You can search for that monkey bread recipe made with Grand biscuits and visually know which result is the right one.

The interesting thing about Pinterest is that the links behind all those images are being picked up by Google and Bing as authoritative links. The more people “repin” the items (equivalent to a “like” on Facebook) the more strength they seem to yield. Retailers have caught on to this fact quickly and companies like Nordstroms and HGTV know that when their merchandise is “pinned” on Pinterest they get more than just exposure – they also get valuable market research by seeing how often the item is pinned and repinned. But it goes much farther than retail. Just about any business on the web can participate in and learn from Pinterest.

Obviously, graphic designers, artists, fashionistas, and more can easily get into Pinterest because the focus of their work is very visual. But what about the less visual businesses? How can a home improvement business, for example, use Pinterest?

The most obvious way would be to showcase the final product like a portfolio of work but it’s also just as easy to use a photo to post a “how to” article like many crafters have done. How about insurance companies? Images attached to articles will work well too. The key is to categorize what you are posting and tag it with accurate descriptions so people will be able to find the information in a search.

Because pinners are largely focused on home, food, and family it’s best to relate your “pins” to something in those areas however I personally have boards for my work portfolio, articles of interest, infographics related to the web, and more. These all have followers and I get good “repinning” from what I post so in my opinion, the business-to-business aspect of Pinterest is growing.

The demographics of Pinterest as disclosed by Google Ad Planner indicate that the audience at this point is largely women (80%) and since women hold major purchasing power, this is a great start. the primary age of pinners is between 25 and 44. Pinners have a household income of $25K to 75K per year and 25% of the pinners are well educated.

So you’re ready to become a pinner. Here’s how to get started and a few tips to keep you pinning in style.

Set your profile first – don’t be afraid to be yourself. People don’t follow companies they follow people.

Next, set up your “Pinterest” in the form of “boards” (think a memory board or bulletin board). You can start simple with things you like to eat, art you like, movies you’ve seen, etc. Whatever you are into – then add one or two boards related to your work.

Start adding to your boards by “repinning” what you see on Pinterest. This is the practice of seeing something that piques your interest, selecting “repin” at the top of the photo, and then categorizing it into one of your boards. Don’t worry if you don’t have a board for something in particular, you can always add a new board on the fly.
Next, begin to pin items of interest on the web or of your own that you would like to share. It’s super easy to do this if you will add the “pinmarklet” to your address bar because as you are browsing the internet you can simply click the pinmarklet, select the image and Pinterest does the rest.

Cultivating a following on Pinterest is easy if you have pinned items that others consider interesting or valuable. People will like what they have seen and follow all of your boards or just the ones they like the most. The great thing is that you can see everyone’s pins (by selecting “everything” at the top of the page) which will allow you to expand the number of pins, pinners, or boards you follow.

Here are some examples of pinning from our client list: plant labels for botanical & residential gardens, crafting & monogram stamps, signs & advertising balloons, and printing samples. There are many different ways to incorporate Pinterest into your business. Just use your imagination – and if you need a few ideas feel free to contact me.