So what is Pinterest about?
Pinterest has been around for a while yet many people do not currently use it for their business. If you have thought about getting ‘ your business on board’ Pinterest – here are some basic tools to get you started.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a site about visual discovery. It’s a place to share images of things that you love. It’s social because your friends / customers can see what you love, make comments and share their own images. Comments, repins and ideas come from users all over the world interested in your topics.
How does it work?
The process of pinning, once you are set-up, is fast and easy. Pins can be created from any website you visit. When you see something you like – in a few clicks you can have it ‘pinned’ on one of your pinboards. The images from these pins retains the link back to the original site. Making it a great place for referrals.
How do I start?
Go to www.pinterest.com and click to Join Pinterest. You can also sign-up through your twitter or facebook accounts. If you have a business account for each of these be sure to sign-up through it rather than your personal account. Also choose the account that has the most followers.
Following
Start building your own boards and follow boards relevant to your business. When you follow boards the people you follow will be shown on your page when you open it. Pinterest also makes suggestions based on your interests. Use keywords in the search to find more boards.
Building Pinboards
You can start building your own pinboards simply by clicking on Create a Board, giving it a name and choosing a category. You can upload your own images or memes or build your boards using other images. The easiest way to pin from the web is to download the ‘Pin It’ feature during the registration process.
Having an impact
Like any social media platform, you must have a strategy and purpose to your pinning. And remember people are there to be social – so a hard sell won’t work. To start building your profile, retain the mantra –“think big, start small” and be consistent. You don’t want to load all your images at once or the impact will be diminished – but it is good to have enough pins to give people the feel of what you are about. And – like other social media – it is easy to get ‘hooked’. Manage your time in the space well and stick with your purpose.
Some tips for getting started on Pinterest:
- Use the best images you can
- Measure your results – pin more to the boards that are successful
- Make it easy for your fans to pin your images
- Make sure your boards are the right shape – 400pixels tall x 600 pixels wide.
- Include your Pinterest profile link on your social media platforms, business sites and on your email signature.
Here are some great tools you can use to help you on your Pinterest journey
- http://pinstamatic.com/ – Lots of free Pinterest tools, including sticky notes for boards.
- http://quozio.com/ – Turn any quote into a pinnable image.
- http://www.pinwords.com/ – Easily add beautiful text to your images.
- http://www.picmonkey.com/ – Simple photo editing tool
- http://www.shareasimage.com/ – Highlight any web text and convert it into an image.
- http://www.pixlr.com – Simple but powerful online image editing tool.
- http://www.picmarkr.com – Add custom watermarks to images easily.
- http://www.posterpin.com – Create a simple poster with text for pinning.
- http://www.someecards.com – Add humorous captions to tons of images.
- http://www.quickmeme.com – Create memes easily and quickly.
- http://www.imgflipchart.com – Make funny pie charts in seconds.
- http://url2pin.it/ – Share a screenshot of your website as a pin.
Learn more about Pinterest business success stories here. https://business.pinterest.com/en/success-stories
Share your pins with me!