What’s the sizzling social network that hit 10 million unique visitors faster than any other?
It’s Pinterest and you definitely want to look at the stats in this blog post to see it’s explosive growth and who’s there. If it’s your ideal readers and clients, it’s somewhere you may want to be.
I’m no Pinterest expert, but since you’ve been asking, I’ve called in one to share with us what it is and how it works. Today Trisha Philbrook, social media manager, is taking over my blog post to introduce us to this new site.
Over the next few days I’ll be sharing more about Pinterest including some important legal things to consider (AKA what not to do), and lots of tips and advice from other business owners who are active on Pinterest.
And now, over to Trisha…
Faster than Google+! More powerful than LinkedIn! Able to bypass YouTube in a single bound! Out in cyberspace, look! It’s Boards! It’s Pins ! It’s Pinterest!
If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, it’s the hottest addition to social media!
Even though it’s still in the beta stage and the only way to use it is to be invited, it is hot, Hot, HOT!
If the statistics below don’t make you get off here and sign up then we need to have a serious talk.
Who’s on Pinterest?
Here are some of the recent stats on Pinterest:
- The fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark
- Average user time is 83 minutes!
- 11.9 million unique visitors
- 80% women
- Household income of 25k-75k
If this describes your target market, don’t finish reading this article until you have sent me an email () titled “Please Invite Me to Pinterest”. Once you have done that, come back and let me share more.
Pinterest’s mission:
“connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.”
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an online pinboard that allows users the ability to create boards and pin images to each board. The amazing part is that everything you pin can be linked back to a website. So, whether you are pinning a recipe to your “Yummy Desserts” board or a book to your “Books Worth Reading” board it is probably linked to a website where you can read the whole recipe or purchase the book.
Some of Michelle’s Pin boards: inspirational quotes, infographics, and resources.
Can You Use it for Business?
This creates so much opportunity for businesses. Are you brainstorming yet? Get a notebook and pen and put it on your nightstand because if you are like me, I brainstorm in my dreams!
You can absolutely advertise your business on Pinterest. Make sure you remember it is your responsibility to link the product you pinned back to your website. I’ve seen several images that I’ve clicked and it linked to nothing and they missed out on a sale because I don’t have time to dig around and find where I can buy it. Don’t miss out on a sale, link your pins!
Is it Like Facebook and Twitter?
As far as similarities and differences with Facebook and Twitter, I don’t see a lot.
Yes, you “follow” people like you do in Twitter and you have a lot of connection with Facebook friends and can post your pins on your Facebook page, but I really don’t see a huge similiarty with either of these social media channels.
Pinterest is different and once you start digging around and having fun with it you will understand.
My only concern is that people are going to become bored with it because there is not that relationship building like Facebook offers. But, for now it is the hottest social media channel and you need to tap into it for your business.
How Can I Get Started?
To get started you must setup your account through an invitation as described above. It is simple but, if you need help, email me and I’ll send you a video tutorial that I’ve sent my clients.
Once setup is complete, I recommend looking around at some of your friends’ boards and pins to start.
Keep in mind you can always change the names of your boards so, don’t get overwhelmed that you have to get it perfect the first time.
How Does “Pinning” Work?
If you see a pin that you like, you can “Repin”, “Like”, or “Comment.”
Repinning will allow you to pin the image to one of your boards. Still don’t be alarmed if you don’t have your boards setup, Pinterest allows you to create a new board anytime during a repin.
“Liking” a pin will add it to your likes, but will not pin to a board.
When you “comment” it allows you to link to Facebook friends by using the “@” symbol just like you do in Facebook.
What Are Your Favorite Boards?
A few of my more popular boards are “Encouragement for WAHM” and “Social Media Tips & Training”. My new favorite board is my “Dream Farmhouse”.
What Else Do We Need to Know?
Have fun with it at first and then start brainstorming for your business.
Where Can We Learn More?
I’ve been studying Pinterest for a few months and have so much more information to share about promoting your business.
Will you consider joining me for my last teleclass “Pinterest 201: Promoting Your Business”? It’s this Wednesday, Feb. 22nd at 10:00am EST and you can sign up at www.TrishaPhilbrook.com/Events.
I will be teaching you how to link your website, inserting prices on products, finding friends, and strategically creating and placing boards on your page. And as always, I leave plenty of time for questions.
For more information or to sign up for one-on-one private coaching for 30 days go to www.TrishaPhilbrook.com.
Happy Pinning!
Trisha Philbrook
Virtual Assistant/Social Media Manager
Trisha is a successful work at home mom that has a passion for helping women in business succeed! With three young daughters at home, she has learned how to balance work and family time although it is a weekly challenge.
You’ll want to check out her newest blog “Devotions for WAHM” where she offers daily encouragement. To find out more about her business and read her blog you can visit www.TrishaPhilbrook.com.
Thank you Michelle and Trisha,
I should not be pinning until I know the basics…case in point: I read the collabroative to mean that I was giving permission to my VA etc. to pin for me YIKES I pinned my Boards to her/their wall! These are themes that clashed with thiers…oh my can you imagine how my poor VA felt seeing herself collab. on a testimonial…poor dear was ready to bury her head in the sand. So again thanks for the article and especially for the upcomming class, I for one need it.
It’s easy to do, Betty. So many times it’s not totally clear what will happen when we click here or there. :) Especially on networks that are new to us. Thanks goodness for the trailblazers like Trisha who jump in and test things out to help the rest of us!
Pinterest is great, it has quirks for sure as Betty noted. :) We all have had those moments though, Social Media isn’t always clear or easy.
I think it’s important for businesses not to learn too the difference in sharing their business and going overboard with self promotion to the point of spamming their followers — I followed a business (via the find friends by connecting with my twitter account). They posted their ENTIRE product inventory w/pricing in ones afternoon. Yikes!
Pinterest is relaxing and there’s never a shortage of pretty things to look at. i love all the inspirational goods floating around. The recipes are awesome too.
Great points. Gotta remember it’s another avenue to connect with people through, not push our products/services through.
I picked up a tip from one of the videos on Social Media Examiner and I try to stick to it — it’s the 80/20 rule ;) 80% sharing others and 20% self serving — sadly I will admit that my fb page and google + are pretty self serving lately (due only to automation) as I just have not been very “social”, but on Pinterest I am at about 95/5 haha Yes I have a self serving board (Blogging with Gypsy) — but I have 40+ other boards that are all about repinning or sharing others stuff! Thanks for posting this, Michelle! I can’t wait to read your other posts on Pinterest! And, thanks, Trisha for the great info!
That’s a great balance. Easy to hit on Pinterest with so much awesome stuff on there. :)
Another vote of thanks for sharing this post, there seems to be a lot zipping around Pinterest this week. I an another newbie, successfully pinning, sharing, being re-pinned and loving it. Love the visual aspect for keeping ‘My Favourites’ together and people have been our blog and website via pinterest. What’s not too like? Loving the quotes and lots of inspiration from all over the world.
It’s a hot topic. :)
I love that too, Ruth. I’m really enjoying just seeing such a great variety of things.
One of the things I’ve gained from this concept is the idea of your story. All businesses should have a story and pinterest is an excellent way to share your story. Just make sure it doesn’t involve things that you don’t want to be part of that story if you are using it for business.
That’s an important tip, Nicole, absolutely know the story we’re putting out there and be sure we’re keeping that in mind as we share.
Hi Michelle…I have heard a lot about pinterest before and for me, it is really interesting…Thanks for the idea too…
It’s a lot of fun, GelliAnn. :)
Funny how I blogged tonight about joining Pinterest yesterday and I just found this blog post on my Twitter feed. I plan to use Pinterest strictly for “pleasure” right now. I”ll just “go with the flow” and see where it takes me. Eventually I might post a couple of my better photos from my blog but not quite yet.
My friends have been inviting me to join Pinterest and I have been ignoring them but this post has inspired me to take action. I visited Michelle’s and Trisha’s boards and I now see what it’s all about … ideas are churning in my head. You know Michelle, this brings to mind your blog post about people being afraid to blog because others are already blogging about their topic, this is another life lesson to take action for your dream and don’t over think it. A few months ago who would have thought Pinterest would come into existence with such amazing results … this is a lesson to take action for your dream. Pinterest was someone’s dream, he/she believed in it, took action, and WOW amazing results.
Hi Michelle!
I love Pinterest too. Because you can pin all your favorites and other important things in your site. I’m convincing my friends to have it too.
I love Pinterest. And that is why I am creating something really useful around Pinterest with my cousin called Pinpuff.com
“Pinpuff (www.pinpuff.com) is a Klout for Pinterest where we calculate pinterest user’s influence and popularity”
Hope you like it. Just an attempt to show my love for Pinterest :)
Pinterest is use to advertise the photos. It’s number of visitors increases day by day. pinterest is online pin board. The above post helps me in understanding the pinterest. It’s very creative for beginners.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for bringing in Trisha to give us the scoop on Pinterest, our latest new tool and toy.
It seems that we ask this same question every time a new tool appears on the market “Should we be [insert latest social media tool]” and at first many are hesitant to add yet another thing to their marketing arsenal.
And yet, since our businesses depend on connecting and networking, we can’t afford to ignore the tools that promise the biggest bang for our buck.
Trisha, thanks for pointing out the key reasons we should be “pinning” and how to do it correctly.
The fun part of all this is that there are many more tools in the making, so it’s important to quickly learn about them as they appear, listen to the folks who have figured them out and assess at which part of the moving train we can safely jump on board.