Beginners Guide Pinterest

DisclaimerAlthough the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that theinformation in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do notassume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, ordisruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result fromnegligence, accident, or any other cause.

IntroductionWe are living in a modern world and we have a lot of advantages, technologicallyspeaking. We are surrounded by “options” and the choices can be overwhelmingsometimes when it comes to how to market your business. Each option comes with itsown set of instructions and it can seem impossible to keep up. One advantage that weshouldn’t take for granted at all is the use of social media. It allows us to reach peoplefrom all places. There are more than 500 social media platforms out there, withFacebook and Twitter taking the lead. Not to be ignored though, is the ever growingPinterest. It rapidly became the third largest and probably the fastest growing platformwithin only a few months after its launch. And, though Pinterest wasn’t built strictly forbusiness use, it’s a perfect set up for commerce. More purchases are made through thePinterest interface than any of its other social media cousins.This book is intended as a guide to get you started from scratch. If you are alreadyusing Pinterest for personal use, you may choose to skip to the parts that seem mostrelevant. We will discuss best practices for business use and, since you’ll be avoidingsome common mistakes, save you an enormous amount of time. You will find thatPinterest is a better fit for some industries than others; however, there is a place fornearly everyone. If you find that your industry is not represented as often as others,fret not. Think of yourself as a pioneer rather than just one of the crowd. On the otherhand, if you find that your industry is widely represented, your challenge will be tostand out among the crowd. We’ll look at options to cover all of the bases.

Chapter 1: What Is Pinterest?Pinterest is a social bookmarking site that allows you to express your thoughts anddesires through pictures and images. It’s essentially an image sharing platform wheremembers 'pin' images to their own 'pin board'. This can be anything you want - it canbe random things that you just have an interest in and want to share or it can bemultiple images relating to a passion you have. For example you could have a passionfor 1960s British roadsters, old company logo's, classic men’s watches or a holidaycottage that you want to rent out. As a member you are able to browse subjects and ifyou discover a board that you're interested in you then 'follow' it in the same way youdo on Twitter and you will be notified whenever any new photos are uploaded to theboard. You can also leave comments and join in discussions on each of the images thatappear on the site.As a business that sells or produces items which will benefit from quality images suchas clothes, photography, accommodation, artwork, Pinterest provides a terrificopportunity to create some boards to advertise your services and link your photosdirectly to the point of sale. In this example, Pinterest can operate like a digital catalog.The most beneficial long-term approach from a sales perspective would be to be a partof the community spirit for a little while prior to 'hard-selling' your products, for example'pin' some non-business pictures and then over time add your items.Let’s use the holiday cottage example mentioned earlier. Someone who owns a rentalproperty in a vacation area will have a problem on Google because the first 4 or 5pages of results are dominated by the large agents. So they create a board on Pinterestand fill it with pictures of the cottage itself. They also upload images of the surroundingcountry side; local places of interest and fun ideas for holiday activities, use keywords inthe descriptions to help Pinterest subscribers come across the board follow them and,ultimately, rent the cottage.From a business perspective it’s a no-brainer. If you your business will potentiallybenefit from a lot of visitors seeing images of your product or service, you need to beon Pinterest.

Chapter 2: How To Use PinterestPinterest is a social media site that's growing in leaps and bounds. It's been called the'visual Twitter' because it's all about images. You create boards and share your imageswith other users. While it may good for traffic, its real power is in how you can use itfor branding. Understanding how and why Pinterest users are there in the first place, iskey. They are not usually there to be sold. It’s important to consider your audienceand what they want, and then make it your mission to fill a void.Let’s talk about who is using Pinterest. When the site started out, it was overwhelminglyyoung and female. Businesses that catered to that demographic posted pictures of theirclothes, fashions, hairstyles, cute pets, food, travel destinations and more. But now it'smuch more than just young ladies who are using it. So, why do people use Pinterest?They're not there to hang out like Facebook or to network like LinkedIn, and they're notlooking for written content. What people mostly do is use Pinterest to have fun, explorean interest, or find solutions. For marketers, this means we need to avoid hard selltactics, content needs to be visually appealing. An image should immediately invoke anemotion and/or explain “what’s in it for me.”Here’s an example. A company that sells a natural cleaner made from oranges is a lotmore likely to gain followers by posting images of a sparkling kitchen with a pretty bowlof oranges a focal point as opposed to a photo of the bottle of their product. The firstimage appeals to the senses. The user can imagine their kitchen, sparkling andsmelling fresh. Any written content should then offer cleaning tips or time and budgetsavers.On Pinterest, you create 'pin boards' where you upload your images or ‘repin’ imagesfrom other boards that you follow. Each of your pin boards is based around a commontheme. One simple thing you can do with your boards is use them to show off yourproducts. You can create one for each product line or create fun themes and integrateyour products into each one. Another way to use them is to find pins that your fanswould enjoy and ‘repin’, kind of like sharing images you've found. A personal trainermight repin healthy recipes or fitness wear. For the self-help niche, you can pin imageswith inspirational quotes. Like all social media sites, Pinterest is all about engaging youraudience. You've got to do that as much as possible by asking for opinions or commentsor encouraging ‘repins’ with a free giveaway.Another engagement idea is to get your fans to take a picture and post it on yourboard. It could be a picture of them with your product or those doing something relatedto your brand. This requires inviting your fans to a shared board. Don’t overdo this!!Choose one board that you plan to share with fans, pick a theme, and let them go.People love to share their own pins if given a place to start.

Chapter 3: How To Upload Videos And Images To PinterestAdding original content to Pinterest is simple.While other social platforms also allow posting of images, with Pinterest you have theadded advantage of categorizing your images into various \"boards.\" This gives followersthe opportunity to hone in more narrowly on their specific interest. If you're anorganization with many products and styles, the platform gives you a way to narrowthings down for your potential customers. The instant gratification of the right imagelends itself beautifully to the online contest. By creating a site that asks people to shareimages of a selected topic, and to offer an incentive for posting, such as a prize orcoupon, you have the ability to draw interest for your brand or organization. You canencourage people to create a board based on their favorite images from your site, andthen broadcast that whoever gets the most pins and re-pins, wins. 1. Click on the Add button on the top right of the screen and select Upload a Pin. 2. Choose a file from your computer.

3. Choose your board from the drop down menu and add a description. Click the Pin It button and your pin will be shared with your followers.Once been at it for a while and have drawn in some new followers, you're now besetwith another monumental task -- but one that can yield monumental rewards. Itsresearch and this is something that every social media manager should take seriously.By monitoring the things being repinned from your boards, you have the ability toconduct research into the habits, interests and behaviors of your audience, and to tailoryour future efforts toward what's been popular in the past.

Chapter 4: How To Get Pinterest Followers 1. Link your account to your existing Facebook and Twitter profiles. Doing so means that every new item you pin will be displayed to your followers on these networks. Since you already have established connections with subscribers on these sites, you’ll find that many of them elect to follow your Pinterest profile naturally. Currently, Pinterest does not allow a connection between Facebook Pages and Pinterest so businesses are encouraged to set up their accounts through Twitter. You can join as a business here: http://business.pinterest.com/ 2. Make your content easy to pin. Integrating Pinterest buttons into your blog posts, product pages and other areas of your site can help boost the number of times your content is pinned and lead to new followers for your profile. Because Pinterest is still relatively new, simply having these buttons in place provides a visual reminder for people to subscribe to your profile and engage with your content on this new site. You can also create boards to supplement your post; doing so makes your content more engaging and gives readers a reason to follow your profile. Get the Pin IT Button here: http://business.pinterest.com/widget-builder/#do_pin_it_button 3. It is important to pin regularly to keep your content fresh and near the top of the page. For best results, aim to pin between 5-30 new items a day, depending on the number of active Pinterest boards you maintain. It’s not as labor intensive as it may seem, as many of these can be ‘repins.’ Shoot for 1 original pin per every 5 or 6 ‘repins.’

Chapter 5: Pinning Videos On Pinterest 1. To pin your videos, you’ll first need the short link that leads directly to your video on YouTube.com. Click Share underneath your video and copy the short “youtu.be” code in the slim box. Don’t use the embed code. 2. Head back over to Pinterest.com. Then you have to click the Add+ link in Pinterest. 3. Paste your shortened link and click “Find Images.”

Pinterest will select an image or a selection of images to use as a thumbnail. Click thePin It button on the image you want to use.The next step will be familiar. You’ll be directed to choose your board and to enter adescription.Pinterest is a great way to share expertise, especially in the DIY, crafts and cookingcategories. A contractor could create a huge following with a video series of simple

household repair tips. If you’re a realtor or an interior designer, Pinterest is a greatplace to show off a beautiful home. Landscapers can also show off their work. A greatway to take advantage of the social aspects of Pinterest is to create a collaborativeboard. If you’re connected with your friends, customers or stake holders, add them to acollaborative board and invite them to post their videos.If you have a brick and mortar store, encourage customers to shoot a quick video of theproduct they’ve just bought. Reward those who share their videos on Pinterest or whoadd content to your collaborative board. If you embed a lot of videos on your websiteor blog, ask visitors to pin your video. Many Pinterest users have browser plugins thatallow them to easily pin website content. As you produce your videos, keep Pinterest inmind. You may find yourself making videos exclusively for Pinterest. Don’t be afraid toask people within your video to re-pin it after they’ve watched. As Pinterest continuesto grow video content will become more common-place.

Chapter 6: Creating Your Boards On PinterestCreating boards is simple. Naming and organizing them is a little more complex but it’s also where youget to use a bit of your own creativity. We’ll go step by step on how to create a board and then offersome thoughts on theming your boards to reach the masses. 1. Click the Add Button and this time, select Create a Board from the drop down menu. 2. You’ll be prompted to give your board a name, a short description, and to select a category from Pinterest’s pre-selected categories. You can edit these at any time.

3. Once you save your changes, your board will appear. It will be empty, but you’ll be prompted to add pins once you are there.4. Naming your boards and choosing creative or useful content is key to having your boards found, followed, and repined. In the above example, a nail salon has fun color boards. This one is obviously a board full of pink stuff. They have other boards for colors and metallic, glitter, and so on.The most popular boards are fashion, DIY (Do IT Yourself), For the Home, and Recipes. Think abouthow your business can benefit from using such categories to be found. The connection may not beobvious but the more you stretch your imagination, the result will be a clever board that many willfollow. • Does your company sell flooring? Did you know that you can almost completely clean up a red wine spill just by pouring salt on it? Try it and create a little video for posting. • A travel company can easily share pictures of destinations but what about packing tips and or travel games for kids…. • If it’s a product that you sell, don’t just post a picture of your product and hope that people will buy. Remember it’s not your product that people want. It’s the problem that it solves or the way it makes them feel that is for sale. • Luxury car dealers should post other luxury items, lavish destinations, and anything that exudes a privileged lifestyle. The underlying theme is that while most of us will never afford a yacht, a trip to exotic ports of call or a Villa in Tuscany, we can drive a Mercedes or BMW and have the feeling that we belong in that category. • Consider the end result, and there may be many, that your product provides. That is what you are selling!

Chapter 7: Promotion Techniques For PinterestPinterest is a visually based social media site that focuses on users interacting based oncommon interests and visual appeal, rather than social circles. This is where your socialmedia methods must change from your techniques used on Facebook and Twitter.Leave the networking for those sites. Here, you must appeal to what people want- andideally- what those outside of your social circles want to see.#1 Showing off your business the Pinteresting wayPinterest isn't just about working off of a single pin board. Pinterest provides more than30 categories and adds new topics frequently. Make sure that you spread your businessacross every topic you can, within reason. You can use Pinterest to tell stories of yourbusiness, such as the history or influences that brought about its present structure.We’ve said it once but it bears restating: Don't just post items for sale, or pictures ofyour products and services, because you won't appeal to the \"browsing\" nature ofPinterest users. If you're a local business, create boards with pictures of your city,surrounding areas, and even photography that is unique to your area. Be sure to setthe location of your business in your settings to improve local SEO rankings andcoverage for your account.#2 Linking to your sitesPinterest focuses primarily on pictures and videos, your links must be relayed throughimages. You can utilize this primarily through your blogs and website, further improvingthe value that images and videos have on a site's effectiveness. Because of theconnective abilities that Pinterest offers, you can link to various sites throughout yournetwork. But remember that your links will draw traffic to a certain site, and this iswhere you'll have to do your best to impress them. Don't guide traffic to vacant parkinglots; draw them to areas where others have already gathered. Pinterest definitely givesyou an edge when it comes to directing site traffic, if you do it the right way.

Every ‘Pin’ has an Edit option. When you click Edit Pin, above edit box appears. To direct users to your website or other chosen link, simply enter it into the Source field.#3 A few words of cautionWhen linking a Pin to your website, be sure that the content of the pin is actuallypresent on the page where you are sending users. Changing the links of dozens ofpictures just to send users to your site is the equivalent of spamming. It’s done far toooften on Pinterest and you’ll find soon enough that it’s very annoying. It’s a practicethat will easily cause you to lose followers. On your own, original content, it’s always agood idea to link to your website, blog, etc.There are no privacy settings. This means that anyone can look at your information andpins. Of course, this is somewhat of a double edged sword, allowing anyone on theinternet to find you, but that also leaves you open to spam. Occasionally, you’ll find thatanother ‘Pinner” will comment with irrelevant links posted to your pins. These are anannoyance but simple to delete.

Chapter 8: Using Pinterest To Organize EventsIt is easy to keep your ideas in organized board as you begin planning your event. Youcan create individual boards with dedicated topics using identifying images. Each aspectof your event can have its own place. When you add the pin it button plug-in to yourbrowser it is quick and easy to post the images your research uncovers. The images youselect can be instantly added to your Pinterest pin boards as you navigate to relevantwebsites. You simply select the appropriate image, choose which board to add it to,provide a simple description and \"Pin it.\"Visual references in the form of the pins you collect enable you to instantly arrive at theinformation you have collected. You can reference any topic related to organizing yourevent, compile a list of vendors to supply your event and mold your events look andfeel. Your pins are not restricted to only your Pinterest profile. You can link your profileto Twitter and Facebook making it extremely easy to share your ideas with anyoneassociated with your project. You can also scroll through the boards other collaboratorshave placed on their Pinterest profiles and gain more insight to direct your efforts.As you begin pinning and re-pinning various items others can follow you. If theybecome instrumental to your campaign it is a simple prospect to add them to yourboards. You can follow and be followed by anyone in the world who has a profile onPinterest. Becoming inspired by other people's pin boards is what Pinterest is all about.There are many themes involved in planning any event. Regardless of how many effortsyou must put together Pinterest has made it a highly efficient process to add and deleteany number of subjects to your profile. All of the boards you create will be permanentlyplaced on Pinterest until the time you decide they are no longer needed. This isespecially useful when being involved with organizing re-occurring events like companypicnics or Christmas parties. Editing and sharing your pins with friends is madeespecially easy with Pinterest. Anyone associated with your project can \"like\" your pinsthus casting their vote on the content you post. Friends and followers becomecollaborators to your efforts while you- the creator of your boards- maintain control ofthe content.When you locate expert information to aid you in organizing your event it is very simpleto \"follow\" them when they are pinned. Find out who the \"go-to\" authority for yourevent is and create a board for them exclusively. A wealth of great ideas will be sure toresult. You can follow magazines, blogs and professional websites. If your event ispublic and you need to create interest or generate participation, use descriptive imageswith popular tags to attract a target audience. Simply select those titles that areassociated with the interested parties and their attention will be yours. Compile avariety of subjects or themes in the beginning of your project and allow interestedparties to respond. Your audience will define their interest for you and your pre-selected

topics will guide your theme. Events are rarely planned by a single individual.Brainstorming is a very effective approach to developing your ideas. Adding images toboards and developing ideas is the favorite activity of Pinterest subscribers.When you allow your friends or co-workers to pin and re-pin their ideas, the ideasyou've supplied will evolve on their own. If you are working with collaborators itbecomes easy to compile a list of pros and cons for any idea suggested. Crowd sourcingis an excellent way to gather inspiration. Pin pictures of those who are scheduled andpictures of those you wish to invite and watch your guest list take on a life of its own. Itwould virtually be impossible to overlook an item of planning when you have highlyvisible imaged based reminders at your disposal. With those who \"follow\" and \"like\"your photos, no idea will be left unexplored. Use the Pinterest board to show peoplewhat kind of activities they might expect to see at your event. Making separate boardsfor each activity will allow for a more comprehensive coverage of your topic.When your event is over and the participants want to gather photos of the event fortheir own use there is no other place better suited to share them with those whoattended.

Chapter 9: Pinterest Frequently Asked QuestionsThere are a lot of applications coming out these days especially when it comes to socialmedia. One of the many things that you can enjoy is Pinterest. It is one social mediathat you can enjoy just like Facebook and Twitter but like any other application it hascertain things that needs to be tackled. With the coming of Pinterest, there are alsoquestions that would come along. It would be best then that you take a look of thosefrequently asked questions before you start using Pinterest. Through this you will beable to avoid hassles and things will be a lot easier for you. You can visit their websitefor your own review but before anything else; try looking at these frequently askedquestions: 1. Who can pin to my boards?You have the option to choose who can pin to your board. You can choose ‘just me’ or ifyou’d like multiple contributors, you can choose ‘multiple people’. Choosing ‘multiplepeople’ will require that you add the other person’s user name or email address. 2. How do I ‘pin’ an image from the web onto a board?There are a couple ways to do this. You can go to the menu bar at the top right of thePinterest page and click [Add -> Add Pin]. From here, you can enter the URL of thewebsite image and click ‘Pin it”. Or you can drag the Pin It button to your toolbar foreasy pinning from any site. http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/#browser 3. How do I search for specific types of images?You can look for certain types of images by clicking on the ‘Everything’ link andselecting one of the 18 categories provided such as gifts, food + drink, travel, DIY, kids,etc. Another option is to typing in the search field specifically what you are interested insuch as ‘flower arrangements’ or ‘Audrey Hepburn’. This should return images wherethose words were used in the description of the image. 4. How do I rearrange my boards so that my most frequently viewed are at the top (or any other arrangement)?The Pinterest staff has recently added this feature. Go to [Your user name -> YourBoards]. This should produce all of your boards. There is a ‘Rearrange’ button in the topright corner. Click that button, move your boards in the order you want, and then clicksave. It’s as easy as that.

5. How do I delete a pin or a board?For either a board or a pin, you should see an ‘edit’ button when you hover over theimage. Click ‘edit’ and then ‘delete (pin or board)’ in the new window that appears.As with all things related to social media, the one thing that is consistent is that it is notconsistent. Things are bound to change from time to time. At the time of publishing,the information here is current. We make it a priority to stay up to date on all thingsrelated to branding and media for business. We’d love to stay in touch and share topicsof interest. Here’s how you can find us:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tandemmediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/TandemMediaUSAPinterest: http://pinterest.com/tandemmedia/Website: http://www.tandemmediausa.com/index.htmlEmail [email protected]