What is Pinterest?
Pinterest.com is a pinboard that allows you to beautifully organize and share the things you love and it is a booming website that is still in beta and users can request an invitation (it is not usually immediate, have patience) before pinning.
Most people use Pinterest for personal use and share beautiful images from the web focusing on interiors, products, places and more. As it is young, the culture is still to share pictures that are inspirational, but as Twitter changed, so shall Pinterest, but for now, there are some amazing uses that are being overlooked by businesses, especially since photos shared retain a link to the source which is fabulous for bloggers.
Using Pinterest for business
There are a variety of uses that businesses are overlooking:
- Realtors should be pinning the most beautiful images of their listings with notes about the design or unique nature of the architecture.
- Retailers should be pinning high quality photos of their products and telling the back story – where is the cotton in that shirt from? How long has the company been in business? Is fair trade in play? Share the details!
- Animal services (vets, groomers, sitters) should be posting fun pictures of their animal clients without referencing their people clients. Tell something funny the cat did or how sad the dog made you.
- Bloggers that don’t have much to add to Pinterest can still use it as inspiration for blog content!
Anatomy of a Pinterest pin
The options are endless, and we recommend sticking to high quality photos if you want them to be shared. So how does this all work? Here is the anatomy of a pin, this will clear it all up:
Get started
- Click here to start on your own.
- Click here to see a full board in action (hint: it’s my fun Pinterest for personal use).
- Click here to see a blogger’s “Pinterest Picks.”
- Click here to see a blogger’s use of Pinterest to direct people where to buy products from the inspiration photo.
Bonus:
As mentioned previously, the culture of Pinterest is currently to post beautiful, inspirational images. Below are a few images that have been repinned from other users:
Remember, you should be aware of potential scams, as anyone can share any picture with a link to anything – just like on Facebook, scammers will eventually discover Pinterest and offer free Rolex watches or Chili’s gift certificates in exchange for being able to steal data from your computer (like your credit cards). Just remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch, stick to what looks legit.
