Why are so many people interested in Pinterest? Is it the breathtaking scenic holiday getaway shots, maybe the mouthwatering food images or those comical images?
Yes, to the questions!
What is Pinterest.. how does it work?
Pinterest is a social platform that allows you to share content. There is, however, a catch to it. You won’t be able to see the text past
the pinner’s image on his/her Pin Boards. This is because Pinterest pulls the pinners images from their blog post or web content. You’re drawn in by their creativity and colors making their site more appealing visibly than the normal bold headlines.
This is why Pinterest is my fav…. It gives your audience a totally different experience!
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is the 3rd most popular social network after Facebook and Twitter. It’s a virtual online pin board based on images. Users upload their photos (pins) and put them on their created boards. They might also have images that are grouped based on a common theme. Content is shared and driven ‘entirely’ by visuals. To share your content you must involve an image.
Who is Pinterest for?
Pinterest members use Pinterest for a variety of reasons…
- Product based retailers look to increase their sales by showing their products in a visual manner. If you’re a retailer, this is definitely a missed opportunity if you’re not using Pinterest.
- Landscapers, clothing, travel professionals, etc.
- Great for anyone or business that can tell amazing stories with an image, funny images, sports-related, hobbies, etc.
- People or businesses who want to share images hoping their visitors will view their content and drive traffic to their website or blog
- People who just enjoy sharing photos, yummy recipes, movies, products, places, etc.
- People or businesses who are looking to reach out to the global market. Make sure you understand how the different demographics really work in Pinterest
Pinterest, like other social media, has its own lingo.
Pin:
This is when you or some other user has uploaded their images, photos, or videos and put it on a Pinterest board. Once you have uploaded your image or entered a URL to one of your boards, it’s considered a pin to that board.
Board or Pin Board:
You can create more than one board. For each new pin, you must categorize it to your real-life boards. In other words, you are creating your own virtual pinboards. For instance, let’s say you uploaded an image of some yummy Japanese foods. You can create a board called Japanese Recipes and pin that image on that board.
Repin:
This is when you share someone else’s pin or someone shares yours. When you repin, you add it to one of your categorized boards.
Pinner:
This is someone who uses Pinterest.
Comment:
You can discuss the pin by writing a comment just below that pin.
Like:
If you enjoyed the pin but don’t want to repin it, you can show appreciation to the owner by hovering over the pin. Click on the Like button.
Alright!! Want to give Pinterest a try?
Let’s start off first by looking at what some of the brands are doing on Pinterest. If you look at Fitbody Bootcamp, it tells you exactly who they are without being salesy. They tell a great story!
Here’s another great example… Dale Carnegie!
Step 1: Sign up for Pinterest. It only takes 15 seconds to sign up for FREE!
Enter https://www.pinterest.com on your search browser.
You can sign in using your Facebook or Email address. It’s up to you which one you choose. After you set up your Pinterest profile, you can login using Facebook and follow your friends. Be cautious how often you post your brand pins on Facebook. Some people may not be happy to see your pins on their News Feeds on a daily basis.
Select …
- Continue with Facebook or
If you choose Email, enter your Email address and create a password. Click the red Sign up button.
Step 2: Name, age, and gender
Next, enter your name, age (optional), and gender. Click the red Come on in button…
or you can continue on as a business….
Once you enter your password, if you are using Safari, Safari asks if you would like to save the password.
- Never for This Website
- Not Now
- Save Password
Anytime I’m asked this question, I choose Not Now… just my personal preference!
Step 3: Specific brand search
a) Enter any business name in Pinterest’s search browser located up at the top left corner of Pinterest’s page. As you enter, you will see a result page (defaults) of all the pins and boards that use that specific search term.
For example, if I enter Fit Body ..
Step 4: Choose topics
This is where the fun begins… when you first sign in, Pinterest allows you to choose 5 topics to follow….just click on the topic. You can search for any topic by scrolling up or down or enter something of interest. This sets up your Pinterest home page. When you have selected all 5 topics click the red Done button at the bottom.
Step 5: Edit your Profile
Up at the top right, you will see your name, click on your name.
Like any social network platform, the first impression is extremely important, especially, if you’re using Pinterest as your marketing tool. Your Pinners are going to stop here to learn more about you. Your profile is all about you! it’s where you put your profile image in and a few words about you (160 characters).
- Your full name will appear by default.
- Picture – this is where you want to upload a picture of you. After you upload, your picture may appear sideways… don’t worry about it. It will show up correctly. People relate better when they can see your face.
- Your Username defaults to www.pinterest.com/ and your name. You can change it here to whatever name you want or your brand name (3 – 15 characters long). Pinterest will let you know if the name is available or not.
- About you – When Pinners click on your Pinterest page, they will see this information at the top of the screen. This is your best opportunity to tell others about you and or your brand (160 characters). This is the most important part of your Pinterest platform… of course in addition to what you pin.
- Location – this is optional. I recommend you put your area of location… city and province or state. It doesn’t have to be a physical address. It gives your pinners an idea of where you’re located.
- Website – This is optional. If you have a business website or a blog URL put it here. This is a great opportunity for you to expose your business.
You also have the option below to change your password, email, Facebook/Twitter preferences by clicking on your settings (red).
When you’re finished, click on the red Save button.
Step 6: Confirm your website
Once your website is confirmed, your profile picture is added to any pin that comes from your website.
Note: When you convert to a Pinterest business account you get access to Google Website Analytics. All you have to do is just copy the given tag code (example below) and paste it into your site’s index HTML file as instructed.
Click the red button Finish or Cancel.
Just below your ‘About you” description, you will see:
Boards – 0
Pins – 0
Like – 0
Followers – 0
Following – 5 (topics you chose from step 4)
These numbers will change once you become actively engaged in using Pinterest and so you will want to go to …
The next step …
Want to create a powerful Pinterest Account? At this point, you’ve only learned the basics. Did you know that Pinterest is one of the most socially ‘Buyer’ engaged platform… much more than Facebook and Twitter? What you do from here on can lead to a significantly, sizeable amount of referrals for your Wealthy Affiliate site or other brand niche sites. You need to understand how to create this powerful Pinterest Account.
Please follow me on my next FREE Pinterest session ‘How to use Pinterest to market your business’ and learn the following:
- How to get on the Board and spruce it up
- How to pin… what is the minimum on a board
If you have any questions or comments, you can write them below. I would like to hear from you. Because I do all of my work in Wealthy Affiliate community, you can also reach me there.