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The Pinterest Phenomenon

calander 25 February, 2012
Pinterest

The hottest alternative social media niche network

 

Last month, I outlined the best online marketing practices and discussed social media sites such as Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and YouTube. These sites are the core social media sites every business should be utilizing. This month, I would like to discuss if you should add the new Internet phenomenon called Pinterest to your list. Is this niche consumer social network the next gold rush for businesses?

What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is peaking with articles being written everyday It is a visual pinboard-styled social photo, video and blog sharing website. NOTE: Right now, Pinterest only supports YouTube videos. The service allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections of their favorite recipes, art, crafts, clothes, places and anything else someone can pin (bookmark) from a website.

Pinterest Board
Pinterest Board

Almost two years old, it just became one of the top 10 social networks according to the tracking firm, Hitwise. Last month it had more than 11 million unique visitors according to comScore. Those users spent nearly 100 minutes on the site. That is five times more than other social sites. Pinterest’s mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.”

Why should businesses care about Pinterest?
After you learn how users are using it, you can quickly see the possibilities for certain businesses. There are unique and specialized boards for just about everything. I created a marketing board to keep track of any marketing articles that interest me. Another marketer will follow my board and the social circle begins. There is no limit to the number of pins or boards you can have. You can also collaborate with others to build a board. After browsing Pinterest, you will quickly find boards for everything. A pin of your favorite product will be highlighted with the price on the photo. It works as a sort of virtual store catalog. Many e-commerce sites are keeping a close eye and formulating marketing plans already for this year.

Right now, users are still learning and businesses are trying to figure out how to extract the maximum marketing potential from this new craze. Part of its appeal is that it has beautiful images and they are so easily viewed by scrolling infinitely. You will thrive if you have visually interesting images that are worthy enough to repin. Uninteresting or poor quality images are less likely to be repinned or desired. There are alternatives to the above, which cannot be understated. As an example, “Constant Contact” is an e-mail service with no visual aspect. As one would expect while using an e-mail service with no visual components, there are many interesting boards included with a wealth of information on them. One board of theirs is called “Infographics.” The board has many charts procedures and tips contained for every business. I follow it for research and educational purposes.

Help Me Stop Pinning
Help Me Stop Pinning

Demographic
Currently in the US the demographic is mostly women between the ages of 20 to 30. I guarantee you that will change quickly to include a much broader demographic. In the UK men are the majority. This site is inspiring and you will become and instant explorer trying to find the next cool thing. People just can’t stop.

Should you get started with Pinterest? This is not for every business. You need to review your manpower needs for this endeavor. Nowadays, you can easily feel pressured to join every social network on the block in order to get ahead. However, sometimes that can be a waste of time. You may ask, what will be my return on my investment (ROI)? You should not think of this as a monetary venture. If nothing else, it is about building your brand and helping your SEO. Hubspot says, ”Succeeding on Pinterest is about finding how your products or services fit into the lifestyles of your target audience.” One thing is for sure. It is very easy to start a board and get right into it. The interface is a snap. Test the waters personally before you start a company page.

How to register
The quickest way to join Pinterest is to be invited by someone already registered. If you want an invite please contact me and I will gladly invite you. Otherwise there is a review process and it takes about a week to complete.

What should you do to get started?

  • Re-purpose your best content and images.
  • Stay organized and create target niche boards using industry related key words.
  • It’s not all about you so create individual boards with industry trends and try to integrate your logo.
  • Just like with any campaign track your links with Google analytics to review your successes.
  • Follow other pinners, re-pin and like their content.
  • Try and be creative and be a good editor and curate your boards.
  • Read this article 56 ways to market your business on Pinterest.

Copyright infringement
So your not happy with all this image sharing and fear your materials will be stolen. Pinterest created a code that lets any website opt-out of being “pinned.” It addresses-copyright-issues some owners may have. You can also track who is pinning your website by inserting your URL after source. Example www.pinterest/source/your website here.

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9 thoughts on “The Pinterest Phenomenon”

  1. It consistently is amazing to me how site owners for example your self can find some time and the commitment to carry on composing excellent posts. Your website iswonderful and one of my need to read websites. I simply had to thank you.

  2. Thank you for the compliment. I designed and coded the site myself. I taught myself by reading blogs, youtube videos and anywhere I could find information on the net. I don’t know best practices and so far I have not heard any negative feedback about other search engine issues. If I had heard I would not know what to do. I would research to find out though. Try and keep your site simple and many times plugins could be the culprit. I use WordPress and that is always the first thing I look at. Sorry I was not much help.

    Regards,
    Scott

  3. There are many variables. I am far from an expert when it comes to code but sometimes browsers like different kinds of code. I would research the web for answer to your problem.

    Good luck.

    Scott

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