I hem and haw all the way to a new channel; everyone knows that about me. I let the leaders be first movers, ahem, Gini, and I watch and read as they navigate uncharted waters and inform us all. Why not? They’re the leaders! Heh.
And, so, I asked for and received my Pinterest invitation, thank you, Gini, and hopped on. As with anything new, it takes a bit of concentration (no multi-tasking, Kaarina) to figure out. In fact, I read the help questions which I think are helpful (fancy that).
So, here’s the first impression, guys:
Run, do not pass go, do not collect $400 (inflation), and ask for your invite right now (ask me now) to jump onto Pinterest immediately. Can you say addiction? Can you say stairway to heaven? Oy; we who are engaged are done; turn me over and bake the other side.
Why you ask?
>>Visual-ness — the most appealing sensory
>>Personalization with high-level creativity
>>Engagement less serious and more fun
>>Provokes thought and (did I already say this) creativity
From a business perspective:
>>A board (what you create to pin images on) can be about your clients. You can promote clients’ products and services with the images from their websites, etc. (Companies have a harder time promoting themselves, as you’ve read, but an agency (hands down) will have no problem. I have not researched disclosure yet; Gini, do you know?
>>Blog fodder is amazing. If you want ideas for your features on your blog, have at it. Ubiquitous . Limitless.
>>Business development in a highly creative way. Let’s pick on the Gin Blossom once more here…if you read her profile on Pinterest, you’ll find she’s an avid biker and foodie. When you look at her boards, you see the foods she wants to make in the future. If I were a restaurant and she was a celebrity chef (she is , actually, just find her Tumblr blog), I’d invite her, via an agent of course, to make an appearance in my establishment and prepare a meal under the bright lights of cameras and video, etc. etc.
For me, I took some time understanding how people were using this. But, I won’t do that again, as there doesn’t seem to be a method. As soon as I pushed my first pin, someone I didn’t know re-pinned and another wrote a note. I had to determine access points to respond, and then I continued to complete my first board, “Gems, Gems and More Colored Gems.” I bet no one knows I want to be a gemologist in the next iteration of moi. I feed my yearning with world travels to gem locales and wheel and deal for another to add to my collection (at least I used to prior to becoming a mom). Pinterest allows people to see that very personal side of others based on the boards with pinned images. If someone is highly private, then stop on go. Pinterest is NOT for you.
So, ask me for an invite; you will not be disappointed.
HAHAHAHAHAH!!! LOL!! I swear I spent 30 hours on it during the holidays. I created all my boards, followed all my FB friends, and got to work. Now I spend about 15 minutes a day on there, but the “what’s for dinner” argument is dead. Now we just look at my “must make” Pinterest board and go.
Of course, I’m also using it for work, as a bookmarking tool on stuff I want to refer back to occasionally. I love it!
Yeah. Saw that bookmarking board you made; more for personal than public viewing or you don’t care? I was thinking about tagging bloggers to read later or my favorite posts or some such. (Which got me thinking about tweets I want to pin and save; can we create an app for that? Watch someone will run with this idea and get rich quick.)
Now I know how to get you here in the midst of book promos and being Gini — tag you about 3 times and become your agent when you’re a celebrity chef and my client is a restaurant. Hah. Good Day, Twin.
I have a book board where I’m tagging authors. It’s fun to see what people like and what they don’t. And I totally don’t care if it’s public. I don’t put anything up there that would embarrass myself.
I know. I know. I’ve been REALLY bad about blog commenting. I haven’t figured out, quite yet, how to do it all.
I erased my snark. All I can do is nod my head with empathy and return to creating another board on Pinterest. XO
LOL! You can keep the snark! I’m headed over to follow your boards now.
HAHAHAHAHAH!!! LOL!! I swear I spent 30 hours on it during the holidays. I created all my boards, followed all my FB friends, and got to work. Now I spend about 15 minutes a day on there, but the “what’s for dinner” argument is dead. Now we just look at my “must make” Pinterest board and go.
Of course, I’m also using it for work, as a bookmarking tool on stuff I want to refer back to occasionally. I love it!
Thanks for the tip of the hat and the tips. I’ve not yet jumped onto the Pinterest wagon, simply because another platform seems just so overwhelming. But everything I’ve heard about it says “do it”. So send along an invite, my friend: I’d appreciate it. Cheers! Kaarina
Sent you an invite; hope you get and engage. Your photography will do wonders up there! Your jewelry, too!!! RUN!
Oh, that looks so call. Yes, please. Can I have an invite. I’m sending you one for Wunderkit.
Just sent you invite, Friend. Let me know you’ve received. See you on the boards!
For certain B2C brands, Pinterest is a godsend. I pin recipes all the time, and I saw a GREAT example from Williams-Sonoma. People were madly pinning a recipe for popovers, which, when clicked, took you to a page on the WS site with a recipe for the popovers with gorgeous photography. Oh, and if you need to buy the popover pan, here it is. Seamless, gorgeous. If I could afford the pan, I’d have bought it!
Loving that you’re here, Eleanorpie! Thanks! I am so intrigued with all the options you’re fully aware of! Oh, to be merely a consumer and not a strategic social media consultant to build this into a plan. I’d love to be free to go where the pins take me! Great example of the ROI potential for marketers!
The day I read about it; I got addicted; I had an invite but I didn’t join until I saw the craze catching up and yes, I did spend like hours just pinning stuff and naming and renaming boards! 🙂
But somehow the craze wore of too quick… why?
I am tracking with you, absolute. It’s like a week of fad with fun, and then you’re like “now what?” That’s why my next article will be about diving in deeper with a business strategy in mind. I need to think on this, though. If you have any hot ideas, please advise? Thanks, Hajra!
Well a lot of people are writing about why they feel Pinterest will be making it big. I think business that runs on visual inputs and marketing might have great potential to utilize. For example; a before and after pic for a weight loss center; or someone who wants to teach a certain yoga posture, or like Ameena uses BIV; that could be pinned as favorites. I am eager to see how people are going to use Pinterest….
I fully agree. Great ideas here… will share in the next Pinterest post; coming soon to a theater near you!
Oooo… should we buy tickets already? 😉
I have to agree with you Jaymee, somehow its different than all the rest of the image platforms out there. I’ve been getting a lot of re-pins, but I haven’t gotten far enough to figure out how to do one myself yet 😛
On another note, I’m not sure why I wasn’t sub’d to your blog posts.. weird. I used to be. When I sub’d up it said welcome back???
I noticed some posts in Tribber that I hadn’t seen before.
Anyoo, you’re back in my email box, which I prefer for people I read regularly : )
Cheers!
Yeah! Stay tuned for an entire revamp of this site, too. Which may or may not adjust things slightly. As for Pinterest, it only takes a minute to get up to speed. I love the visualness of it all and seeing what boards people put together about themselves is pretty neat. I expected yours to be about Costa Rica, and I wasn’t disappointed!
Pinterest is amazing. It is a great tool for creatives. I used to manually collect all kind of swipe & inspiration materials and spent hours filing and organizing it…no more. It is great for brands and retailers – connecting with their consumers. While it is not meant to be highly promotional, it is a great way for brands to showcase their key attributes and visually show their brand personality. I also think it will be a great tool for job seekers to share their own personal brand. And, well…..it’s just amazingly fun. I do, however, restrict myself to pinning only at night when I have all my other ‘to-do’s completed. It is my reward for an accomplished day.
Hi, Lisa! Thanks for adding these thoughts; I’m thinking hard about the value for business Pinterest brings. For those in services, I think seeing that personal side of people is valuable for sure. I see it absolutely for consumer brands, restaurants and need to strategize how to incorporate for other products. FUN! Yes…I have to do it at night and I like your “treat” reward for yourself!
I joined Pinterest last week and I am loving it. Here’s me if you want to follow (I follow back)
https://pinterest.com/morenikej/ I think it’s great for creating a visual creative side of yourself, which will probably include whatever your business likes are too. I love and teach social dancing… and one of the first things I did was to create a board called Dance With Me. It’s full of things that inspire me, however I almost immediately repins. it’s enabled me to bring in photos of modern jive. I emjoy sharing things that others have pinned, it’s half the fun. I’ve seen lots of posts by marketers about how it’s a great tool for business… it can be but only if they are creative about it. I personally hope it doesn’t become full of marketers pushing their products (seen several posts seemingly suggesting that), which to me proves many business/marketing people don’t get Pinterest yet) because I think it will turn users off. I’m going to create boards for my dance students to contribute and share what inspired them too. Anyway, it’s great fun – and very inspiring.
Hey Jayme…can you whack an invite over the pond please? I’m so ready for this…
Drop me your email @joolspayne and I’ll forward you invite…absolute!
@JiveNationTO (Trouble with replies on the new commenting system…) So happy to see you here! From copywriting to jive — that’s a story right there! I love how you’re going to use Pinterest, and it’s a great reminder to not let business totally take over…