Pinterest, What Is It And Why Should I Care?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Pinterest, What Is It And Why Should I Care?
Social media is what life is all about for most online addicts (if the shoe fits, wear it!). We frequent sites like Facebook and Twitter and often find that they are a major part of our day and our social life. Well, enter stage right, a new member to this Social Media list, a platform aptly named Pinterest.
The Pinterest growth explosion has really rocked the Internet. Blog posts now feature a “Pin It” button allowing your blog readers to pin your content themselves. Smart phone applications now abound with apps for browsing pinboards on the go. It is truly amazing how fast and far this little website concept has come over the last year.
I find that most people have by now heard the name Pinterest, but they actually don’t understand what Pinterest is all about.
Pinterest can best be explained as a platform that allows one to express their personal interests through images. These images are “pinned” onto virtual pinboards in your profile. One might have multiple pinboards expressing a collage of one’s life, hobbies, goals, vacations, etc. We are limited only by our imagination as to what we might want to create. express and share.
The fun is in the creation, it can be truly an art craft of expression. Then, there is the enjoyment of perusing other member’s pinboards, as they share what sometimes is a unique and intimate window into their life. One soon finds that words aren’t necessary to express the nature of one’s personality, life, or dreams. It can be done very effectively through the medium of pictures.
Creating Pinterest Categories
Creating categories will let you organize your account and allow people to choose what pinboard in your account they want to review. You could choose to share all of your pinboards with other users or only a couple. You can not only make notes about the images you pin to your pinboard, but you can also add links to sites where you found the pictures.
The Social Part of Pinterest
Just like Facebook and Twitter, you can elect to follow coworkers and friends. You don’t have to follow all of a friend’s collections; for example, you can choose to follow only their collection of art, while choosing not to follow their postings of their favorite restaurants.
How can I Make Money With Pinterest?
Listing pictures of your products for sale are the most obvious way to make money with this fun social pinboard. When you upload a pin (picture), you get the opportunity to mark it as a product and enter a sales price. At the top of the main page, the navigation toolbar shows the categories and a “Gifts” option. Clicking the gifts shows price ranges for products. Your product shows in this section for people specifically browsing pinboards looking for items to purchase. If they like what the see they then can click on your item, go to your website and complete the sale on your website.
An interesting fact is that the vast majority of Pinterest members are females, and a member wanting to promote their business or product would be wise to focus their promotions to that strong female base as much as possible.
Back Links With Pintrest
Your pins can creat a back link to your website if you choose. This of course increases your search engine rankings because Pinterest has quickly evolved as an authority social media site with a high page ranking. Simply by back linking your blog posts and products, you increase your traffic to your website and increase the possibility of generating sales.
Facebook & Twitter Integration With Pintrest
Perhaps the neatest feature of this social bookmarking site is their social media integration with Facebook and Twitter. When a user likes or re-pins your content, it is shared with their entire network on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. This greatly expands your network of potential customers, increases traffic to your website, creates positive brand recognition and increases the potential for sales.
Joining Pinterest
This subject is very controversial because the one challenge with Pinterest is that you have to get invited to acquire an account. Basically there are two ways to join.
One: you can visit pinterest.com and ask for an invite, but it might be awhile before you actually receive one.
Two: The more expedient approach is to receive an invitation from a friend that has an account with Pinterest. Perhaps simply sending out the request on your Facebook wall or Tweet to your friends should get a positive result with an invite. If you are serious about joining Pinterest that certainly is a shameless approach.
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To YOUR Health and Wealth,
Dr. Z
drpaulzemella@gmail.com
(805) 680-1670 (Pacific Time Zone)