Pinterest(ing): Something you like enough to Pin

I enjoy social media and embracing the newest thing to take us all by storm is sometimes daunting! However, (P)interest is an important strategy for your life and your business…and the sooner we jump on board the better off we will be. This is a case of the early bird getting the worm in terms of presence. According to Nancy Messieh in 10 Tips To Get the Most Out of Pinterest For Your Business:

Before taking a look at how you can put Pinterest to work for you, it’s worth looking at why you shouldn’t be ignoring Pinterest. First and foremost, the numbers speak louder than anything else. In the past six months, visits to Pinterest grew by 4000%, receiving an amazing 11 million hits in just one week. Pinterest has also proved to be a great way to drive traffic to your site, and in some cases, has out-performed Facebook. According to Adage, in December, Shannon King, the General Manager of Time Inc’s magazine Real Simple said, ”Pinterest is a huge source from a referral standpoint, even beating out referrals from Facebook in the month of October.”

Aside from the stellar traffic that Pinterest receives and generates, its users are far from passive. Pinterest’s audience is highly engaged and can easily contribute to your social media campaign going viral. In fact, with Facebook’s latest Open Graph announcement, users can now post their pins directly to Facebook. Pinterest brings with it great SEO value, as Search Engine Land has pointed out, because you can link back to your own site, and it has the ultimate viral potential because of the nature of user interaction on the site.

Think about it like this: when you find something great, you share it with your friends, colleagues and family…right? Well, Pinterest just made it easier, much more visually appealling with pictures & video and much more focused! We are already seeing things we like in our life, and we share it verbally, or through Facebook, twitter, linkedIn,  etc (and if you are not doing this, then that is another discussion altogether)…but now the uber tool is Pinterest.  So now that you know WHY you should do it (and by the way did I mention it is FREE!),  let’s show you HOW. If you do not know how to join, just click here and request a Pinterest invitation and you are off…it is as easy (and addicting!) as that.

Getting Started…here are some important tips to create a strategy focused presence:

1) Create your Board Titles: this is how you will categorize the interesting things you will want to share. Pinterest has provided suggested categories for you and here are some additional ideas for you to review while deciding how to incorporate your unique business strategies to Pinterest. (Caution: be careful not to make it all about your business, or you risk becoming the dull bore at a cocktail party droning on about him/herself!)

• Recommend books, movies and music that you like or find
• Keep a wish list of countries or cities you want to visit
• Make a  list of places you have been
• Keep a desired list of books, movies and music for the future
• Your favorite quotes or inspirations
• Create a list of things you want: this will make shopping for your friends and family much easier when they list things they like
• Create a list of your favourite foods, recipes, etc
• Create a board your icons
• Create a “Best Of” Board: Best ideas you have seen in action
• Gift ideas, again when you family or friends share your ideas, you know they like them