What is Pinterest?

Launched in March 2010 by Ben Silbermann, Pinterest is rapidly becoming the most creative way to showcase your products.

Mimicking a photo board Pinterest is an online photo sharing website. Allowing users to upload their own content as well as like and ‘re-pin’ the collections of others, Pinterest uses visuals to create connections and share interests.

Pinterest terminology

— Pin: A pin is an image added to Pinterest. You can link to an image from a Web site or upload an image from your computer. You can add your own captions and keywords to any pins, making them more relevant to your company.

—Repin: Once something is pinned, it can then be repinned by other Pinterest users.. If you see something you like on Pinterest.com, you repin it to share it with your own users, this is how content spreads virally.

—Board: This is where your pins reside. You can have separate boards for different subjects. For example, the Colin Harris Pinterest page has boards for: Web Development, social media and Northumberland.

 Advantages of using Pinterest

• Through Pinterest you can: crowd source, demonstrate expertise, showcase products and run competitions
• Perhaps the best use of Pinterest is to paint a clear picture of what you want that you can’t express in words. For example you can create and showcase mood boards for projects, even modifying privacy setting these so only certain users can access them.
• Pinterest users’ likes and interests are easily view-able for all to see.
• Pinterest is a great way to showcase your work. For example, the Colin Harris Pinterest page has a board containing screenshots of websites we have produced.
• Pinterest can act as a great platform for a focus group.
• You can link your Pinterest account to other social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Signing into Pinterest through Twitter or Facebook will link your timeline to your Pinterest posts. This will allow your friends and followers to see the content you upload to Pinterest, providing a link to your page.
• Pinterest allows you to interact with others of similar interests
• With over 11million users Pinterest has seen skyrocketing popularity and was in fact the fastest site ever to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark
• Pinterest appeals to multiple vertical markets
• Research states that Pinterest is now 2-3x more engaging than Twitter
• A great way to source inspiration on similar projects
• Easy to use

Evaluating your Pinterest account

• Quantify your number of followers
• Quantify your number of repins
• When looking at your traffic sources report in analytics Pinterest will show you which piece of content generated the referral click and allows you to click through and see that item. These analytics make it easier to identify what pins and pinboards people are engaging with the most (likes, comments, repins) and what is driving traffic back to your website, allowing you to focus on interacting with these people and producing more relevant content.

To take a peek at or follow our Pinterest account click on the Pinterest ‘P’ in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

By Colin Harris