Like Tumblr, Pinterest is an up-and-coming social media site that is definitely catching the eye of many marketers. Not only is it growing in its number of users, they're spending more and more time on the site. A study found that the amount of time the average user spent on the site between May and October of last year increased by an impressive 512% to 72.1 minutes per month. An image-sharing social pin-up board, Pinterst is growing fast, and it has lots of marketing potential. Here's how you can use it for your brand:
1) Promote products - While you can't actually sell items on Pinterest like you can in a Facebook shop, it's still another way to show off your products. If you add a $ to your Pin description, Pinterest automatically makes a price banner. Users will be able to see your products and you can include a link back to your website where they can actually purchase the item.
2) Fan contributions - Pins or boards that feature customers with your products have a few benefits. Fans want to connect with your brand, and they're a way of thanking your supporters, making them feel special, and keeping them involved. They can also promote products- they show items being used by satisfied customers and give customers different interpretations for how to use a product (such as how to wear a certain item of clothing).
3) Contests - There are endless creative contest possibilities and they're great for fan engagement. You can ask users to create stylish pins with products from your site or have them post photos of outfits they put together with your brand's items. Another idea is to offer a prize for the most Repins. Contests get fans involved and excited about your brand, and they can be a lot of fun for you, too!
4) Market research - Pinterest is a great place to post a new product and scope out people's initial reactions to it. You can see users' comments about the item, see how many Repins it gets, and other data that clues you in to how customers feel about it. Don't limit yourself to products- you can try out a new ad campaign on Pinterest, as well.
It's not a powerhouse social media site like Facebook or Twitter (yet), but Pinterest is definitely worth looking into. How could you use Pinterest for you brand?
Venpop
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012
6 Reasons To Become A Pinterest Fan Immediately!
In true late-to-the-game fashion, I have recently fallen in love with Pinterest! It ranks up there with the likes of getting to meet Johnny Depp, the best dessert you ever ate, and your husband doing all laundry and cooking for an entire month.
What is Pinterest, you ask? Think of it as a virtual "pin board" that lets you organize and share the things you love on the Internet. During your web perusing, if you stumble upon a pair of shoes you'd like to add to your wish list, a makeup trend you're dying to try, or a recipe you're thinking about making, simply click your "pin" button (which lives on your browser toolbar) and, voila! That image and web link is then added to your designated Pinterest board and your "pin" will be at your fingertips in a nice, neat, organized fashion forever. (Insert cries of joy here!)
I lovingly refer to my Pinterest addiction as a totally productive time suck. Once you start "pinning," you'll know why. You can spend hours and hours surfing (and pinning) and by the end of your Pinteresting session, you'll have pinned three new products you can't live with, made four new online friends, and learned how to make crocheted butterfly adornments. (I mean, really...how did I ever live without Pinterest?)
Would you like to be come a killer baker? How about a top-notch party planner? Ever thought about taking up Cross Fit? Perhaps you'd like to try your hand at gardening. The sky's the limit with Pinterest. From hair and beauty to sports - this virtual corkboard will allow you to tap into any topic you wish. Oh, and did I mention that you get to connect with fellow pinning enthusiasts by following or getting followed?
Hey, anyone who loves skincare products is most certainly a friend of mine. (It's sort of like a social media version of Field Of Dreams...if you pin it, they will come.) And there's nothing more rewarding than when one of your pins gets "repinned" by boatloads of Pinners. Total Pinterest nirvana. Still need convincing? Here are six reasons to get on the pinning bandwagon:
There. Now you're versed in Pinterest and ready to try your hand at the art of the pinboard. And if you're already on Pinterest, follow me and let's swap pins! Happy Pinning.
What is Pinterest, you ask? Think of it as a virtual "pin board" that lets you organize and share the things you love on the Internet. During your web perusing, if you stumble upon a pair of shoes you'd like to add to your wish list, a makeup trend you're dying to try, or a recipe you're thinking about making, simply click your "pin" button (which lives on your browser toolbar) and, voila! That image and web link is then added to your designated Pinterest board and your "pin" will be at your fingertips in a nice, neat, organized fashion forever. (Insert cries of joy here!)
I lovingly refer to my Pinterest addiction as a totally productive time suck. Once you start "pinning," you'll know why. You can spend hours and hours surfing (and pinning) and by the end of your Pinteresting session, you'll have pinned three new products you can't live with, made four new online friends, and learned how to make crocheted butterfly adornments. (I mean, really...how did I ever live without Pinterest?)
Would you like to be come a killer baker? How about a top-notch party planner? Ever thought about taking up Cross Fit? Perhaps you'd like to try your hand at gardening. The sky's the limit with Pinterest. From hair and beauty to sports - this virtual corkboard will allow you to tap into any topic you wish. Oh, and did I mention that you get to connect with fellow pinning enthusiasts by following or getting followed?
Hey, anyone who loves skincare products is most certainly a friend of mine. (It's sort of like a social media version of Field Of Dreams...if you pin it, they will come.) And there's nothing more rewarding than when one of your pins gets "repinned" by boatloads of Pinners. Total Pinterest nirvana. Still need convincing? Here are six reasons to get on the pinning bandwagon:
- It's like having your own personal fashion consultant (bring on the leopard booties)
- You'll automatically become clever (e.g. when your guests oooh and ahhh over the lemon and lime ice cube idea you got from Pinterest)
- You'll become a kick-butt cook (next time your mother-in-law knocks your cooking you can make her eat her words when you bust out the chocolate crème brulee that you caramelized with a mini blow torch)
- It's like Xbox for women (video-game playing hubbies: eat your hearts out)
- You'll tap into creativity that you had NO IDEA you had (that DIY braided scarf you made via Pinterest's DIY section is rocking your fashion world)
- It's visual "eye candy" (who knew one could find an image of bacteria as visually entertaining as bacon wrapped pretzels?)
There. Now you're versed in Pinterest and ready to try your hand at the art of the pinboard. And if you're already on Pinterest, follow me and let's swap pins! Happy Pinning.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
What Is Pinterest and How Can I use the Site?
Pinterest is a Visual Image (and Video) Social Bookmarking Site. You can consider it an online pin-board or album, where people "pin" things they like and want to share with people to enjoy. But there is also a very interesting traffic source aspect to this place.
Why is Pinterest so interesting?
Pinterest is full of people who are passionate about beautiful objects, design, quality and visual appealing photos and images.
First of all, it is very nice place to share just images or videos, which are in its own section where you can share your videos form YouTube, and if a Pinterest user likes an item you pinned, they can 'like' it and/or "re-pin2 these images to their own pin boards. You can even set up boards that other people can pin to or collaborate on a board on a particular topic.
And here comes the most interesting part for people that are also looking to get traffic to their "normal" websites. Every image is linked to the site it original came from, so when a user clicks the image it is taken first to its "pin" page, but when they click this image again on your page, they will be taken to YOUR site, even if the image was originally on somebody else's board.
So there is a huge potential for driving traffic to your site. If you add to this already powerful traffic driving potential the fact that the user's activity is also reflected on their connected Facebook and Twitter accounts the possibilities getting viral traffic to your site seem to be endless!
How can I get started?
The sites URL is pinterest.com, but you can't simply sign-up, because it is currently an invitation-only site.
When you got your Pinterest "invitation access", you will be presented with a selection of Pinterest Board "Themes". Simply click OK to the selection offered; you can change the titles and text later on. Next you are taken to the goodies page to add the "Pin-it" button to your browser.
Now you want to edit your profile settings to add your website's URL and connect your Pinterest profile to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Don't forget to write something meaningful about you in the About box, and make sure "Hide from search engines" is switched to OFF; you want to be found, don't you?
Now the fun begins; you start pinning... First of all you create your board or rename the one create when you first logged in, and to which you will be adding or uploading your pins. Make sure to give it a good name and chose the right categories to help people interested in a specific area find your board.
When you add a pin, you enter the URL of the site where the image is located and you will then click the "Find images" button to select the image you want to pin. You can also upload images from your local disk. Following an example of the editing access to two Boards that a user Pinterest user created.
There are more options to ease the task of adding images as you surf the web, like adding a "Pin it" button to your browser or installing Pinterest for iPhone. See Goodies section, pinterest.com/about/goodies, for more details.
You may also want to add images from other Pinterest boards, to attract visitors to your board. This is called repining, and is as simple as hovering over the image and clicking the repin Button. Here you will also see the Like and Comment buttons.
Another strong social aspect is the following option. You can follow people or specific board, and your home page will change accordingly as they update their content. For following a Pinterest user click the "Follow All" button on their profile and for following a specific Pinterest board, you will find the "Follow" button on the top of the board.
The possibilities that Pinterest offers to its users are much more valuable than one would think at a first glance. Apart of being able to share your interests graphically, it can also be used for activities like brand building and selling your own or affiliate products by simply linking to the sales page the image was originally placed on, and if your sales or affiliate page has no nice images, simply create an intermediate "landing page" with the attracting images, a price and call to action that will take them to the product page.
You could even create a contest to where the Pinterest users would get a price and badges for sharing your images on their boards. As you can see, there are no limits to your creativity..
The Competition? - Pinerly
There is another site, Pinerly, which is invitation only too. Here is how it works:
Once you have your invitation that takes you to the page to get started, simply enter your email into the top-right corner and hit the "Lets's Go" button. You will then be placed on the waiting list and get your own referral link. From there on, as your referrals start signing up, you get accesses to more functionality. For your first friend you get a "Quick Peek", with 5 friends you will have earned the "Early Access" and with 10 friends you get access to the bonus features. BE AWARE! signing up from the same computer multiple times will not count! I tried it and it doesn't work.
I'm not quite sure whether Pinerly is really a competing or "sister" site, because when you hover over the "Pin it" button on Pinerly you will see that it says "Pin it on Pinterest" and then lauches the Pinterest pin box with the text "via Pinerly - your Pinterest friendly dashboard ".
So I leave it up to you to judge, but you can get some great images from Pinerly. Here are two of my Pinterest boards: Favorite Places & Spaces and I Love Animals, that I created with images from Pinerly.
Why is Pinterest so interesting?
Pinterest is full of people who are passionate about beautiful objects, design, quality and visual appealing photos and images.First of all, it is very nice place to share just images or videos, which are in its own section where you can share your videos form YouTube, and if a Pinterest user likes an item you pinned, they can 'like' it and/or "re-pin2 these images to their own pin boards. You can even set up boards that other people can pin to or collaborate on a board on a particular topic.
And here comes the most interesting part for people that are also looking to get traffic to their "normal" websites. Every image is linked to the site it original came from, so when a user clicks the image it is taken first to its "pin" page, but when they click this image again on your page, they will be taken to YOUR site, even if the image was originally on somebody else's board.
So there is a huge potential for driving traffic to your site. If you add to this already powerful traffic driving potential the fact that the user's activity is also reflected on their connected Facebook and Twitter accounts the possibilities getting viral traffic to your site seem to be endless!
How can I get started?
The sites URL is pinterest.com, but you can't simply sign-up, because it is currently an invitation-only site.
When you got your Pinterest "invitation access", you will be presented with a selection of Pinterest Board "Themes". Simply click OK to the selection offered; you can change the titles and text later on. Next you are taken to the goodies page to add the "Pin-it" button to your browser.
Now you want to edit your profile settings to add your website's URL and connect your Pinterest profile to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Don't forget to write something meaningful about you in the About box, and make sure "Hide from search engines" is switched to OFF; you want to be found, don't you?
Now the fun begins; you start pinning... First of all you create your board or rename the one create when you first logged in, and to which you will be adding or uploading your pins. Make sure to give it a good name and chose the right categories to help people interested in a specific area find your board.
When you add a pin, you enter the URL of the site where the image is located and you will then click the "Find images" button to select the image you want to pin. You can also upload images from your local disk. Following an example of the editing access to two Boards that a user Pinterest user created.
There are more options to ease the task of adding images as you surf the web, like adding a "Pin it" button to your browser or installing Pinterest for iPhone. See Goodies section, pinterest.com/about/goodies, for more details.
You may also want to add images from other Pinterest boards, to attract visitors to your board. This is called repining, and is as simple as hovering over the image and clicking the repin Button. Here you will also see the Like and Comment buttons.
Another strong social aspect is the following option. You can follow people or specific board, and your home page will change accordingly as they update their content. For following a Pinterest user click the "Follow All" button on their profile and for following a specific Pinterest board, you will find the "Follow" button on the top of the board.
The possibilities that Pinterest offers to its users are much more valuable than one would think at a first glance. Apart of being able to share your interests graphically, it can also be used for activities like brand building and selling your own or affiliate products by simply linking to the sales page the image was originally placed on, and if your sales or affiliate page has no nice images, simply create an intermediate "landing page" with the attracting images, a price and call to action that will take them to the product page.
You could even create a contest to where the Pinterest users would get a price and badges for sharing your images on their boards. As you can see, there are no limits to your creativity..
The Competition? - Pinerly
There is another site, Pinerly, which is invitation only too. Here is how it works:
Once you have your invitation that takes you to the page to get started, simply enter your email into the top-right corner and hit the "Lets's Go" button. You will then be placed on the waiting list and get your own referral link. From there on, as your referrals start signing up, you get accesses to more functionality. For your first friend you get a "Quick Peek", with 5 friends you will have earned the "Early Access" and with 10 friends you get access to the bonus features. BE AWARE! signing up from the same computer multiple times will not count! I tried it and it doesn't work.
I'm not quite sure whether Pinerly is really a competing or "sister" site, because when you hover over the "Pin it" button on Pinerly you will see that it says "Pin it on Pinterest" and then lauches the Pinterest pin box with the text "via Pinerly - your Pinterest friendly dashboard ".
So I leave it up to you to judge, but you can get some great images from Pinerly. Here are two of my Pinterest boards: Favorite Places & Spaces and I Love Animals, that I created with images from Pinerly.
Andre W. Klein - For more Internet Business and Internet Marketing related articles and an INVITATION to Pinterest please visit Internet Business How To
You may use this Pinerly Invitation link: http://www.pinerly.com/i/Wsdqb to get started. This is no affiliate link or alike. I'm already a Pinerly user and will have no further benefits if you use this link, and you will get a similar link to "earn" your Early Access.
You may use this Pinerly Invitation link: http://www.pinerly.com/i/Wsdqb to get started. This is no affiliate link or alike. I'm already a Pinerly user and will have no further benefits if you use this link, and you will get a similar link to "earn" your Early Access.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
What Do You Think Of Pinterest?
Pinterest is one of the hottest things right now. It has already hit over 10million monthly US unique users faster than any other independent sites in history. If you have been using the site, what do you think of pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media site where you can share things you love and you can also associate your pinterest account with your facebook and twitter accounts.
As an internet marketers pinterest is a site you want to know about and know how to use it to drive traffic to your site.
Pinterest is said to be referring more traffic to websites than youtube, google plus and linkedin combined. Which is pretty solid for a site that is just starting in the game.
How to get traffic to your site using Pinterest for free
Pinterest uses boards to share images or videos of what you like on a site. These boards are sort of like scrap books or a collage of stuff you like. There are different topics you can choose from to create a board like; Architecture, Hair and beauty, home décor, film, music & books, photography, weddings & events etc, etc.
You can even create your own topic/title for your boards like internet marketing/blogging/Online Marketing Ideas/Fishing/Bird watching… anything you like.
As an online business owner, no matter what niche you are, having images on your site and pinning them on your board(s) is a great way to attract visitors to your site from pinterest. Note that you have to pin eye catching images and write a description. You can also add your link in the description box. However if people click on your image they link back to your site anyway.
If you already have a site or youtube account filled with good images (and good content) and good videos, chances are you're getting traffic already from pinterest as people might have pinned your images already.
Pinterest is a social media site so you have to socialize some. Like, comment and repin other peoples stuff. Also follow people of interest (don't just go following everyone) You can unfollow later if they don't follow you back (just like twitter).
As a business owner using pinterest, you want to think about how best to effectively use the site. If you have promotional or informational videos, you can create a video board; if you have products you want to sell, you can create a board for it too; if you offer services, you can create a board for your services and you can also create a board for your clients (a way of showcasing you jobs) :)
Your profile is a place to tell people about you and your business. Because you get a customized url, you want to choose something befitting to your business if you're creating a business profile (pinterest.com.bizname), you can also use your company logo in the image.
There's a bio box where you can write about your company or yourself as the case may be. There no html code allowed.
When you repin other peoples post (that are probably related to your site), you can write a description and then in the description you can also add your website URL. It is not advised to use affiliate links directly, link to your website that has your affiliate offers on there.
There's so much you can do with pinterest and first thing is to get started. Create your boards, add the pinit button to your browser tool bar (makes it easy to pin stuff from your website and others).
You can also add pin it buttons on your website so that others can pin your stuff just like when you have a fb and twitter social link on your site.
Tell us what you think of pinterest here.
Pinterest is a social media site where you can share things you love and you can also associate your pinterest account with your facebook and twitter accounts.
As an internet marketers pinterest is a site you want to know about and know how to use it to drive traffic to your site.
Pinterest is said to be referring more traffic to websites than youtube, google plus and linkedin combined. Which is pretty solid for a site that is just starting in the game.
How to get traffic to your site using Pinterest for free
Pinterest uses boards to share images or videos of what you like on a site. These boards are sort of like scrap books or a collage of stuff you like. There are different topics you can choose from to create a board like; Architecture, Hair and beauty, home décor, film, music & books, photography, weddings & events etc, etc.
You can even create your own topic/title for your boards like internet marketing/blogging/Online Marketing Ideas/Fishing/Bird watching… anything you like.
As an online business owner, no matter what niche you are, having images on your site and pinning them on your board(s) is a great way to attract visitors to your site from pinterest. Note that you have to pin eye catching images and write a description. You can also add your link in the description box. However if people click on your image they link back to your site anyway.
If you already have a site or youtube account filled with good images (and good content) and good videos, chances are you're getting traffic already from pinterest as people might have pinned your images already.
Pinterest is a social media site so you have to socialize some. Like, comment and repin other peoples stuff. Also follow people of interest (don't just go following everyone) You can unfollow later if they don't follow you back (just like twitter).
As a business owner using pinterest, you want to think about how best to effectively use the site. If you have promotional or informational videos, you can create a video board; if you have products you want to sell, you can create a board for it too; if you offer services, you can create a board for your services and you can also create a board for your clients (a way of showcasing you jobs) :)
Your profile is a place to tell people about you and your business. Because you get a customized url, you want to choose something befitting to your business if you're creating a business profile (pinterest.com.bizname), you can also use your company logo in the image.
There's a bio box where you can write about your company or yourself as the case may be. There no html code allowed.
When you repin other peoples post (that are probably related to your site), you can write a description and then in the description you can also add your website URL. It is not advised to use affiliate links directly, link to your website that has your affiliate offers on there.
There's so much you can do with pinterest and first thing is to get started. Create your boards, add the pinit button to your browser tool bar (makes it easy to pin stuff from your website and others).
You can also add pin it buttons on your website so that others can pin your stuff just like when you have a fb and twitter social link on your site.
Tell us what you think of pinterest here.
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an online pinboard sort of like a scrapbook or collage used to organize and share your inspirations! You can share things you like and pin your favorite images and videos from any other site to your boards.
Pinterest is used to discover new things hand-picked by people who share your interests you can also find people with common interest on pinterest and follow them.
Pinterest is fun and you can find a lot of cool stuff on there, join others on pinterest today.
Pinterest is used to discover new things hand-picked by people who share your interests you can also find people with common interest on pinterest and follow them.
Pinterest is fun and you can find a lot of cool stuff on there, join others on pinterest today.
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