Pinterest http://pinterest.com is a personalised onlinepinboard, where you collect together the things you see as you browse the web.It has been designed to organise and share the things you discover and love onthe internet, so you can connect with people who have common interests andtastes.
Basically, once you have ‘Requested an invite’ to getstarted, you install a ‘Pin it’ button in your browser (full instructionsprovided on the Pinterest website). Then every time you spot something youlike, you click the button to grab the image and add it to one of yourpinboards. The source link is also grabbed, so the original creator iscredited. Anyone following you can see your pinboard and add your images totheir board, which is where the message spreads.
Some concerns over copywriting have been raised. Accordingto the terms, users are not meant to ‘pin’ images with a copywrite, but this ishappening. It is also possible to ‘grab’ an image from Pinterest and use it,without credit to the original source, which is illegal in most cases. Thiscould be a particular threat to photographers and artists.
Pinterest requests that the site is not used for selfpromotion, so if you are using it for your business, be prepared to become partof the community. You won’t become popular by simply pushing your wares. Aswith all social media, things that are funny or thought provoking tend to bemore widely shared. The visual nature of Pinterest means that beautiful imagesare also very popular.
If you create bespokecrafts such as furniture or jewellery, arrange holidays to stunning locations,or make delicious food, there could be great opportunities. Pinterest is beingused for people looking for inspiration for their weddings, holidays, interiordesign, craft projects, dinner parties etc. so how might this tie in with yourbusiness?
There are certainly impressive stats on the rapid growth inusers and how Pinterest is driving significant numbers of visits to websites,so it could be worth exploring. Having said this, as with all aspects of yourinternet marketing, keep your end goals at the forefront of your mind. If thistool helps you move towards your business goals, brilliant. If not, but youstill like it, keep it for your personal interests.