Pinning & Winning: How to make Pinterest work for you

&
How to make Pinterest work for you

TechPhx 2012 @nikiblaker

Hello! I’m

Niki


Photo: James Archer


By day I’m a design strategist at Forty, an experience design firm in Chandler where I get to work with other amazing
designers and content strategists.

Photo: Kathy Morgan


I also volunteer on the board of the Arizona chapter of AIGA, the association for design, where I serve as their
communications director.


.I’m usually on Pinterest looking for things that inspire me like cool typography, dream office spaces, and pretty much
anything else design-related.

I started using Pinterest because I’m a sign-up-a-holic and will sign up for absolutely any new online service.

Mom would be so proud!


It turns out that several design blogs had picked on my pins and liked what they saw and kept
recommending my page and boards as good examples of Pinterest users. Pinterest is now one the main
referral sources to my website.

What is Pinterest?

Who’s using it and how?

How can it work for me?

Photo: Art Streiber

I’ve always thought
that the things you
collect says a lot about
who you are.
Ben Silbermann, Co-Founder

We wanted to create a
place where you can
collect things on the web
and simply organize it
the way you want to.
Evan Sharp, Co-Founder/Designer


When Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp launched Pinterest in March 2010, the both had pretty strong visions in what
they were trying to accomplish.

What is
Photo: Flickr madeinmississippi

Pinterest?
Pinterest is a virtual
pinboard that allows you to
organize and share things
you find on the web.

You can browse pinboards
created by other people
to discover new things and
get inspiration from people
who share your interests.



Saving an individual photo is what’s known as pinning. You can organize them by placing them in different
photo albums by category. Essentially, the “pin boards” are just like online photo albums.


Like Twitter, you can follow anyone, even if they aren’t following you back. You have the option to follow
all of another user’s boards, or you can just select certain boards to follow. You can sign up using your
Twitter or Facebook account, which makes it easy to find all of your friends already using Pinterest.


Repinning is sharing an image pinned by someone you follow or found while browsing Pinterest, and then
adding it to one of your own boards. Repinning gives credit to the person who first pinned the image. You
can also edit (or add to) the description when you repin something.

Photo: Flickr diamondduste

Additional
ways to pin
things:
Chrome bookmarklet

“Pin this” button on a
web page or blog article

Manually entering a URL

Upload an image from
your computer



Once an image is repinned, you can see the history of the image’s activity.


Double-clicking on a pin will load the website where the picture originally came from.

This is a great example of understanding how viral content is within the Pinterest community.

Over 80%
of pins are re-pins

compare with

1.4%
of tweets are re-tweets


According to RJMetrics over 80%
of the content on Pinterest are repins compared to Twitter in where only 1.4% of tweets are retweets.


What sets Pinterest apart from other social mediums is that it’s simply visually stunning and grabs people’s
attention. It’s hard not to browse through Pinterest and not be bombarded with amazing pictures of food
or incredible photography, or your dream architecture and interior design. It’s a beautiful place to be.


Pinterest has inspired a whole new type of web design. The simplicity of their design allows for excessive
scrolling with minimal effort and minimal distraction. Images take up the majority of the page and all action
buttons and comments are neatly tucked away until you scroll over them.


Pinterest has apps for iphone, ipad and Android phones and tablets that allow the user to browse from
anywhere.

What is
Photo: Flickr rsmith

Pinterest?
Your way to tell the world,
“here are the beautiful
things that make me who I
am, or who I want to be.”


Who’s using
Pinterest?
Pinterest crossed the 10
million mark faster than
any other standalone
site in history.


Pinterest is the third most popular social network in the world.

According to compete.com, as of August 2012, Pinterest has had over 25 million unique visitors.


Female users make up 79% of Pinterest users, predominantly between the ages of 25 - 54. The average
time per visit is almost 16 minutes per visit. That’s 3 times more than the average time spent on Facebook
and Twitter.

Top 5 categories browsed
Home and Garden
Clothing and Apparel
Art and Design
Food and Gifts
Health and Beauty


Top 5 categories purchased
Clothing and Apparel
Handbags and Accessories
Art and Design
Home and Garden
Health and Beauty


Why are you on Pinterest?
73% Entertainment, to pass the time

70% To get inspiration on what to buy

67% To collect things I like

51% To connect people with
similar interests

43% To associate with
familiar brands

39% To get special offers
from retailers/brands


Overall Pinterest users are more engaged and retain relationships longer with brands and they act as
curators for that brand as opposed to Facebook where they may like a brand just to get the latest coupon
or contest but otherwise having nothing to do with the brand.


12% of Pinterest users have pinned something they have later purchased online and 16% of items they
have later purchased offline. The average sale resulting from a Pinterest user following an image back to its
source and then buying the item is $180 compared with $80 for Facebook users and $70 for Twitter users.


Gucci has been the first to unveil a banner ad with a small “Pin it” button on the bottom left-hand corner
which is the first of its kind. When you click on the ad, it will prompt you with the choice of posting the
mysterious lady in red or...just the shoes.


When consumers login into the service on the Zappos site, they can see suggestions that relate to their
own personal pins or those of other users.

Generating
Photo: Flickr 27147

traffic may
be all you need


Pinterest doesn’t necessarily require a strong brand presence on the platform itself — many brands saw
high referral numbers from the site before they event launched brand accounts. Pinterest can generate a
lot of traffic to your website because pins link back to their original source.

Seriously
Photo: Flickr Santos

drool-worthy


Having great, shareable content isn’t a new concept - but with Pinterest the visual aspect is what gets
your foot in the door in getting your content repeated by others.

Photo: Flickr Santos


Phoenix stylist and blogger Alex Evjen from AVE Styles: “Pinterest has revolutionized my business. This
tool has also helped me capture fashion trends, visualize my personal style, and share my styling projects
with the rest of the world, and I’ve also connected with some new faces in the blogging/fashion world.”


One creative way Alex used Pinterest to build her business was to use Pinterest boards to style long-
distance clients virtually.

Photo: Gina Meola


Photos by photographer Gina Meola.

Everything was preplanned by Pinterest before the day of the shoot down to the accessories and details.

Photo: Gina Meola


In a little over a year, Alex is close to hitting the 1 million follower mark and is currently ranked the #111 top
pinner out of the millions of Pinterest users. (by the way she as 338 followers on Facebook).

Pin frequently
Keep your content fresh and use the tool every day to interact with
your followers and get new ones.

Content is king
Try to be the 20% and post original content.

Be mindful of layout
Vertical images are more noticeable than horizontal.


Some of Alex Evjen’s Pinterest tips.

Take time to edit
your board covers
Make sure they are great representations of what your board is
about and eye-catching images.

Continue to enjoy Pinterest
Use it for what it is intended – a way to catalog things you love.
Don’t focus on numbers. Just have fun and enjoy it!


Promote lifestyle over
product
What makes your brand tick? Focus on what inspires you to help the
consumer.

Use it as a focus group
People are sharing what they love. Take the time to see who is
following your brand and what interests them.


Additional tips

Pin with content
Don’t upload pictures to Pinterest from your computer or link to a
page with a photo and no content.

Pin videos and tutorials
Pinterest isn’t limited to photos, you can also post videos. Followers
also enjoy cataloging tutorials.


Collaborate with others
Whether you create a group board and invite others to participate,
ask followers to curate content with a hashtag, or host a contest, take
advantage of the collaborative features.

Add a Pin It button
to your site
Make it easy for people to share your content.


Have a strategy in place
for price tags
Direct purchase pins are a bit controversial!

Don’t use Pinterest just to
advertise
Pintest was created for and from the perspective of the individual,
not marketers.


Don’t hurt your credibility
with memes
It may be tempting to post those cat photos and Futurama Fry
photos, but those are best left to Reddit.

Read the Terms of Service
Pinterest has made several revisions to its Terms of Service since
launching, make sure you’re ok with all the rules!



Some inspiration from brands that are doing it right:
Fitsugar - fitness blog (pop sugar)
Boards include: Inspirational fitness quotes, Healthy breakfasts, Inspiring Yoga positions


Lowe’s
2.9 million followers
Boards include: Helpful hints, Craft Ideas, For the home


Style Me Pretty
Over 4 million followers
Boards include: DIY Projects, First Look


It’s not just about the ladies - some examples of successful male Pinterest users


And if your product isn’t particularly visual, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not meant to be on
Pinterest. General Electric has been really creative in engaging their followers on Pinterest with boards like
Hey Girl, Bad ass machines, and Fabulous kitchens (which all have great lighting of course)


And Nonprofits are using Pinterest for instance the National Wildlife Foundation has an Annimal
Appreciation board that takes advantage of how viral cute animals can be


And the Smithsonian’s Archive of American art has an amazing collection of vintage boards.

Marketing Tools
repinly.com
Helps you find the most popular pins, boards, and pinners on Pinterest

pinalytics.co.uk // pinpuff.com
Search results on content and interactions on Pinterest

reachli.com
Analytics dashboard


Here are a couple of marketing tools that you might find helpful in getting started with your own Pinterest
analytics and tracking.

Photo: Flickr sergiu_bacioiu

Tell me
how you
really feel

You can also use Pinterest as a tool within your business. Relationship counselor Crystal Rice asks her
clients to pick pictures every day that describe their emotions and mood - and evaluates them when they
return to her office. This method has been very successful among her male patients.

Photo: Flickr MrAnathema Photo: Flickr MrAnathema


Stephanie Liebold and I collaborated on a shirt design by using Pinterest.

Photo: Flickr hownowdesign


Have fun with it! Whether it’s collecting recipes, household tips, or making a board dedicated to Fisher
price little people mom dolls for yourself or you use it for your business by curating and creating the
content that defines and inspires your brand. Get on there and start pinning!

Thank you!
pinterest.com/nikiblaker


Sources
TomKat Studio: My Interview With Pinterest Co-Founder Ben Silbermann
http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/08/30/tomkat-studio-my-interview-with-pinterest-co-founder-ben-silbermann/

Can Ben Silbermann Turn Pinterest Into The World’s Greatest Shopfront?
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670681/ben-silbermann-pinterest

Pinterest Data Analysis: An Inside Look
http://blog.rjmetrics.com/Pinterest-Data-Analysis-An-Inside-Look/

Shopify Pinterest Infographic
http://www.shopify.com/infographics/pinterest/

Online Consumer Pulse
Pinterest vs. Facebook: Which Social Sharing Site Wins at Shopping Engagement?
http://bizrateinsights.com/?s=pinterest

Harvard Business Review Highlights Pinterest Infographic by Vision Critical
http://www.visioncritical.com/news/harvard-business-review-highlights-pinterest-infographic-vision-critical

Pinterest News
http://www.pinterestnews.org/


Pinning & Winning: How to make Pinterest work for you

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