Is Pinterest useful?

Pinterest is the latest in a long line of social media platforms that is getting a fair bit of press at the moment.

What is Pinterset?

It is a place to thematically share images that you like, or find inspiring on the internet.

On their about page, Pinterest describe themselves as a "virtual pinboard." 

"Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."

Is it any good and is worth spending some time on?


As with all social media platforms, it depends on how many people are using it, and whether you can engage with them effectively. 


I have quickly built up a few followers from my usual circle of 'early adopter' suspects and I am enjoying using it to collect favourite and inspirational images. 


Will Pinterest be of use? That remains to be seen, but there is some interesting research suggesting it may have a bright future.


Driving traffic to your website


According to market data carried out by Shareaholic in January, Pinterest provides more referral traffic than YouTube,  LinkedIn and Google+. It is also growing its share rapidly (up 2.5% to 3.6% between December 2011 and January 2012). It now sits just behind Twitter in the league table.


However, Facebook still dominates referral traffic (26.4% in January).


Using Pinterest to promote your business


Pinterest could provide much potential to visually inspire and engage with your customers...


You could use it to get feedback from customers about the look and feel of your new product or design or shop layout.


Or, showcase how your customers are using your products. A clothing store could have a picture of one of their customers in one of their outfits. This gives potential customers inspiration and make existing ones who are 'pinned,' feel special.


Find out more


Here is a good beginners guide provided by those fine people at Mashable explaining a bit more about Pinterest and how you can use it.


You are also welcome to email me or give me a call to discuss ways to integrate Pinterest within your online marketing strategy.

A quotation on photography

“[photography] is, of course, a lucky miracle of timing. But when you see an unbelievable confluence of chance in a photograph, remember that the operator was there, booted and spurred.”

So said Walker Evans in 1969 when discussing the work of Helen Levitt.

What kind of tweets do people like to read?

New research by Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science has some interesting findings on which tweets work and which don't. In summary:

People liked:

1) Questions to followers - in particular ones that made followers stop and think.

2) Sharing information

3) Self promotion - specifically links to what you have created rather than saying how awesome you are...

4) Random posts - especially if they are humorous.

People didn't like:

1) Announcing your presence e.g. "Hello Tweeps!"

2) Conversations between 2 or 3 people - use email!

How to write good tweets

DON'T be boring, or share old news, or moan.

REDUCE clutter such as hash tags or @ mentions. Let the tweet content shine through!

DO add context to a tweet (e.g. if you are sharing a link say why, if you are doing a Follow Friday say why this person or organisation should be followed etc)

BE funny, concise, relevant and of course, engage with your followers.

There, that's easy isn't it....?

Here is a link to the study.

Here is a link to the Freelance Switch article that has a good summary of the report.