Pinterest is definitely the buzz word around social media at the moment, so I thought you might appreciate a few tips on getting started using Pinterest for your Direct Selling business.
Before we get started on the how to’s though, it is probably best we talk about what it is.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is basically a virtual, online pinboard. A place where you can share images of things that inspire and interest you. You can organise and share images of all the things that make you, you.
Once you have a Pinterest account, you can create a variety of pinboards based on any topic you choose from planning your wedding, going on a trip, redecorating your home or office and sharing your favourite recipes. While Pinterest is fun and you could spend all day pinning cool pics of things you love, with a little thought and planning it can present opportunities for you to get creative with sharing your business.
You can also browse and follow pinboards of other people. When you find things you like you can ‘like’ them and they will go onto your ‘likes list’.
You can comment on pins of people you follow or you can share them by repinning them on your own pinboards. This allows you to discover new things, be inspired by others or share each others interests.
Pinterest has a mission…
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.”
Getting Started on Pinterest
Pinterest is still in it’s ‘beta’ phase, which means to get started you need to request an invitation or be invited by someone who is already using Pinterest.
Your Invitation - If you would like an invitation you have a couple of options. You can go to the Pinterest website and click ‘Request an Invite’ and they will email one to you. This may take anywhere from an hour to a week or more. The other option is to be invited by someone who is already on Pinterest. Please feel free to email us at info@dsen.co and include your email address and we will be more than happy to send you one.
Create Your Account - Now that you have received your invitation, you must join using a third party social media account like Facebook or Twitter. We recommend creating a personal Pinterest account using your Facebook account or personal Twitter account and becoming familiar with Pinterest as yourself before launching into sharing your business. You are not able to join Pinterest via a Facebook business page.
Getting Started - Once you have signed up, Pinterest has an automated process for getting you started. You are asked to select categories you may be interested in. It then suggests people for you to follow. You may like to leave those people on your list, or you can unfollow them if you like, before moving to the next step.
You are then asked to create some pinboards and you are provided with a list of 5 standard boards. You can leave these as they are, you can edit them and change the names or you can delete them altogether if you choose to.
Adjust Your Settings - After you have completed the getting started steps you can adjust your settings according to whether you would like your Pinterest activity shared on your Facebook Timeline or linked to your Facebook and Twitter accounts at all. You can also find all your Facebook friends on Pinterest to give you a ready made list of people to follow. If you do not want your Pinterest account to be found by search engines, you can disable this option, although we would not recommend this if you are ultimately going to be making use of Pinterest for your business. You want people to be able to Google you!
Pinterest Etiquette - Of course, as with all social media platforms, there is certain etiquette that is relevant when using Pinterest. You can view the suggested Pinterest Etiquette Here. The rule of thumb is to remember, Pinterest is ‘social’. It is designed to share common interests with others and to connect with new people based on those interests. It is not a free platform for self-promotion or advertising your business, so be sure to respect the ‘space’ before launching into marketing your business. With any social media interaction we recommend using the 80/20 rule – 80% personal (not private – private is not for social media at all!) and 20% business related. If you would like to understand the 80/20 rule better, you could read Celine’s blog post – Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything.
Pinterest Terminology
Pinterest terminology combines some new terms and blends some we are familiar with from other social media platforms. You can get the full explanation of Pinterest Terminology here, but we have included a basic review for you.
Pin - A Pin is simply the terminology used for the images you share on Pinterest. You can upload a Pin from your computer, share a Pin by using a URL, Pin directly from a website using the Pin It Button or repin from other peoples Pinterest boards
Board – A Pin Board is simply a collection of Pins posted on a board under a topic selected by the user. You can have as many Pins (or images) on a Board as you like, there are no limitations.
Pin It Button – Is a button you can add to your Firefox browser, so no matter what website you are visiting you can Pin images directly to your Pin Boards. The Pin It Button will generate a link to the website you are pinning from. Pinterest provides instructions on how to add the Pin It Button to your Firefox browser here.
Following – You have two choices when following others on Pinterest. You can choose to ‘Follow All’ which means you will follow all of their boards no matter what the topic, or you can go to their profile and select which boards you would like to follow that are of interest to you. You do this by clicking the Follow button at the base of each Pin Board.
Repin – Repinning is done when you choose to post another users image to one of your own Pin Boards. You simply hover over the image and the Repin link will come up in the top left. You can then click it, chose the board you would like to pin it on, add your own comments or leave the existing comments. When you Repin an image, the user who originally pinned the image will be given credit for that image. Any links attached to that image by the original pinner will be retained no matter how many times that image is repinned.
Like – You can like an image or Pin simply by hovering over the image and clicking the like button. Liking a pin adds it to your ‘likes’ section but does not post it on one of your Pin Boards.
Comment - You can also comment on a Pin without repinning it to one of your own boards. When you make a comment you can also @ mention another user just like you do in Twitter and that user will be notified of your comment.
What’s Next?
Once you have your head around the basics, it then becomes a matter of becoming familiar with how to use Pinterest. We will be providing additional articles and video tutorials to share ideas on how to make use of Pinterest in your Direct Sales business, sharing some examples of companies and consultants who are using Pinterest effectively and showing you some mistakes to avoid.
Our Top Tips for Getting Started
Maximise your profile – Before you begin to follow others, find others to follow you or add pins and boards, we recommend you edit your profile.
Upload a photo – we suggest you use a photo that connects you to the images you use on your other social media profiles, this way people will recognise you easily if you are already connected.
Complete your ‘About’ section – Include a paragraph that will give people the chance to get to know who you are, what you do and what your interests are. Please do not make it a ‘sales pitch’, remember people will be using Pinterest to connect with you based on what you are interested in, not what you are going to ‘sell’ them.
Add your location – We recommend including your location particularly if you are wanting to target people in your local area for business.
Connect your Facebook and Twitter Accounts – and your website if you have one. These will show up as icons under your About paragraph and location. This will give you the option to post your activity on Facebook to Tweet it to Twitter.
Link to your Facebook Timeline – Decide whether you would like to add Pinterest to your Facebook Timeline. If you decide yes, then your Pinterest activity will be posted in the news feed of your friends and you will also have a Pinterest link on your Timeline Profile (see images from Facebook below). When people click that Pinterest link it will open a page of your Pinterest activity. This is 100% your decision. We recommend that you do enable this feature if you are wanting to use Pinterest for your business, HOWEVER, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, you need to ‘pace yourself’ when pinning so you do not overwhelm both your Pinterest followers and your Facebook friends with an onslaught of Pinterest activity. This PARTICULARLY applies to posting product images to Pinterst (more on this in an upcoming post). So, please put some thought into the privacy aspects of having your Facebook friends having access to your Pinterest activity, the advantages it might have for your business and also the rate of your activity. You don’t want people unfollowing your because you are doing too much too quickly.
Pinterest Activity Box on your Facebook Timeline
When you click the 'see more' link
When you click the 'Pinterest' link
Select Your visibility – If you are ultimately planning on using Pinterest for your business then we recommend leaving the Visibility option OFF, so your Pinterest profile can be found on Google.
What About Privacy?
You can read the full Pinterest Privacy Policies here, however we wanted to point out a couple of things for you.
- Pinterest followers are much like Twitter followers in that anyone can follow you or any selection of your boards. It is not a case of someone sending your a request and you accepting them. So be aware that what you post on Pinterest is available for all who choose to follow you.
- Pinterest do not have privacy settings like Facebook Photo Albums. In other words, you cannot set privacy on each board for public or friends etc.
- Pinterest does not make use of lists for your contacts at this point. So you have no ability to put followers into lists and allow them to see certain things and not others.
I guess the ‘point’ (excuse the pun), is don’t post and images on Pinterest that you don’t want the whole world to see.
Final Suggestions
The most important thing to remember when getting started is this… PACE YOURSELF and put some thought and planning into what and how you are going to share on Pinterest.
Remember, it is not ALL about you! Be sure to share other peoples pins. The more you share, the more likely others will be to return the favour.
Take the time to get to know Pinterest as yourself, before you launch into your products/business. Going in all product guns blazing may have people unfollowing you quicker than you can pin!
Ultimately, all social media platforms are about PEOPLE. Connecting based on a common interest and building a relationship. So, share what you are genuinely interested in and give followers the opportunity to get to know you through the images and videos you pin.
We will be sharing many more articles on how to use Pinterest effectively for your business, including some very specific tips to help you find people to follow and follow you, driving traffic to your blog/website and much, much more. So watch this space and Happy Pinning!
Larna
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