Pinterest: creativity in a showcase!
I created my account one week ago and I’m trying to take stock of everything I evaluated until now using the notorious Pinterest! During last period, I realized that even if it’s know by everybody as a woman social network, this tool has important potentials independently of a simple list of favorite products or birthday presents.
I really would have liked to break the myth about the predominance of women profiles on this social network but I have to admit that women seem to have a great enthusiasm towards Pinterest. It’s also true that the success of Pinterest started just last December so it’s still premature to narrow its sphere of activity.
…what is Pinterest?
By now, you can find full many articles about what Pinterest is and how it works; anyway from my point of view, it’s about a group of boards, or “timeline”, each representing one topic chosen by user and they, all together, give us a general view about a person describing past and present life, interests, tastes, wishes.
From Facebook and G+, Pinterest borrowed the importance of images, a concept now established in social networking. From Twitter it imitates other aspects: the description of photos and profiles don’t have any space limits and generally the texts are very short and especially in English language. The similarity with Twitter is about the possibility of “re-pin” an imagine and to put it in our boards, creating the same effect of a “retweet” without a deadline as it happens using that one. Another feature of Twitter is to “follow” users; on Pinterest you can follow single topic – the boards- avoiding, in the same time, to read about matters you don’t care.
As the others social network, you can tag users in your comments using "@" and select user from follower list.
Using Pinterest, a summary:
1. Create an account (at the moment you need to be invited, don’t hesitate to contact me if you want one!). You can login through Twitter or Facebook. I chose the latter even because it has an application that let you post ”pin” on your own diary.
2. Connect it with Twitter, Facebook or both
3. Complete your profile with a short bio
4. Select the boards you like more among those recommended or create new ones
5. Download “pin button” for your browser: allow to narrow the contents of the site you’re surfing and to post images in one of your wall as an image or a link. Then, it allows you to pin whatever topic during surfing the net. If you perform a selection text before click on “pin button”, the text will be inserted in the appropriate space next to the image we’re going to publish. Unfortunately, at the moment, Chrome “pin button” doesn’t work properly on all sites. In particular, on Facebook, Twitter and youTube, you can pin videos not from this source.
6. You can add pin from web or you can upload them from your pc; I suggest to mix pin from sites with those you created because it increases walls appeal. You can always connect one link with a pin and remember: ones post through pin button, add it automatically. For each wall, you can also add or eliminate collaborators among users you follow.
7. Avoid Writer’s block: differently from other social networks, here we've a series of white blocks to fill. At the beginning I was blocked, then during the following days, using Pinterest, I just realized to have many ideas in my mind. Therefore, I’d like to give you a hint: just focus on your interests and try to find them out in search field. Another good step is trying to create carefully your boards; I mean that if you choose topics really unusual or self-made, you’ll get more followers and more pin for sure.
8. View: user view his single pin as boards and even as “all pin sent from an x site”. In my opinion, the overall view is not clear at the moment, so I think it’s better to use filters.
9. Mobile: I just tested Android front; “Photo to Pinterest” let you post only the images that are on your mobile phone or take a new one, but you can’t either ”pin” from browser nor share link during surfing on the net. In addition, you get Pinterest only after posting an image through “see your pin”. If you logout and you want to login again, it is necessary to post another image.
10. Gifts: if you insert a price without spaces “£0,00” in a pin description, this pin will appear with a label that shows the price of the object. Then it’ll be visible in a “gifts” list in which you can choose the pin objects by users you follow and filtered depending on the price. So, for example, a wish for a friend can come true or you can try to get some birthday presents. This option can be used to sell objects too. Caution: don’t forget the e-commerce link to purchase the item and keep in mind that now the prices are just visible in pounds or dollars, not in euro.
My reasons for using Pinterest
- To follow topics of interest
- To do yourself marketing: vary topics
- To launch a product or to select the item you think will be more or less interesting; it's useful for everybody who wants to create something or is interested to new trends ( some brands are already on Pinterest).
- To show the different sectors of a company and people involved in it with their interests (that’s why the function “collaborators” on the walls it’s very important)
- To collect link must not to be missed
- To strike up international relationships: more opened than Facebook
- Just for fun: at the beginning maybe, It can seem complicate to use but it’s immediate and I’m already a Pinterest addicted!
Imperfections: there're some important lacks in this social network: no compatibility with some sites and with an official application for android (ok, Pinterest is still too young…!). Moreover, there're no image editor and a multiple uploader.
It’s early to say if Pinterest will be an antagonist of Facebook, G+, (Twitter for me is something different), but it's a new approach for sure; it represents a way “to see” own interests and those of other people. It’s just a way to put on window own creativity. Certainly, we can affirm that Pinterest has important goals: just thinking about its commercial approach and gifts section…anyway, we'll see what happens…in the meantime, see you on Pinterest!
Credits:
http://mashable.com/2011/12/26/pinterest-beginners-guide/?WT.mc_id=obinsite
http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/pinterest-business-consumer-engagement/http://comunitadigitali.blogosfere.it/2012/01/da-zero-a-pinterest-in-dieci-mosse.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/a_guys_guide_to_getting_going_on_pinterest.php
Translated by Giusi Calò.
Ths post was published last monday on Franz Russo blog.