Pinterest is a social networking site that is used by Pinners (users) to
share their interests by pinning images, videos and links to their or
other user's pinboards. The pinboards each have a title and they accept
multiple images. It is all the rave at present because it is a unique
concept and user's are able to share this image content and build their
own interesting boards. You can take the opportunity to promote your
brand, products, goods and information and you can make money through
promoting your affiliate links. You can upload images from your the web
using a Pinterest bookmarklet, a PinIt Button or from any URL.
In
order to have a Pinterest account, you need to be invited to join, but
once the invitation is issued it is pretty simple to get started. You
will receive an email and will need to choose at least one interest.
The system will then follow people that it thinks you might be
interested in but it is possible to unfollow if you wish. It will also
choose boards that you may be interested in but it is easy to delete
these if you wish. You can then go in and complete the information for
your profile. You can choose a personal or company profile from here.
But, before you start using Pinterest, it's a good idea if you
understand some of the terminology and be aware that you can download
the PinIt Button from Pinterest or a Wordpress plugin. Then you can
choose what you wish to Pin, within reason, providing you stick to the
terms and conditions as determined by Pinterest. There are many
categories including education, science, history, outdoors and
photography. You can use your own images to promote your products or
services and this is what makes Pinterest so unique because, while your
images have to conform to Pinterest standards, there is no limit to the
type of image you can include.
Booklists are popular and you can
suggest books to read and link them to your affiliate links at Amazon
although you need to be aware that there has been talk that Pinterest is
changing people's affiliate links. Quotes are also very popular and
you can promote your business and brand using quotes. Videos are also
very popular and are a great way to promote your brand.
There are
different ways that you are able to pin your boards such as pinning
direct from a PinIt Button on your website or uploading an image from
your computer and you can even upload from your mobile phone. You will
then choose which board to add your image to and this may be one that is
already created or a brand new board as determined by you.
It is worth doing some research to see what interests other Pinners and
that way you can target your audience. You can then build your
following and you can choose to follow either users or boards and you
will be informed when a Pinner pins new content to the boards you are
following.
But why would you want to use Pinterest as a marketing
tool? Well, think about it. You can promote your brand, products and
services using this new social networking medium. You can use Pinterest
simply to build and market your brand and you can research to see what
your competitors are doing. What are they promoting and who are they
promoting to? How do they showcase their products and why are their
products unique and engaging. You can promote a board showing your
company history and company profile or you can give customers ideas on
how to use your products. Create a board showing customer testimonials
or promote a competition or contest.
You can stand out as a
sector expert but you have make sure that you engage with your customers
and use Pinterest to its fullest extent. There are so many marketing
opportunities available to you as an affiliate marketer but make sure
that you update your boards regularly and don't just leave them blank.
Happy Pinning!
