An Introduction to Pinterest

Does your business have a Pinterest page? If not, you may want to consider requesting an invite from the website, or from any friend or acquaintance who already has an account. Pinterest is the latest up-and-coming social media marketing tool and search engine all rolled into one. It is a search engine that displays visual results instead of textual results, and also allows users to curate their favorite web content. Seventy percent of the users on Pinterest are females under 45, so think about your demographic before you create an account. Click here to view some cool Pinterest infographics.

How Does It Work?

Each Pinterest user is given an account on which they can create searchable galleries, or ‘pinboards,’ of images and videos that they feel have value. There is no limit on the number of pinboards that you can create, nor on the number of images and videos you can add to each pinboard. You can also add relevant text to each piece of media you add. Price tags can be added to a product by simply typing the price into the text box that corresponds with each image. You can pin content directly from the web, but you can also upload your own images. You can also add others to your pinboards to create pinboards curated by multiple users.

You can follow other boards on Pinterest individually, or follow all boards by one user. When you follow boards, the images and videos from each are displayed together in your home screen. You can also find media in Pinterest by browsing each subject listed at the top of the page, or by typing a topic into the search box.

Tips for Marketing on Pinterest

• Don’t just use your own content; get creative and pull content from multiple web sources within your field when creating pins.
• When you upload your own pins, always be sure to edit each pin so that a relevant page on your website has been linked to it.
• Consider whether or not you are going to use a real person’s name or your brand’s name. Pinterest is a social community that doesn’t respond well to what they might consider faceless corporations.
• Get creative with marketing your products and services. Consider engaging your potential customers in unique ways besides just pinning up all of your products, like by creating a pinboard together with a customer.
• Repin relevant content from others. People may come check out your pinboards if they see that you have pinned their media.

Blogs from the Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI has recently been quoted advising Catholic priests to get involved in the digital space. His stance appears to be with the understanding that the world continues to evolve digitally and so should the Church. He hopes priests will follow in his footsteps for the push of “digitizing the church.”

And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican, sites Huffington Post.

The Vatican has already launched a YouTube Channel, Facebook and iPhone/iPod Touch applications to support the move towards new media communications. Pope Benedict XVI further encourages all priests to not only “just have a website” but to blog and engage with the masses. This can be used as a vehicle to spread their word and reach out to the digital world – to use these platforms to foster humanity and awareness.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents New Media Secrets

Join Rosh Sillars, owner of the creative representation firm, The Rosh Group, Inc., in New Media Secrets. Rosh Sillars is a member of the InternetMarketingClub.org, as well as an accomplished photojournalist, magazine and corporate photographer. New Media Secrets will include:

• Expert advice to use new media for marketing your professional services
• The new rules in the continuously changing landscape of communication
• Understanding how new media marketing is about the conversation, becoming the expert, being engaged and attracting the attention of a world overloaded with information and resources
• How and why social media, tools, concepts and best practices for using Web 2.0 tools have helped Rosh Sillars continue to attract new clients and grow his photography business

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: New Media Secrets.