PINTEREST: #Social #Media #Scrapbooking with #Style
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
I fell in love with Pinterest the moment I discovered it. Blame it all on facebook. When I heard about the imminent changes that would include cover pages, I went wild. I am a visual artist first and a writer second. Finally, I had found a place to express myself, in pictures, on the Internet highway.
The Pinterest logo © Pinterest
I thought things would quiet down for a while. I had narrowed my must learn ASAP list to two or three new programs or apps. They included the new facebook format. To help me with that would be the Lujure.com program designed by my latest Internet hero, Nathan Latka. The other challenge on my list was how to fine tune WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Then Pinterest was going to be the cherry on top of the sundae, the reward for all my hard work.
MY PERFECT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM OR IS IT?
I breathed a sigh of relief. I could take a momentary rest from my two plus years of social media walkabout. But NOOO, it was not to be. Off again, I went to explore and excel. I am compulsive even delusional about being ‘the best’, at any app any more.
I do have to admit that, at first, this visual platform was heaven for me. I was drawn to it naturally. But what really lit a fire under me were the stats. Somehow Pinterest is getting more attention and return responses than all the other social media platforms. One by one, this dark horse is out running the more familiar and favorite social media.
So I could not resist on either account, my love of pictures and my drive to dally in the latest technology. I started like any neophyte, immediately gathering and pinning all my new facebook covers. Then I proceeded to my blog post images and on to other business material.
My Pinpuff.com scores as of 3.16.12 © Pinpuff.com
OUR FIRST DISAGREEMENT
I even joined the LinkedIn Pinterest Networking Group. Almost immediately, a helpful member suggested I take a different approach. I also got my analytics scores from Pinpuff.com. The results were not glowing either but did indicate room for improvement. I had completely forgotten that, just like any form of social media, we approach it one, two, three. Didn’t I just write that in my last blog post, SOCIAL Media: One, Two, Three?
What made me think that virtual bulletin boards would have different rules from any other social media platform? Well, I was put in my place, front and center. Just because Pinterest is visual, it does not mean one can break the rules and commit the Cardinal sin of barging onto the scene pinning business in viewers’ faces. It is still Introduce, Engage and Relate.
KISS AND MAKE UP
So after the initial thrill of pinning every piece of visual business I could find, I had to go about rethinking my approach. I reminded myself of my own One, Two, Three SOCIAL Media guideline. I have to INTRODUCE myself FIRST by pinning things I like. Actually, that isn’t hard at all.
There are so many things I love. Due to the serendipitous nature of online finds, I have already discovered floods of photos and images worth sharing. Keeping my virtual glue close by, I can continue to INTRODUCE myself and begin to ENGAGE with others who love what I do and vice versa.
‘TIL THE NEXT GREAT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM MAKES US PART
When I have established RELATIONSHIPS, business material can be gently presented. In fact, when I went back and looked at my facebook covers on Pinterest, they looked terrible. Besides that, the conversations I had grabbed for my blog posts looked terrible too. I had not picked feature photos and had not even picked images that make good feature photos.
The images on one of my Pinterest boards titled ‘Magnificent and Magestic’ credited individually.
Pinterest demands that I look differently at the visual business material that I put on facebook and on my blog posts. But I admit I have not taken my original boards down yet. I did so much work on them. I have moved them to the bottom of my collection so that business takes a back seat.
Instead of a respite, I have another social media marathon to run. Oh well, such is the nature of the beast. There is no rest for this geek-girl. Technology waits for no one and no thing. Not even for those pretty pictures on the now popular, Pinterest.
AUTHOR’S AFTERWORD
As this piece was about to go to press, Pinterest just changed their profile page. I thought I was lost or did something wrong. But again, NOOO. They are just following in facebook’s footsteps.
SOURCES AND RESOURCE READING
Since my blog post is primarily about my experience with Pinterest, I want my readers to have a bounty of resources available to them for learning Pinterest’s ‘nuts and bolts’ as well as hearing other bloggers viewpoints.
Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network
12 Most Poppin’ Ways to Get Started on @Pinterest
26 Tips for Using Pinterest for Business
6 Ways Brands Can Rock Pinterest
Facebook App Integration: This Week In Social Media
http://www.youtube.com/t/annotations_about
Pinterest Now Generates More Referral Traffic Than Twitter
Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined [Study]
Pinterest gains social marketing appeal, named one of the top U.S. websites
Pinterest Sent More Referral Traffic Than Twitter In February
7 Personal Qualities to be Successful on Pinterest
