Our Interest in Pinterest
A pin-board to “pin” your “interests.” It’s as simple as that.
Getting your business on Pinterest, even if you aren’t selling a product that caters to the crafty people on Etsy, is something to think about if you are curious about new ways to share your business interests (more specifically, the curation interests of your staff) with others in your industry. Being a design firm, we’ve decided to get on Pinterest to share our work and inspirations.
Pinterest is comprised of digital pinboards that allow users to collect, organize and share inspirations, and users are then able to forward their pins, as well as those of others, in the same way that Twitter lets us “re-tweet” posts. The site is essentially a digital corkboard, one that can mirror the one in your home or office. When used with purpose, users can create lists of to-do’s, themed inspirations for a campaign or project or even folders of their own work. Users have to remember, however, that the concept behind the site is the role of community, so posting only their own work is a no-go. Creativity roots from inspiration and collaboration, so why not extend your network and re-pin the awesome work you see by others?
All Pinterest posts are easy to link to their original source, so no matter how long the game of telephone lasts, the original creator can be referenced in a “re-pin.” Linchpin SEO has created this great infographic for the site, showing the different ways that a small business, whether targeting women or men, can grasp a different corner of the market other than the powerhouse trifecta that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have occupied.
Pinterest surfaced this past year, and, with the growing number of active users, we assume that their business will multiply in 2012. “Not only has the company received $27 million in venture funds, but the site’s popularity has exploded from 1.2 million users in August to over 4 million today,” states Rob Lammie of Mashable. We’re excited to see where this machine goes, as it speaks through the visual. Working like a Tumblr, Pinterest users will be attracted through images, so great graphic design can really play a role in a user’s popularity.
Getting Started:
Create a profile, and start “pinning” what you like to your board. It can be your way of curating your business’s outside interests. There’s no better way to engage within your community—nationally or locally—than sharing what you like with your network. More specifically, sharing those things that aren’t all business details, will make your business seem that much more human. At Hero, we like fine crafted beers, good music, basketball and panda bears, to name a few. If you’re already on Pinterest, or just getting started, find us at Herodesign and let’s share our boards. Great ideas come through collaboration, so let’s get started.
