Monday, August 13, 2012

@SocialSprite talks Pinning with @NWCreativeUnion: Part II

Getting Started with Pinterest


Pinterest is now open to all. You no longer need an invite and you can sign up via Facebook, Twitter or simply by email. So sign up and put this fun and fruitful social pin board platform to work for you.

Last week's article introduced you to this platform. This week I’ll touch on a couple of tips relevant to all. Next week the focus will be on authors and the week after on artists.

Have a strategy. First and foremost I always recommend you create a strategy before getting started with a new social media platform. If you plan on using Pinterest to share your art or books and to connect with fans and potential customers this is especially important. Ask yourself what you’d like to achieve on Pinterest: Awareness of your work, connecting with other creatives, customers or both? Answers to such questions will make it easier to know what kinds of boards to create and who to connect with.

Complete your bio. As with every social media profile you have be sure to fill out the bio section and put in your picture. These things are especially important if you are using them professionally.

Pin it button! To get started you’ll need a Pin It button on your browser’s bookmark bar to make pinning easier. You can get one on the Pinterest Goodies page as well as other buttons for your website.

What are boards? Boards are where you’ll pin your photos or the photos you like. If you’re an artist you can pin photos of your artwork from your website. If you have different genres of work make a separate board for each genre or for each type of content. For example create a board for your landscapes and another for portraits. Authors share your books on one board or create a board for each book. You can also create a board for each of your other interests.

Connect and interact. Like any social media site the more people you’re connected to the more exposure you’ll get. Interaction also helps you gain more exposure. Not only do you want to pin great photos and interesting topics you’ll want to Like, comment on and Re-pin other people’s pins.

Be sure to join me next week when I’ll have a few tips for authors specifically.

For more information on what I do, please check out my New World Creative Union profile.



5 comments:

  1. Hey Joanne! I have a question. How do I add a photo from my picture files on to one of my Pinterest boards. When I try to do it I get a message that says: "That is not a valid image."

    Maybe I missed something?

    Thanks,
    Roger ☺

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did a little research and it looks like Zenfolio doesn't allow it or the way photos are displayed won't allow for Pinterest to pick them up. I tried to pin one of your photos and it didn't work. In one of Zenfolio's user forums someone says it doesn't work...maybe they figured people wouldn't want their photos to be pinned. (Though if they are watermarked or too small of a file size to make prints from I don't see the problem...especially if they are linked back to your page.)

    They did mention that you could pin from your blog...do you have a blog on Zenfolio? I am able to pin your photo from your about page.

    Another possibility is to add a pin it button for websites...it's like the Facebook share button. http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ Can you do that on Zenfolio? This way you add in exactly how you want your work attributed as a pin on someone's board on Pinterest.

    If all else fails maybe you post your work elsewhere so you can use Pinterest.

    I hope this has been helpful. If not, ask me more questions and I'll try to help. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the research on this Joanne! I really appreciate it! Zenfolio does have it's challenges. Unfortunately I don't have a blog on it!

      I also tried to pin an image from 'My Pictures' on my computer and it wouldn't let me do that either.

      I did get an image off my chasingtao.blogspot.com where there is a picture tab, but that's about it!

      Oh, well, thanks again Joanne...if you find out anything else, please let me know.

      Roger ☺

      Delete
  3. Rogers,

    Pinterest will only pin images from websites not from computers files.

    The only way to use it is to have your photos on your blog and then pin from there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can also pin from photo sharing sites like Instagram and Flickr. (Thanks to Natasha for sharing her pinned photos from Flickr to remind me of this.)

    Here is a helpful article on pinning from Instagram:
    http://rsmithing.com/2012/04/24/pinterest-instagram/

    And here is one that involves Fickr and Instagram:
    http://rsmithing.com/2012/05/09/link-instagram-and-pinterest-a-flickr/

    ReplyDelete