Have you met her? The newest Social Gal on the block? She’s Miss Pinterest of course! We looove her! Or, maybe, I should say that I looove her. (A little too much, actually. Pin browsing=longer hours at the computer) Pinterest isn’t exactly “new” new. In fact, it’s been around since early 2010 and was originally used mostly by artists, bloggers, and the like.  Now, even though it is still “invitation only”, it is at 10 million registered users and growing! This includes 9.5 million monthly users who connect and login through their personal Facebook profiles. The developers’ mission was to keep it very lifestyle oriented and allow people to share their tastes in fashion, food, art, photography, and everything else that can be found in picture form. Each Pinner is basically saying “Hey World! Look it! This is totally cool.”

You may ask why should you look? Get caught up in the beautiful, colorful addiction of ONE MORE social site? Well, the opportunity for marketers here is massive, sweeties. So, listen up!  Not only can a business pin images and videos of their own products, but how they may fit into the lifestyles of your customers. (This is the strategy I’d recommend. Wink. Cough. Nudge.  Pinterest insists that blatant self promotion is a no-no and kind of a bummer, really.  There are many ways to make it fun and keep it light.) For example, a bakery can showcase how their baked goods become an integral part of a host’s event through photos of them being enjoyed by guests, featured in photo ops or even smashed by the cutest of babies at their 1^st birthday party. It could also pin photos of other cakes they find posted to give themselves and their customers ideas for future cake designs. That very same retailer can follow the pins of those who follow them and the pins of other bakers to spot trends in colors, interests, fashions, maybe even recipe tastes. They could even offer a contest of some sort. (The phrase “Pin it to win it.” is sure to become an internet meme at ANY moment.)  The options go on and on…

Once again, the “social” communication opportunities abound. All of which can apply to many different products and services! (Can you tell that I’m having a sugar jones right now? Which is affecting my workday?) Oh, and guess what! Your pins are embedded with nice little links to the sites from which they came for your readers’ information and YOUR site’s social/search bonus points.  According to Shareaholic, this January Pinterest drove more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. Weee!  See the importance now?

So, what are we waiting on?  It’s fun!  Just, please don’t blame us if you find yourself addicted.  The pain is mutual.  It’s the price we all pay to live in a social world – with pretty pictures!!

 P.S. To enjoy a little retro rocket pinning, you can find SEO Rocket at http://www.Pinterest.com/SEORocket

Posted in Social Media Marketing

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