A few weeks ago, my daughter came home for a break
from grad school. During that two week period, she managed to do something that
surprised me – entertained me for hours with pictures from her Pinterest
account!
She also encouraged me to revive and actively engage
my own account, so like a good mother, I did what she said. LOL Now, everybody
knows Pinterest is lots of fun…addictively so, but in the midst of the fun and
aggresively approaching addiction, I had an epiphany.
Someone once said “a picture says a thousand words,”
and they were right, so in this age of technology, that same picture can be
seen and enjoyed, interpreted, or both by millions at once. What statement are
you making with your Pinterest account? Here are just a few you might want to
consider…
1. Self-expression
– The boards we create and pictures we choose to “pin” say a great deal about
who we are as individuals. Since we all wear many hats and our lives are
multi-faceted, Pinterest is a great way to weave this mosaic onto one
entertaining page.
2. Book story-boards
– Several authors, including myself, enjoy “pinning” pictures of story
characters to Pinterest boards. I have two such boards: one for all of my
books, including works in progress (WIP’s), and the other for a current series,
“Dark Sentinels.”
3. Inspiration for books, covers, and
characters – Pinterest can also help us
conceptualize our stories, covers, and characters. As I collect more pictures,
particularly for my “Male Inspiration” board, it’s funny how stories just pop
into my head simply because certain pics stimulate creativity.
4. Meeting new people with similar
interests – This has been one of the best and biggest
surprises of using Pinterest. Every time I pin something that’s been pinned by
someone else, their board pops up and I get the opportunity to see what else
they’re interested in. Sometimes I find that we have quite a few interests in
common, so I “follow” them so we have more chances to get to know each other
better. New friends and acquaintances are always a good outcome J
5. Relaxation –
Of course, this one is a no-brainer. It’s self-made entertainment in the raw
when you periodically review your own boards. Sort of a slideshow of your
interests.
6. Creating fun, interesting tweets
and shares – Pictures are retweeted and shared more
often than anything else, maybe because most of us are visual creatures, and
pics aren’t always asking for something or telling us to do something (although
they can be, and that’s fine too.
Just make sure it’s a really good pic). Pick one of your Pinterest “pins” and
tweet about it. Keeps things fresh and you can make it a regular highlight for
your Twitter “followers.” Who knows? Might even help win more followers.” I’ve
also seen authors using Instagram and other photo boards for this purpose, and
creating pics from quotes using programs like Share as Image.
7. Using marketing analytics to track
interests – Over the last year or two, a number of marketing
analytics apps and programs have emerged to help monitor people’s interests,
sync Pinterest accounts with Facebook and Twitter, offer suggestions to enhance
your site, etc. Check out Tailwind,
Pinvolve,
Woobox
and others to help optimize your Pinterest use and engage more viewers.
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