I am loooooost in Pinterest.

19 replies
Okay.

So I'm a dude.

And I'm completely lost in Pinterest.

I know it's pretty female heavy, and I think I want to start targeting my product to the stay-at-home mom's, because I think my product could do a lot of good to that demographic.

Hence my 'interest in Pinterest' (hey! has anyone coined that phrase yet?!)

But I'm lost.

How on EARTH am I supposed to drive traffic to my 'boards'? Get people to share them?

(Am I even asking the right questions?) Is that what I want people to do?

I guess a better question is:

What is the point of Pinterest, what do I need to do with these 'Pictures I make' and post on there, and how to I drive traffic to my site from there?

Spanks!


ADE
#lst #pinterest
  • Profile picture of the author jramsburg
    I kinda take pinterest post (or pin) like a facebook post with an image. The main difference is that the image itself is a link back to the page it was pinned from.

    You want your images to be eye checking and something that people will want to share, funny, inspirational, or just cool looking. This will help with the people who don't ever click through to the page and just like having a certain image on their "board". The images need to be relevant to the page you are linking from.

    When you pin make sure you write a description or caption that will make people want to see what the page it is from is. I am lazy and I normally just use the title of the post I am pinning from.

    When someone else shares or "repins" your image it places it on their board for all of their followers to see. The image keeps the link to your webpage spreading your reach out further. One of the ways to get more people to pay attention to your boards is to repin stuff from other users. They get a message that you repinned their image and normally will at least give you a look if not follow your boards.

    When someone follows your board it is kinda like friending someone on facebook. It causes your pins to show up in the feed on the main page when they log in. You can either follow someone and get everything they pin or just follow each board and just get what they put there. Most users will just follow every one of your boards if they like your stuff.

    When you first create a board give it a name that not only gives a description of what you are going to post but also like a headline makes people want to check it out. I normally keep it basic, for my boards about food I normally name them "Food" or "Food and Drink".

    I have found humor, food, clothes, home stuff, jewelry or inspirational images get the best response. I am not an expert at pinterest, so more advanced stuff I don't know how much help I would be but hopefully this gives you a starting point and a better understanding. Good luck.
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  • So, for a beginner, would it be a good idea to 'follow a bunch of people's boards?' Or would that be counter-productive?

    If so, how do I find people that are close to my 'niche' (to be more targeted?)
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    • Profile picture of the author Lokahi
      Originally Posted by Auctiondebteliminator View Post

      So, for a beginner, would it be a good idea to 'follow a bunch of people's boards?' Or would that be counter-productive?

      If so, how do I find people that are close to my 'niche' (to be more targeted?)
      Actually, your starting point should be your own site or blog. Go over every page and ensure there are plenty of photos to share. Create infographics about your product or niche and add them to your pages. Then go pin those infographics. After that, you can worry about getting followers. If you follow people first and they click through and find no photo pin boards, they will never return and you will have lost a good opportunity for a follower.
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  • Profile picture of the author jramsburg
    I have gotten some decent results following people. I normally look for popular pinners (over 1k followers in my opinion) that are pinning things I am also interested in. Pinterest is kinda of a mix of marketing and a hobby for me so I am not really aggressive with it.

    Pinterest does allow you to filter posts by board category. You set up the category when you first create the board and can change it afterwards. On the main page after you first log in, center near the top it says Following and then Categories. The problem is Pinterest does not have a business category so you may have to look at a category that is "close enough" to your product to find people pinning. The search feature in the top left could yeld some results looking for keywords but I have not played with that much.

    If you are looking for an aggressive strategy here is a thread that might be a better help than I can be. http://www.warriorforum.com/social-m...-month-so.html
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  • Yeah, that's the only issue.

    My product is a 'get out of debt' or a 'how to dominate on eBay' product.

    And the categories are quite vague at that point. So I was having a hard time finding one.

    But thanks for the link!
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    Famous for my '$1000 dollar challenge,' I've been teaching people how to DOMINATE on eBay for YEARS. Sell 100% of your items FOR A PROFIT. Rank higher, sell faster, sell more, and DESTROY your competition with a data-based approach. Quit listening to Guru's-in-training! Click now below!
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      Getting more followers is not a huge problem: hire someone from odesk and asked them to
      1. Pinn as much as possible to your boards.
      2. Follow other people and invite them to your boards.

      You will see a GRADUAL increase in the number of the followers.
      I haven't been able to duplicate the results of the strategy mentioned in "get 100k followers in a month" - Personally I am a bit doubtful if it's possible to get 100k followers in a month (or even in 6-7 months...), but I may be wrong.

      You should also start thinking on how to monetise Pinterest - I haven't found a way yet: I get traffic, but bounce rate is high - looks like it's just women that are looking for nice images, but nothing else. I hope that I am wrong, but that's my impression so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Petal
    Your right you can get lost in Pinterest. I like the idea of outsourcing this task so that I can concentrate on my other projects.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaytav
    Pinterest is the hottest new social networking site. It's true that almost 90% fans on Pinterest are Women. The virtual bookmarking site allows users, or pinners, to collect photos and videos that link back to the products they love. You can follow people who have similar interest like your's. You Pins will be visible on their Wall and you will get some repins and likes. Also I have this Infographic which might help you. The Interest In Pinterest: The Ten Things We Love (and Hate) Infographic - Forbes
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  • Profile picture of the author napoleonfirst
    Well, the WSO section has many software programs that will help you get more traffic from Pinterest. Of course, the approach that you use for this social network is important as well. You should not try to sell outright from the first time at Pinterest as they will perceive you as a desperate seller.
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  • I am looking to do this completely white-hat and not looking to be spammy at all.

    I want all legitimate followers and be 'real'.

    And sometimes when I outsource that, that cannot be guaranteed.

    I've been around long enough to realize that doing it 'right' means doing it with 'control' and without the short-cut.

    I'm not looking for strategies that will get 'banned by Pinterest' in the future...
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    • Profile picture of the author itservicebiz
      Hey,

      Pinterest is different. You should get some reciprocal follows if you follow people with similar interests. One strategy that seams to work for most is the create a board and pin 100 or so pages to it, then invite people to contribute to the board. Likes, comments, and re-pins are good things to do and will help you reach people.

      In monetizing your pins, its best and safest to create a unique page with your affiliate products and pin that page, not the affiliate link directly. You would hate to put a lot of effort into pinning only to have your pins removed. Some people use HubPages and Squidoo for their product pages and pin those others just create a WordPress blog, webpage, etc. A bonus with Squidoo is there are already community boards you can get invited to for sharing your Squidoo pages.

      And like others pointed out, you could outsource the work. Hire people to populate your boards with pins. The more specific and focused your boards are the better.

      I would also recommend linking or mentioning that your on Pinterest on your other social media networks. If people are following you on Twitter or like you on Facebook, they are likely to engage you on Pinterest if they have an account.

      All the best in finding your way on Pinterest.
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      FiveStead - Buy and sell small services and products.
      http://www.fivestead.com
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  • Profile picture of the author shazaman
    pinterest I agree is very time consuming, they have products that can do the posting and the advertising, so I heard, outsourcing takes awhile and the money is going out
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  • Profile picture of the author submitinme
    Originally Posted by Auctiondebteliminator View Post

    Okay.

    So I'm a dude.

    And I'm completely lost in Pinterest.

    I know it's pretty female heavy, and I think I want to start targeting my product to the stay-at-home mom's, because I think my product could do a lot of good to that demographic.

    Hence my 'interest in Pinterest' (hey! has anyone coined that phrase yet?!)

    But I'm lost.

    How on EARTH am I supposed to drive traffic to my 'boards'? Get people to share them?

    (Am I even asking the right questions?) Is that what I want people to do?

    I guess a better question is:

    What is the point of Pinterest, what do I need to do with these 'Pictures I make' and post on there, and how to I drive traffic to my site from there?

    Spanks!


    ADE
    Just as "Lokahi" said, you need to start with your own blog or website. Here is what what I suggest. Create cool infographics or images with famous sayings related to your niche. Publish it in pinterest and grab the embed code. Use the embed code and publish it as a blog post with little text content in your blog. Make sure that you add social share buttons in your blog, such as facebook like, G+, linkedin and pinterest pins. Do this regularly and see the magic work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Duvallmarketers
      Chris and Lisa have a great product and support. I am not sure of the rules for posting their info but you can find them here on forum if you search nonstopinterest. Also, note pinterest has a way to set it up to for people to shop.
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      Brian Duvall, CEO
      DuvallMedia.com
      We build market leaders!

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      • Profile picture of the author ChrisShaw
        Originally Posted by Duvallmarketers View Post

        Chris and Lisa have a great product and support. I am not sure of the rules for posting their info but you can find them here on forum if you search nonstopinterest. Also, note pinterest has a way to set it up to for people to shop.
        Hi Duvallmarketers, thanks for the mention here and sure do appreciate that you like our NonstoPinterest 2.0 Pinterest marketing course. We love happy customers!

        A lot of what's been said here already is 'on the money' ok. The basic premise being to bring referral traffic from Pinterest to your site and do your marketing there rather than directly on Pinterest.

        Although there are business accounts now as of November, you have to bear in mind always that this is a social network first and foremost for many avid pinners, it's not an e-commerce store primarily and if they even sniff spam, you very likely just lost a follower so be smart.

        Also, your bounce rate will be high if people click through your pin and do not see the image they clicked on immediately so don't put links in to your blog's front page coz that's going to change with every post you make. Lisa and I cover all this and a whole heap more in the course.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarcusJohnson
    Pinterest can be a great addition to your marketing strategies especially if you are targeting the female market. I was just starting to use pinterest for a few months now, and I have seen that the more beneficial your "pin" shared the more followers you will get. When you post something like "how to get flat abs in just 10 days" and link it to your site where you post those steps about your pin. It's what I have observed when using pinterest.
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  • Profile picture of the author lexilexi
    You could do absolutely great on Pinterest with how to get out of debt.

    Start to see your images as glorified links, not pictures. People will share them if they press an emotional button - funny, useful, touching, beautiful, awe-inspiring and so on.

    Here's a cheeky idea that would probably work:

    1) Go into the pinterest category for girlie shoes and find a pic of a pair of shoes that has gotten a high amount of repins (proven results).
    2) Locate the original source of the image and get permission to reuse it. Or just purchase something similarly appealing from shutterstock etc.
    3) Put a straight headline in big bold text onto the pic "13 top tips for cutting debt and freeing up more money for shoe shopping".
    4) Create article on your site with image and headline.
    5) Repin the image to facebook page and to pinterest with some call to action "please share".

    You'll get some laughs and probably make some sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author barickiza
    Create several boards, in each board pin at least 50 pictures or videos and then find people who have the same interest, with a lot of followers and invite them to contribute to specific borad (cars, science, tech...). These people will do the work for you, and will constantly make new pins and get new followers to that board.
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  • Profile picture of the author Natausha
    Have you away down and identified what your market market is like. Yea they have that one need you could help with but what else is going on in their life? They need to make dinner right? So pin frugal recipes. A lot of them home school so pin lessons. And make your own images that fit in those categories and fit with your product and link to your product. Like a pic of a great steak that says "How to feed your family of 8 prime rib every night!"
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