I’m sure you all have heard of it by now, but Pinterest is the latest craze in social media. At first I was bit unsure of the whole idea myself (wasn’t Facebook and Twitter enough?), but about a month ago I decided to hop on the Pinterest train and I can say that I absolutely love Pinterest.
I thought it might be helpful to share what I’ve learned in the past month or so with my pinning experiences to make your getting started a little bit easier.
First of all- What is Pinterest?
As described on the Pinterest website, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard, allowing its users to organize and share anything on the web. People are using Pinterest to collect and share everything from wedding inspirations and fashion to photography and cooking recipes
How do I join Pinterest?
Pinterest is an invitation-only social media site, so if you are interested in joining all you have to do is “request an invite” from the Pinterest website or you can be invited by a current Pinterest user.
How do I get started on Pinterest?
Once you have received your invite you must set up your profile with a picture and bio. Pins are organized by topic into boards and by default Pinterest starts users off with a bunch of boards that can be renamed or deleted. I have boards ranging from- recipes I love, to places I’d like to go, to my favorite DIYs.
With Pinterest, each user has complete creative freedom to pin whatever they want and create any board of his or her choice so once you have set up your boards its time to start pinning.
You can also connect your Pinterest account to your Facebook or Twitter so every time you pin something it will show up on your Facebook Profile or in your Twitter feed.
How do I pin something to Pinterest?
The easiest way to pin and have easy access to Pinterest while surfing the web is to add the “Pin it” button to Safari in your bookmarks bar. There is a great video and instructions on the Pinterest website under the “Goodies” tab so check it out if you need more of a guide.
But once you find an image you want to pin click on the “Pin it” button and add a description to your image and pin away!
What should I pin on Pinterest?
Anything!!! With more exploring you will soon find that you no longer have this question and instead are asking yourself- What should I NOT pin??
Who should I follow on Pinterest?
In my opinion the following component is one of the most exciting parts of Pinterest. You can connect with your Facebook friends and follow them, and you can follow just about anyone else. Many of the blogs that I follow all have Pinterest accounts and I have begun to follow them as well. Pinterest also displays suggestions for which Pinterest accounts you should follow and those can be found on your home page.
Once you have started pinning on your own boards and following other Pinterest users, the next step in the Pinterest process is repining and liking other pins.
Repins are the “retweets” of the Pinterest world and allow you to share an image from someone that you follow.
Liking a pin simply adds the image to the “Likes” category on your profile page.
With more time spent on Pinterest it will become easier to figure out how to navigate between your Pinterest newsfeed (with all of the pins from you and those that you follow) and your profile (with your individual boards and pins).
Thanks for exploring Pinterest a little more with me and I can’t wait to see you on Pinterest soon!
Happy Pinning!
P.S. Pinterest now has an iPhone app! Pin on the go!