Faith and Business 101: Pinning Your Way To A New Social Network

If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, you will now. It’s the newest and fastest growing social networking platform to hit the US since its launch in May 2011. Pinterest is an online pin board where a user curates photos, images or videos of things they like and share them on boards. Like other social networking sites, you have followers and people who comment on your pins.

Anyone can join, but you can’t just go to their site and sign up. You can request an invite as stated on their website or snag an invite from someone who’s already using Pinterest. Once you receive your Pinterest invite, you can log in using your FaceBook or Twitter account. As with any social networking site, you should complete your profile with your real name.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is, but there have been some concerns about copyright and/or trademark infringement. When you’re pinning photos or images that don’t belong to you it’s necessary to cite the original source with a link. It’s common knowledge and courtesy to give credit to the owner. Is that enough? Maybe so, but you can always contact the owner and ask for permission. To understand this fully, you can read Pinterest Terms of Service on their website.

Who uses Pinterest?

More women use it than men.

What do people use Pinterest for?

People use it to share things they find beautiful, interesting, inspiring, cool etc. and others use it to showcase their products.

Here are some ways you can use Pinterest:

If you’re a small business owner and you want to self-promote, don’t do it too often. There are ways you can be self-promotional without being obvious. You don’t want to share photos or images that screams, “buy my stuff”. You can get people to buy your stuff or at least look at your stuff by being creative.

Use infographics. They are fun, easy to read, easy to understand and they get to the point.

Pin quotes. I find in other social networking sites like Twitter or FaceBook, quotes get retweeted or “liked” more often.

Create your own graphics with a link back to your website.

It can be used as an online storage board for recipes, interior decorating, daily inspiration/motivation, DIY projects or tutorials and so forth.

When you like something re-pin it, like it, or comment on it.

One of the most important thing when it comes to social networking is to share more about others and less about you. When you live by that motto, you’ll be rewarded abundantly.

You may find the ebook; Pinterest for your Business useful in your social media endeavors.

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