There is a new social site creeping into our awareness.

Perhaps, if I suggested you look at another social network (which I am about to), you would throw your hands up in exasperation and say “I don’t have time!”

But I promise you, this is worth it. Especially if like us at TLD, you are in the business of being visual and creative. It’s called “Pinterest”.

For Pinterest, you need an invitation, so leave a comment below if you would like one and I can send it to you.
If you can show your work in a visual way – this means designers, illustrators, artists, wedding planners, photographers, interior designers, property developers – all of these businesses are based on visual asthetic. This is not just to say you only put in your portfolio and that’s in. The point of Pinterest is to find and share things you like  and then you can also create your own.

Content Curation vs Content Creation

Just like with all the other social networks, successful users mix these two up. Content curation means you find things online to share. With Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus, most of the time these things will be blog posts. Content Creation means writing and posting your own articles – which can be your own unique statement status updates, but really would be blog posts.

The idea is, if you spend time on social media talking to people, sharing what they post, and then finding new things to share, you cover all the bases and are more likely to be paid attention to – when you create your own content!

So, bringing this back to Pinterest – like all the networks it’s important to put a little bit of time setting up your profile.
You can then browse other people’s boards, “repin” or “like” things you want to share. If you are active you will see pretty soon, people will repin and share your stuff too.

It can be a mixture of business and social – for example you can have boards on:

• Places you want to travel to
• Things you want to buy
• Inspiration for your office
• Your favourite foods
• Theme based (eg I did an Owl one)
• Moodboards
• Photography

Quality still counts – you need to make an effort to find things to share that you know would represent you.
If you are in business, think of it as part of your online profile. Like all social media tools, it’s not there to “sell” for you. But you can use it to showcase your work, your taste, your approach to live, and raise awareness. Then it’s up to you if you want to use it to network, proactively, or if you would like to share your boards on other social networks (for example I have shared my Owl board on Facebook and Twitter and many of my existing contacts have followed me on Pinterest as well. 

This means that you think about the “boards” you create, and what you name them and make sure that what you pin fulfills the following criteria:

1. Within your niche
2. You find it interesting and think your followers will too
3. You think it’s worth people’s time.

Within each board, you can include your own portfolio work (or visual representations of your own work).
Think about themes and how this board will appeal to others. Look at others and see how they do it, and if you see anyone who you feel has the same tastes as you, reach out and say hi!

Now it’s your turn

1. Ask for an invite (yes, you can ask me!)
2. Setup your profile
3. Create a few boards (you can delete or rename the default ones)
4. Come back here and comment on how you find it!

Happy Pinning!