I am on Pinterest, now what?

I am on Pinterest, so now what? Wait, step back. If you are you thinking, “What the heck is Pinterest? Why do I need to be there?” check out this introductory post.

If you are a small business or a blogger and you want to make the most of Pinterest, check out a few basic rules of conduct for this ever growing social network:

1. Find balance.The same basic rules exist on Pinterest as any other social network, including life.
2. Don’t be an ass. If you want to be popular you don’t walk into a party or social network and talk just about yourself. Create a variety of boards relevant to your business/blog and sprinkle pins from your site into the mixture.
3. Don’t be an idiot. Create a board that is blatantly for self promotion & utilize it. Be sure to notify people in your board description that this is an “all about me” board, then pin like a mad person. Does this conflict with rule #1? Nah. If people follow your board, come to hear you speak, ask about your product, want event info, etc. then it is rude to tip toe around the subject of “you.” Expect this board to have fewer followers, but know the ones there will be dedicated.

1. Stand Out. We recently re-posted The Story of a Sign video on the blog. Take note! When your board titles stray from the pack you will get a better response. Be non-traditional.
2. Use your words. I tell my toddler this all the time. Be a grown up and use your words to describe your boards with gusto. Explain what you plan on pinning & why people should follow your board. Let them know what to expect! Be creative in your board descriptions and have fun.
3.  Little is the new big, befriend the average every day Jane. Most people come on to Pinterest and follow the big dogs that have a large number of groupies. The problem with this? We’ve already seen their content because it has been re-pinned by a zillion and one members. There are many fish in this creative ocean. Look for smaller friends & your re-pins will feel fresh.
4. The beautiful people, the beautiful people. It’s all relative to the size of your… {Marilyn Manson} On Pinterest your photo counts, a lot. This is a visual network; if you want something to go viral it has to be beautiful. If you don’t have access to an image yourself, or if you cannot find a great stock image consider creating an image specifically for Pinterest. For example, “10 Pinterest Tips Every Small Business & Blogger Should Know.”
5.  I’m King of the World! Once you have a few boards & pins under your belt march up to the front of the ship and let everyone know you are now on Pinterest. Post the icon on your website or blog, send out an email, notify your Facebook and Twitter followers, tell the world.
6. Don’t be a grasshopper, save some of your own site or blog pins for later. Take some time to let your following grow before you show your hand. Then quietly start sprinkling in those traffic seeds!
7. Give us the flower, we don’t want the root. Be sure to pin the full url from the website. This is especially important with blog posts. Many people accidentally pin the root url on accident because of the way the blogs are hosted.
   Root: http://www.datadogmarketing.com/blog/
   Direct URL: http://www.datadogmarketing.com/blog/index.php/2011/09/pinning-up-art-on-the-web/
   *Clicking on the title of a blog post ensures you have the correct link to pin!
8. Be a Punk. Pinterest is still fairly new and many users are still trying to figure out the norms. This is your opportunity to step outside of the lines and color in the margins. Play, be creative, do crazy things like… chat with your followers.
9. Be a tease. The old phrase, “Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?” comes to mind. When you pin info from your site or blog, give people a taste of what you have to offer and convince them to click through to see the full content.

I’ve been using this visual social network as my own personal virtual playground. At The Dog House we’ve also use the site to help grow our project ArtMailMilwaukee.com. Click here to read about our Art of Pinning experiment.  There is a lot of fun opportunity here for businesses and bloggers to make their mark, if done correctly with respect and style!

Are you on Pinterest? How are things going? Let’s talk about it in the comments …