When someone mentions Pinterest in conversation, a common image that comes to mind is an online bulletin board, paired with the now almost iconic logo. However, since its inception in 2010, Pinterest has become so much more than a simple online application for people to browse, save, and share content.
For those unfamiliar with Pinterest, the easiest way to break it down is to compare it to an old-fashioned bulletin board, or dream board. Though Pinterest is free, it does require its users to register and create a profile. Once this is done, users then are allowed to search through seemingly infinite categories like decorating tips, current fashion trends, healthy dinner recipes, business management strategies, writing prompts, and etc. These categories contain images and other media content on which you can click, follow a link to the direct source, and then explore that particular piece of content further. You are also able to “pin” any of the images or other content you find interesting, essentially saving it to your profile for later browsing or use.
Pinterest allows, and encourages, its registered users to create “boards” of their own. These are like individual bulletin boards you create for each broad topic you may want to search. For instance, if you are interested in collecting inspirational quotes, you would create a “board” and give it a title indicating its purpose: “Inspirational Quotes,” for instance. Then, anytime you come across an inspirational quote that you’d like to save, you merely pin it to your “Inspirational Quotes Board,” and you’ll have it forever!
Now, while Pinterest is an awesome tool for keeping track of personal interests, the real value of creating a Pinterest account is that it can be used for business, and it has gained incredible momentum in the business world. Pinterest allows you to upload photos and files, and to pin content from almost any other website (except Facebook). Therefore, you can use Pinterest as a promotional opportunity for yourself as an author and for your books. Consider some of these suggested methods for using Pinterest to promote:
• Create boards aimed specifically towards your readers.
o Include promotional images, marketing resources, etc.
o Post new releases
o Preview special giveaways
o Pin favorite books and authors
• Create boards for your specific novels.
o Include photos that represent your setting or characters.
o Include pins that relate to your inspiration for the novel.
o Upload your book’s cover design and link it to a buy link
• Share a board with fellow authors
o Use shared boards to collaborate with other authors or see their inspiration
By using Pinterest as a promotional tool, and creating boards that are accessible by your audience, you are opening yourself up to a huge market of new readers, and you are making yourself more accessible and personal to your already established fan-base. Pinterest is a fast growing market, increasing its user count by over 2,000% since May 2011. Market your book on Pinterest, and you'll be reaching a demographic of people are willing, ready, and eager to buy! As another added benefit, Pinterest has more than twice the referral traffic of Instagram, YouTube, Google Plus, and Linkedln combined.
The amazing value of Pinterest isn’t just that a lot of people look at it, but people stay on it for longer, and it drives more purchasing traffic than any other social media site. Seventy percent of users say they consider buying recommendations from Pinterest!
The new era of Pinterest is upon us. Forbes Magazine recently coined Pinterest users as “aspirational,” meaning that the people who visit this site are looking to be inspired: inspired to do something, to read something, to buy something.
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Rochelle Carter is the Publisher at Ellechor Media & Associates, LLC (www.ellechormedia.com), an award-winning publishing company with rave reviews. She is also the award-winning author of The 7-Step Guide To Authorpreneurship (http://j.mp/PublishRight), an international bestseller that has been widely endorsed by other bestselling authors and industry professionals.
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