How to find out about Pininterest and if its right for you?

What is Pininterest?

You've probably heard that Pinterest is here and in a big way. If you're not already familiar with it, take a look and see if you can understand what the fuss is all about. The site has been around for a couple of years but has only just taken off. I've wanted to write something about Pinterest for the last couple of weeks, but haven't been able to because of work commitments.

So what is it, I hear you ask?

Pinterest is a visual bookmarking tool. There are a number of sites and platforms that serve as social bookmarking tools such as: Delicious is probably the best known one; StumbleUpon, Reddit and Digg are variations on the concept but its main capabilities are booking marking sites, search, with tagging as the common thread that runs through each.

But Pinterest has taken it to another level that appeals to some more basic human needs: the ability to browse content in a minimalist, visual way; and the notion that when we encounter strangers (either online or offline), we make a connection through a common interest and the sharing of that interest.

Enter Pinterest's solution: Boards. Users can create their own boards around anything that they're passionate about, and Pinterest gives a limited number of categories into which your boards can fit: Art, Architecture, Cars & Motorcycles, Design, DIY & Crafts, Education, Film, Music & Books, Food & Drink, Gardening, Geek, Hair & Beauty, History, Holidays, Home Decor, Humor, Kids, My Life, Women's Apparel, Men's Apparel, Outdoors, People, Pets, Photography, Print & Posters, Products, Science & Nature, Sports, Technology, Travel & Places, Wedding & Events, and Other.

The advantages of this site are that it’s simple to use and visual in nature, users have the ability to follow individual boards rather than the entire stream of users. This is not to be underestimated, as user experience across the web is changing to accommodate custom content delivery - busy people what only what's relevant to them. And at the same time, they want serendipitous discovery so they can still find new and different things that inspire them. Check out this article which might inspire you further Jay Baer looks at some of these reasons on Convince and Convert. Here are a couple case study examples of how it’s working and its responses...for one analyst recently observed that he has seen "some of the strongest user engagement, retention, and virality metrics" there and Bessemer Ventures is bullish on Pinterest.

Women vs. Men

While it's true that women make up the majority of users, it's about universal human nature and how we connect with each other.

And yet, we're beginning to see a rise in competitors to Pinterest, some specifically with a male slant such as Gentlemint; another is Dartitup.

Whether or not these other sites are able to match the momentum of Pinterest, the reason we're seeing the competitors is again because the need to share and to bond around common interests is something that humans - both men and women - have baked into our DNA.

Resources

There are some good resources out there with a number of great examples for businesses. These include:

• How to Use Pinterest for Business (Spiral16)
• 30 Resources, Tips and Tricks for Marketing Your Business on Pinterest (Jeff Bullas)
• 10 Tips on Using Pinterest for Your Business (The Next Web)
• How Brands Are Using Pinterest - And What They Can Do Better (Read Write Web)

To me, the brands that will be successful here are the ones that go beyond just using Pinterest as a storefront and use it to unite people around passion points. And of course, you'll want to use Pinterest to drive sales - particularly if you're in the e-commerce business. But think creatively about how you construct boards: rather than just listing products, center around a theme.

Pinterest is bound to become a powerful engine for e-commerce, more so than the promise of "F-commerce" from Facebook, I think. The challenge with the Facebook model (for the most part) is that it required users to have the storefront experience in a custom tab on each company's Facebook page - not necessarily something that translates when you're using a mobile version of Facebook on your smartphone.

With Pinterest, because the mobile versions are just as simple as the web version - and because they're based on image sharing (again, see above), it's more likely that we'll see more retail driven activity.

So that's my current view on some of the things happening with Pinterest. What do you think? Are you there yet? Do you see the value or would you care to debate it?

How to find out the right Marketing Tools for your Business

Here’s 10 tools that are essential for your marketing strategy:

There are tons of social media networks available today and list continues to grow. Every network may not be right for you, but you must find out which ones are important to your target audience before eliminating them. Here are a few that are essential to your marketing strategy.

Tools

Managing 10 different social networks daily can seem like a nearly impossible task, but these tools make it easy to relay a consistent message across multiple platforms.

1. Ping.fm: Ping updates your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Flickr, Foursquare, and several other accounts with one app! They currently list 32 supported networks on their website and say they’re “always adding new ones.” Did I mention this tool is completely free?
2. Vitrue: Vitrue moderates Facebook comments, generates shareable coupons, and provides powerful analytics.
3. Disqus: Encourages interaction from blog readers by allowing them to respond from their email or mobile devices and receive notifications when other users post or reply.
4. Google Analytics: Find out which social network is the source of your web traffic.
5. bit.ly: Shorten URLs and track clicks and shares. You can also track your competitors clicks!
6. North Social: Create custom applications for your Facebook page.
7. Storify: Collect photos, videos, tweets, etc. online and share with your audience.
8. Brandwatch: Tracks your social media mentions.
9. Flowtown: Find out which social networks your customer and/or prospects are active on based on their email addresses stored in your database.
10. Klout: Scores your social media activity and allows you to see who you influence and who influences you on the topics you talk about most.

If you want help making social media part of your marketing strategy, then submit a brief!