Pin It Forward UK
If you have never heard of Pinterest then this is the post for you.
If you have heard of Pinterest, but don't have the foggiest idea of what it's all about, then this is the post for you.
And if, like me, you are completely and utterly addicted to the wonder that is this online collective community of pinners and virtual pin boards, then I hope this may be a useful post for you too.
You can find my boards here if you fancy a nose!
You will see I am in full party planning mode!
My favourite is my Vintage Party Inspiration board. If ever my husband decides to throw me a surprise party, he only has to peek at this and we are golden! It features loveliness like this:
Pinterest is the fastest growing social network, the main source of traffic from the US to individual UK blogs and the first website I use to research anything. Anything at all. You name it I use Pinterest to find it. It's actually a challenge I set myself to come up with an idea that is not on Pinterest!
If you are totally confused you can read about my introduction to Pinterest here.
But as part of the Pin it Forward UK campaign to spread the word about the dedicated UK registration, I want to share some Spring Cleaning tips for your Pinterest account as I imagine that the majority of my readers either already use the site already or have heard me shouting about it numerous times before!
How to Spring Clean your Pinterest Boards
(and gain followers)
- LAYOUT. Do your boards compliment each other? It's highly likely that if someone finds one of your boards and has a shared interest they will like another and another. Take time to choose your cover images as that is the first thing a potential follower may see when they view all your boards together.
- THINK SEASONAL. If you still have an Easter or Christmas board near the top of your collection shame on you! Only teasing but those should be whizzed to the bottom of the pile. Split your boards into separate holiday categories so people can find them more easily. No one is researching Easter at Halloween so you don't want a multitude of pins that aren't relevant in the same board.
- HELPFUL DESCRIPTIONS. I am so guilty of repinning a description with the text "would love this", especially to my Wish List board, but how can someone else find that?! Be helpful and make your descriptions informative so that a search enquiry will find them. Same goes for Board descriptions. Have you added a description and category to your boards? Don't forget to add the American spelling in the description too or our friends across the pond might not find your perfect pins.
- CHANNEL YOUR INNER CRAFTY SPIRIT. Pinterest users are creative individuals. That's one of the reasons you would use Pinterest as a creative research hub. I pin Kid's Craft ideas and my own Fantasy Craft Room ideas separately as lots of my followers don't have children and wouldn't be so interested if I had ideas for both age groups mixed together.
- KNOW YOUR SOURCE. I try to check the sources of my pins as there is nothing more frustrating than finding the exact inspiration you were looking for only to discover a dead link when you try and click through to the original tutorial or product source. Pin from an actual blog post and not from the home page as you will be annoyed when you come back to it in a years time and can't find it!
- BLOG BOARD COMES FIRST. If you are a blogger make sure your blog board is the first thing you see and pin your content from individual posts to your blog board first.
- DON'T BE A FLOOD BE A RIPPLE. But be careful not to spam your followers and flood their news feed with masses of images of the same topic! Pin little and often. I pin 3 ideas on a theme at most at any one time.
- GET LINKING. Link your Pinterest account to your Facebook page, show your recent pins in your sidebar to encourage more interest.
- THE ONLY WAY IS UP, BABY! Keep your photos portrait style as they are much more likely to be repinned, as the majority of users read their news feeds on a mobile, where portrait style images display more user friendly on screen.
- PIN IT BUTTONS. Something I am guilty of not having on my blog is Pin it buttons on images, it makes it so much easier for lovely readers to share your content. Job for today!
- BE A PRIMARY PINNER. Pin as much original content as possible, repin, but Pinterest will be a better resource the more everyone adds to it.
As part of the campaign I am thrilled to introduce Helen at KiddyCharts. Check out her boards for parenting inspiration and helpful pins on children's behaviour and craft projects.
Now come and join the fun by clicking HERE! It's free and you will adore it.
