Pinterest

Pinterest is a virtual pin board for organizing and sharing stuff people come across on the Internet. Pinners (Pinterest users) can pin up the things they like and have an interest in and use Pinterest for organizing, planning, and saving. Pinterest brings people with shared interests and preferences together. These people can find inspiration from each other and also repin posts.

So how can companies and organizations take advantage of this and use Pinterest as a marketing tool?

First of all, let’s take a look at the people using Pinterest. Pinners around the world might look different, but the average user in the U.S. is:

• a woman
• 35-44 yours old (the group of 25-34-year olds is almost as large)
• has some college education
• $25,000-49,999 as the household income
• has crafts, gifts & special events items, interior design, fashion, and blogging as interests

(See the specifics and some info about the British pinners here.)

If that sounds like your target audience you have no excuses not to be on the hottest new social network.

Here are some tips for creating a Pinterest presence and to further build your brand:

1. Get started

Choose a profile name that matches your brand and your other social media names. Your profile pictures and information from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. can be used on Pinterest as well. Create many boards to cover a broad range of pinners’ interests (e.g. Whole Foods has twenty nine).

2. Center Around Interests

Make sure that you show the idea behind your brand on your Pinterest boards. Express your companies’ products, but also display your core values. Say that your company sells products that are made with reused materials by people in developing countries working under fair trade practices. People are likely to not only be interested in your products, but also in the environment, sustainability, and social issues. Have your boards reflect all these topics in order to emotionally connect with the pinners around your shared interests with them.

3. Be Inspirational

Don’t try to use Pinterest as an outlet for sales and self-promotion only – it’s not an advertising board. Pinners come to Pinterest to get inspiration. Instead, post a healthy balance of promotion and a variety of content that is inspirational, educational and most importantly – related to your business. Be natural and pinners will come to you and see you as a resource of information. You can also post products from other companies. E.g. if you sell tea you can promote a company that sells cups and mugs and its products.

4. Use Visuals

Just as I recently wrote in my blog post on Facebook’s Timeline for Pages: A picture is worth a thousand words. Pinterest is about images and not about long blocks of text. Also, pay attention to what users repin and give them more of this, it’s also cheaper than a focus group.

5. Add a Pin It Button

Make it easy for pinners to pin items on your website by adding a Pin It button.

Keep these five tips in mind when you’re starting and maintaining your Pinterest presence for a smoother experience. And as always, if you have any questions or want to know more – we’re here for you!

Anna

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This reminded me of an event that I recently attended with Herringbone called WomenRock. WomenRock was sponsored by an organization called Fearless Women Entrepreneurs, which is a network for entrepreneurial women founded by Starla Sireno and Laura Guy. The event was very TED like in nature, dynamic and engaging. Many women in attendance were on the edge of becoming entrepreneurs, able to do what they are truly passionate about and to start a new chapter in their lives. Many were also scared of taking this gigantic step, scared of starting a new life, scared of stopping what they are doing now, scared of being failures, and scared of starting all over as beginners and less sure about everything.

Fearless Women Entrepreneurs had gathered some very inspirational speakers that once took this gigantic step in order to show that it is ok to have these scary thoughts and that the speakers once had them too. For example, Megan Casey from Squidoo was once afraid too, but explained that starting your own business takes a lot of things, but mostly it takes guts. Guts doesn’t mean you’re not afraid; it means you do it anyway, she explained, which I found very inspiring.

Not only were there speakers at Women Rock, but also exhibitors functioning as another example of women who once took that gigantic step and started their own businesses. Herringbone was one of the exhibitors. Johanna gladly shared her story of starting Herringbone and how she made her dream come true and we both explained how other companies can get heard in the social media jungle by engaging with Herringbone. See photos from the event on our facebook page.

Steve Jobs probably didn’t attend any Women Rock events, but he sure felt like a big failure when he was fired from Apple and was scared of what was to come. Looking back, we’re all glad Jobs’ life took a different turn and that he continued doing what he loved. I’ll end my blog post with this quote:

“Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

-Steve Jobs (2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech)

Anna

Some background first: This spring I was finishing my marketing degree at San Francisco State University. One day I was studying with a fellow Swede at a café in the Marina. It turned out to be that the woman sitting next to us was Swedish too. Her name was Johanna (yup… Herringbone Johanna) and she had recently started her own communications agency. The very same day she was going to an internship fair in Berkeley, but we exchanged contact information and I sent her my resume.

Time passed and I graduated in May. My parents flew in to celebrate with me and I enjoyed some time off.

But as a graduate it was now time to join the real world and to start making a difference. Johanna was in Stockholm over the summer, but we kept in touch and it turned out that she had never gone to Berkeley that day and was looking for someone to join the Herringbone team as the company was growing. Hello Perfect Opportunity!

And that brings us back to the question: So why did I join Herringbone? Herringbone met all the criteria I looked for in a company. As it is based in both San Francisco, the epicenter of innovation and technology, and Stockholm, the capital of my home country, it has the international presence a young professional like me is looking for.

A cornerstone of Herringbone is to only take on clients that are socially responsible and provides service or products with a purpose of creating positive impact. This matter is very personal to me, as I’m a strong believer in sustainable business practices and the honoring of the triple bottom line/people, planet, profit. I care for social entrepreneurship and the idea to marry commerce and ethics. When Johanna explained this about Herringbone, she had me at once.

As a small startup, Herringbone challenges me and I wear different hats everyday. I’m able to apply what I learned at SF State, along with my prior work experience from Sweden and I’m learning new things everyday, especially since we are working in a constantly changing environment, which makes Herringbone so much fun.

Herringbone is also an outlet for my passion for digital marketing. As we specialize in social media, I get to take part in a myriad of cool, new technology to help our clients stand out and get their voices heard to build their online communities.

Didn’t I tell you it was an easy question?

Anna Sandgren