Pinterest Profits Are Ripe For Picking If You Take The Time To Find The Low Hanging Fruit And Handle It With Care!!
by Rose Mis
Pinterest has captivated my attention!! Pinterest is TOTALLY addictive!! And right now, the reasons for using it are so compelling that I am taking a quick break from work to write this for you!! That’s the good news and the bad news 🙂 My work days are so jam-packed and tightly booked that if I don’t schedule “Pin Time” and honor it, a couple of hours will pass in the blink of an eye and I am scrambling to get back on schedule!!
If you are not familiar with Pinterest it’s a very simple concept … a visual bookmarking service with a strong emphasis on sharing things that you love and that interest you! You organize all your beautiful finds from across the internet on ‘pinboards’ – virtual wall boards – that you can pin photos, fabulous recipes and ideas to. You can have as many pinboards as you want and pin as many things to them as you want. Lots of people are using Pinterest to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, organize their favorite recipes, collect craft ideas, and so much more. You can save gift lists, wish lists, inspirational words, fashion ideas, menu ideas, gardening ideas, fitness information … whatever you want. You can even create a virtual dream board for yourself !! 🙂 VERY. VERY. COOL!!
The addictive part is when you start looking at other people’s pins – browsing pins and pinboards created by other folks is FUN, discovering new things, getting inspired, re-pinning the ones you like … it goes on and on and on. It’s really hard to stop! You can follow your friends to see what they are pinning as well as finding new friends who share your interests.
Pinterest is free to join … but you have to request an invite first!! <<<click here to request an invite :)>>> Everyone I know is on it or wants to be on it! However, it’s not open for simple signup. You have to have an invitation to start pinning. You can request one from Pinterest directly – it takes about 48 hours to get approved or you can request that I send you one and I will get an invite sent to you right away!!
If you are selling products online, you just might want to consider adding Pinterest to your marketing funnel!
A few days ago, TechCrunch published an article reviewing Pinterest’s amazingly fast growth – Pinterest Hits 10 Million US Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever According To comScore.
This is really significant to business owners who are blogging to build a business online because Pinterest is currently driving MORE referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube COMBINED!! Pinterest is a great place to get some new and creative ideas for blog posts. Browse through pinboards using a keyword search related to your blog topic. You’re sure to find a diverse list of pinboards and pins to get your creative juices flowing. Click through some of the results and see what people are sharing on their pinboards as well as which pins are getting a lot of repins, likes, and comments. These are likely to be images and videos that will get your blog audience talking and repinning YOUR information!
The private mastermind I belong to has been digging into Pinterest marketing extensively for the past 6 weeks to determine it’s viability as a source of referral traffic and as a profit stream. Hands down, everyone who is using Pinterest has seen increased exposure and traffic to their sites and blogs from using Pinterest. Some have reported back that they have seen nice increases in sales and profits which they are directly relating back to their products’ exposure on Pinterest. There are 10 Niches that look really promising at this point in time!
After an intense coaching session with my teacher, I reluctantly started using Pinterest myself. I was thinking … OH NO not another thing to add to my already overbooked list of things to do! I did it anyways because of the group’s results …
I pinned some of my food photos, some of my favorite books, started my bucket list, added some inspiration and wisdom pins … and I decided to pin some information about a special that a company I love and do affiliate marketing for is running for Valentine’s Day! I was pleasantly surprised when I reviewed my traffic data – there was an 18% spike in traffic directly related back to Pinterest! Certainly not huge a huge jump in traffic – but the cost to me was about 15 minutes of my time 🙂 .. no PPC spends required!! AND I sold two specials!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Marketing and promotion on Pinterest does need to be handled with care in order for it to not be considered spam. You must pin more content from other sources than your own, or you’ll look like you’re only interested in self-promotion. No one will follow you and you might even be found in violation of Pinterest’s terms of use if you use your pinboards solely for self-promotion. Even though this is a “visual book marking service”, the opportunity for some serious engagement and networking exists.
Find people in your niche and start to engaging with them by liking, repinning, and commenting on their pins. They might start doing the same for you. And they will put your pins in front of a wider audience. Some of that exposure may turn into blog traffic from people who see your pins and want to learn more from you! The big key here – BE YOURSELF … be authentic, be genuine, be heart-centered! Build relationships with other Pinners … you never know what sort of an opportunity could be waiting for you as a result of that relationship!
As someone with my own WordPress and Content Management business, I can brand myself there in small ways. Or I could just be an affiliate marketer for products and services I use and love. Did you know that if you sign up for an Amazon Associates account, you can make money if someone buys something through your recommendations on Pinterest? Just don’t go spamming the board with things that you have no personal experience with! That just stinks … It’s unethical.
For example, I’ve pinned books I love to read. I use my affiliate link. I’m totally genuine in my recommendations. I only promote products I LOVE because I know other people out there will feel they’re a good fit and will benefit from them. I don’t just go randomly pinning things to get a commission – that’s UNETHICAL!
Seriously … i don’t have kids and everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have kids. If I started promoting things for kids, I would be called out in less than a New York minute by my friends. They would NEVER buy kids’ things from me. And, they would know that the only thing I am interested in is the commission attached to the product. I would lose alot of credibility with them and that would be bad business all the way around!
One of the BIG take-aways that I got from Mari Smith’s recent Extreme Facebook Fanbase promotion is that:
“unless you’re getting ‘up close and personal’ with the subtle blending of social buzz and Social Commerce, your fans will leave you behind in a mouse-click”
Mari is spot on with that statement. Alot of formerly high powered marketers are having client retention challenges of epic proportions. They have taken themselves so far out of their heart centered communications with their clients, fans and followers that people are refusing to do business with them. I don’t see it being any different with the people you meet and network with on Pinterest, Youtube, LinkedIn …. Pinterest takes social networking and commerce to a whole new level due to the visual impact of the photos and videos being shared! If done right, Pinterest is a potential gold-mine for ethical marketers and business owners.
Within my Mastermind Community we have actually been able to identify some very HOT Pinterest Niches. These niches are delivering crazy results to the folks who are blogging and marketing within them.More on that later on this week!!
In the mean time .. Have Fun Pinning 🙂
Love and Blessings!!
Rose
Rose, like you I have been very reluctant to start using Pinterest – I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Klout! But you've convinced me I should start taking it seriously.
I have seen a couple of articles where people are talking about lawsuits because you are pinning their photos, etc. I was wondering what your take on that is?
Rose, I have another question: How do you find people on Pinterest? I did a search for you, but unless I want to wade through every board that uses the word, "Rose" I'm screwed!
Here is a good article for you to read about "legality"
Kelly …
http://mashable.com/2012/03/
I either pin stuff that I have legal rights to use as an affiliate … or my own stuff ..
If I "repin" someone else's info … I give THEM props!!
Pinterest is fun … it is good for traffic … and if you play nice (no surprise) … you don't get into to trouble!!
Oh! Thanks so much for writing this article. I've set up pinterest but I am so afraid of getting addicted that I rarely pin! You have very effectively reformed me!
This is very helpful information. I too have been avoiding Pinterest for similar reasons but from what you say it is worth it. Thanks for the advice on the balance of one's own stuff and other stuff.