Breaking It Down: Pinterest

So I know that I have done a blog on Pinterest for Business, but I didn't really explain how to use it!

I thought that today we'd take a look at the basics of Pinterest: lingo, functionality, and overall instructions on how to use it. They say it's always best to start at the beginning so let's start with lingo.

Lingo:

~Pin: A full pin is pictured above. A pin is a digital bookmark of sorts. It includes a picture, description, a link (when you click on the photo), the pinner, and the board it has been pinned to. It is called a pin whether you are using someone else's pin or creating your own pin.
~The Pinner: David's Bridal is the pinner in the example above. This is the person or business that has added the pin to their board.
~A Board: The Aisle Style Sweepstakes is the board in the example above. A board is where all of your pins are stored for you to look at. You can have as many or as few pins as you'd like. You can also name and rename the boards at any time.
~Hashtags: The hashtags in the example above are #davidsbridal #olegcassini #weddingdress and #aisletestyle. By using hashtags, you increase the likelihood that your pins will be found and re-pinned.
~Description: The description up above includes everything from "Classic....#aislestyle". The description can be anything and doesn't really have a limit on length. This is where you can talk about an article, new website, promotion and so much more. To add traffic to your website, copy and paste the url in the body of the text so it makes it easy for people to find you. Do keep in mind that the people that repin your image can change that description to whatever they want it to be.
~Repin: A repin is when someone else adds your pin to their own boards (or when you add someone else's pin to your own boards).
~Picture: The picture is the photo of the women in the wedding dress above. This is the photo that will always show up when you see that particular pin. Each photo is linked to a website so that when you click on the link it will redirect you.
~Followers: This is the number of people who are following your boards, meaning that your pins show up in their news feed.

Now that we've got the lingo down pat, let's tackle some how-to!

How-To:

~Repin? To repin someone else's pin, simply hover over the photo. You will see a "Pin It" button appear. Simply press that button and wait for this screen to appear:

There are many things you can do before hitting "Pin it" and putting it on your board. You can select which board you would like it to appear on, as well as alter the body of the text that will appear along with the pin. You can also click the Facebook button to have the pin appear on your Facebook page (if they are linked).

~Make my own pin? Not seeing what you are looking for or do you want to create a pin from your own photographs? Go up the right hand page of your Pinterest page. There is a small "+" button. Click that and it will ask if you want to upload a file or use a website. Select the option you would like to use and create your pin from there. Make sure to add it to the correct board and edit the description.
~Edit a pin after it's been pinned? (description, board location, source link)? Hover over one of your pins and in the left hand corner you will find a little pencil icon. Click that and the following screen will appear:

From here you can change which board the pin will appear on, the description, and the source. The source is where the pin will lead when a user clicks on the picture. You can also delete a pin from here.

~Create a new board? This can be done when repinning or creating new pins. When you go to select the board, a "Create a New Board" option will appear on the top of the selections. You can also create a new board by clicking the "+" in the upper right hand side of your Pinterest page. This is an option in the drop down list that will appear.
~Edit my profile? This can be done by going to the page with your boards on it and clicking in the pencil in the bottom right hand corner of the top profile box. You can edit your name, description, how your url appears, and even add your own website.

I know this was more of a technical blog, but it's an important one! With the popularity of Pinterest, you don't want your business to be missing out on this opportunity!

Until next time,
Melissa

PS. Follow my marketing board on Pinterest!

Twitter as a News Source

First of all, I apologize for the lack of blogs lately. I have been very busy-I just got back from getting married and going on a honeymoon!

Speaking of our honeymoon, an event that happened while we were there sparked me to write a blog which, as the title implies, is about using Twitter as a news source.

My husband and I traveled to San Francisco, California, for our five day, four night honeymoon stay. After a wonderful time filled with amazing food, beautiful scenery, and the best workout I've had in weeks, we headed to the airport that Saturday. That happened to be Saturday, July 6, at the San Francisco International Airport and our plane was to take off at 11:16 AM. We boarded the plane on time and taxied out to the runway. By that time we were running just a few minutes behind. We were second in line on the tarmac when suddenly people begin getting up out of their seats near the front of the plane. People start talking and getting louder and louder. The pilot of our plane came over the intercom and announced, "there appears to have been an accident on the runway". End of announcement. The people at the front of the plane could see some of it. The people near the back of the plane (like us) were left totally in the dark. People sit for a few moments and then begin to ask if they can use their phones. This is when the chaos started. Immediately people began powering up their devices to let their loved ones know that they were okay and tell them what little information they knew. We, of course, called our parents and put up a status online to let everyone know we were okay. The problem was that no one knew.

I, being the social media freak that I am, pulled up Facebook. Nothing. Not a single news source had released anything, no status updates, no anything.  Twitter was a different story. Immediately things like #SF #airport #planecrash #sanfrancisco were trending. There were pictures. There were posts about where the plane came from. There were posts about what the flight number was. ALL before the story was breaking news on television or any online media source.

From the time the plane crashed until it broke on a credible news source (like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC), almost 45 minutes had gone by. 45 MINUTES. Yet, on Twitter, it had broke almost immediately.

News breaking on Twitter is nothing new.

News broke of Whitney Houston's death hours before it was confirmed by AP news (source). The New York plane crash into the Hudson in 2009 broke on Twitter over 15 minutes before it broke on mainstream news (source). On the day of Micheal Jackson's death, over 30% of Twitter traffic was eaten up by tweets about him (source).

Nor is the breaking news always credible.

Remember when hackers broke into the Fox News Twitter account and fake tweeted about an Obama assassination? Or, just this year, when Burger King and McDonalds were hacked in the same week?

My point is for us to think-will social media become the first news source people go to instead of flicking on the television or turning on the radio? As more credible resources jump onto the real-time media train, this becomes more and more possible.

What about you? If you know news is breaking, where do you go first?

Until next time
~Melissa