Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

 ... Now this wildly pinned post from ecokaren—which received over 490,000 pageviews and was pinned more than 129,000 times—is about … how to wash a washing machine.

 

Woah, did you read that right? 129,000 pins and 490,000 pageviews? Yup. You read that correctly.

 

And the post is about washing a washing machine? Yup. Again, you read that correctly.

 

I was shocked too when this old post started receiving crazy traffic without my trying, never mind that it was from a newly un-shrinkwrapped social media site called Pinterest. One person’s pin of the post was repinned over 1400 times and has more than 300 likes. I should buy her a drink! Or maybe send her my homemade laundry detergent....

No doubt about it, Pinterest was hot in 2012 having more than doubled its user base since January which should come as no surprise to anyone in the digital marketing world.

There is a big misconception out there that Pinterest is only useful to ecommerce sites. This couldn't be further from the truth. Like any other widely-used social network, just about anyone can find success with Pinterest if used creatively.

I write for five different blogs that cover a number of topics and I use my Pinterest account to publicize almost all of my posts. In jless than a year, Pinterest has leapfrogged sites like Twitter and StumbleUpon to become the number four referred to both of my sites behind Google search, Facebook and Google+ (yes there is value in Google+ if used correctly, but that is a topic for a different day)....

Do you lie in bed at night dreaming of getting a link from some high-profile blog like ProBlogger that would send you thousands of visitors and give your blog the exposure you need to take it to the next level?

I’d rather have Pinterest.

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to have Darren share a link with his audience to one of my photography marketing posts. However, the reality is that you’ll get far more traffic, exposure, and income from Pinterest, regardless of your niche.

I believe that blogs in any niche, not just DIY crafty blogs, are missing out on huge amounts of traffic and exposure if they are ignoring Pinterest. If you want to see your blog grow in leaps and bounds in 2013, you’ve got to pay attention to Pinterest....

8 examples of well-run Pinterest contests to inspire your social media marketing.

 

Running contests in social media can get pretty sticky. Each social network has its own contest-related rules to comply with, and let's just say many of them aren't exactly easy going. If you've ever tried to host one on Facebook, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

But when it comes to contests, Pinterest is a rule hater's dream network. In fact, it wasn't until Pinterest launched business accounts recently that the social network even had a set of official rules or guidelines for running contests, and it's definitely one of the more flexible social networks in this respect. According to its "Logos, Trademarks and Marketing Guidelines" found via business.pinterest.com, in addition to making sure your contest adheres to Pinterest's general Terms of Service and any legal requirements, the following are your official Pinterest do's and don'ts governing contests...

 

[Good advice for marketers ~ Jeff]