My Pinterest story began when the platform was ‘invite only’
I had actually begun a freelance writing career back in 2011 as an act of desperation. The saying: ‘When the going gets tough, the tough go out and get a job’ was very much my story.
I was running a writing retreat but recovering from surgery and pretty broke. I began selling web copy, e-books at ridiculously low prices. ‘Hell, I thought, ‘I could sit here all day and still not earn enough.’ On one of those more negative days my son sent me an email. ‘Hey Mum, just checked this out and thought you’d love it.’ The ‘it’ was Pinterest.
I dutifully asked to be invited and then having received my permissions investigated the site. People believe in love at first sight; I was hooked. Pinterest was everything I wanted from a social media platform. I got it immediately. Some two hours later I had pinned myself to a standstill and every day I would be back, exploring, pinning; I was the veritable Gollum figure looking for her ‘precious’.
Almost immediately I could see the content curation going on had massive business potential. I was the director of a writing retreat in Europe so started producing boards that put that holiday destination at their heart. One of my greatest coups was being invited to a group board that has now clocked up over 20 000 pins – that gives me massive exposure.
Being an early adopter people kept asking me to help them with setting up Pinterest. I had made it my business to learn everything I could about it. As I spent ages on social media in general and know that content has to be quality, wherever it appears I decided I needed to be an expert. My pins on the group board always went well and I could see the juxtaposition of text and image was infectious. The text always gave a different perspective as if to say: ‘Do you see what I see.’
Pinterest has done me proud. I sell Pinterest evaluation services, board management, profile writing. I have been featured in national newspapers and magazines and am now working with Ahalogy, a really exciting Pinterest service. In addition I have discovered Pins4Ever a neat platform that allows you to play with your pins, back them up and rearrange to your heart’s content: bliss.
I blog regularly about why Pinterest is so useful for every type of business on my website. I write content strategies and am completely immersed. Pinterest stops me in my tracks every day. The new promoted pin emails are always a treasure trove of exciting images and I pinned a few, only this morning.
My business is not what you might expect to find on Pinterest but I think even now, it is underutilized by brands and I know it will knock every other social media platform into a cocked hat. I knew that from the first afternoon I spent with it; what’s not to like?
Vivienne Neale is a social media advisor and consultant. She specialises in helping small businesses to create a dynamic social media presence. If you need help with your social media management, strategy or content contact her here
