Curating a well thought out Pinterest account can be a time consuming process, especially if you’re trying to make it a meaningful extension of your overall brand voice. For simplicity’s sake, many companies will stick to broad themes when creating and categorizing new boards. However, there are many advantages to creating boards based around more specific themes, such as holidays or fashion trends. Some might argue that this could make your Pinterest look like a fragmented mess, but when it’s done right, having highly targeted boards actually accomplishes quite the opposite!

Martha Stewart Living Is Always Helpful for the Holidays

Martha Stewart Living has amassed an audience of over 350,000 followers on their Pinterest account, which has over 100 boards categorized as specifically as “Easter Egg Ideas,” “Memorial Day Recipes + Ideas,” and even “Asparagus Recipes.”

A sampling of Pinterest boards from Martha Stewart Living.

Some might criticize the boards for being too sensitive to time and trends, but one of the reasons that Martha Stewart Living attracted such a wide audience is precisely because the boards are so topical. Those who follow Martha Stewart Living can rest assured that when a holiday like Cinco De Mayo rolls around, an unconventional margarita recipe or instructions on setting up a taco bar will pop up in their newsfeed to add an inspiring touch to their celebration. This is a huge draw for pinners who are looking for ways to make their life more beautiful, unique and well-designed. It also provides new visitors who stumble upon your Pinterest boards an incredible amount of content to explore — giving them more incentive to click the “Follow” button.

The takeaway: Creating boards with specific themes provides opportunities to pin fresh, trending content, which makes your pins more timely and useful for your followers.

Free People Gives You The Freedom To Express Yourself

Free People (132,000+ followers) has general boards such as “FP Lookbooks” (lookbook images), “FP Kicks” (shoes) and “Live FP” (home), but they’ve also taken the steps towards creating more specific boards:

Each of these boards represent a different Free People aesthetic: Meadow, the bohemian free spirit; Lou, the edgy rocker; Candy, soft and feminine; and Ginger, who rounds it out with a touch of glam. All of this content could have been aggregated into a general “FP Girl” board; but by segmenting it, Free People showcased the diversity of their brand, and in a powerful display of Pinterest’s visual storytelling power, was able to flesh out these specific archetypes for their individual followers to identify with. Additionally, someone who identifies more with Lou can follow her individual board without having Candy’s or Meadow’s pins show up in her feed – a nice way to ensure your audience is being fed only the most relevant content.

The takeaway: You can use targeted board themes to lend power and authenticity to your brand voice, and to connect with your followers in more meaningful ways.

UGG Australia Helps You Find Your Way

Having specific board themes can also be extremely effective when running Pinterest campaigns, such as tastemaker partnerships or contests. UGG Australia recently ran a contest through HelloSociety’s HelloPartners program, promoting their Spring 2013 collection with the theme #LetsGetLost. Generating over 500 entries, #LetsGetLost invited UGG Australia followers to create a travel board based around a specific destination. This contest requirement encouraged UGG Australia followers to approach the contest in a more creative, critical way. Finding travel pins is not a difficult task but contest participants had the more challenging task of creating a board which communicated the spirit of an individual city, like Barcelona or Bangkok – meaning they automatically spent more time investing themselves into the contest, and consequently, into the brand.

The takeaway: If you’re running a Pinterest campaign, focusing it around more specific, personally relevant content is an easy way to increase user engagement.

One of the great things about Pinterest as a social media platform is that it provides new, dynamic ways to give dimension to your brand – don’t box yourself in by sticking to stale, overly broad themes for your boards.

Not sure how to get started? A solid approach is to create all your general boards first, then start creating themed boards as you determine what story you want to tell on Pinterest and what content resonates with your fans.

Do you prefer to categorize your boards in ways that are broad and all-encompassing, or specific and targeted? What, in your opinion are, the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

This week, Pinterest announced the rollout of two new features: rich pins and the ‘Pin It’ button for mobile applications such as Etsy, The North Face, Modcloth, Jetsetter and several others that have already integrated the button. Our kudos to Pinterest for the mobile upgrade – it’s an especially wise move when you consider that in a recent survey of our top pinners, we discovered that mobile is their second choice when it comes to how they pin (tablets were first).

Rich pins have the industry buzzing because there’s been a lot of speculation about how Pinterest will monetize. If you haven’t had the chance to read up on it yet, rich pins are Pinterest’s way of making pins more useful for the community and, of course, leaves people wondering if this is a test for possible revenue streams. Rich pins are currently being used by brands such as Anthropologie, ASOS, Etsy, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple and Netflix. The pins come loaded with more information, and the details are automatically updated (these features will be retroactively applied to older pins).

Of course, it’s a bit early in the game to measure how exactly rich pins will affect brands marketing on Pinterest and if this is the beginning of Pinterest’s plans to monetize. Our CEO, Kyla Brennan, believes that “rich pins are a smart move for Pinterest because they’re taking another step toward becoming a trusted resource for not only inspiration, but for information as well.”

Pinterest is making the platform more dynamic and actionable with rich pins for products (real-time pricing, availability and location); recipes (cooking time, ingredients and serving size); and film (ratings, cast members, and other information).

This is incredibly useful for sites with inventory that change frequently, like Joss and Main, which will benefit from the fact that customers can see if the desired product is available, creating a more seamless user experience. Companies with lower price points such as A-Thread and ShopSosie can also showcase the affordability of their business without appearing to over-sell products with lengthy pin captions, which decreases the likelihood that the image will be repinned.

Overall, rich pins should provide a more organic experience for the user and give marketers new options to enhance their content while maintaining Pinterest’s integrity. If you’re an e-commerce company trying to increase conversions from your Pinterest traffic, we strongly recommend moving the implementation of rich pins to the top of your tech team’s ‘to-do’ list.

One note: rich pins are only available with the new Pinterest re-design, so if you’re still rocking the old look, but want to fully explore these new features, click the ‘Get it now’ button on top of your news feed.

What are your thoughts on rich pins? How do you plan on using them to benefit your customers?

We recently caught up with Paula to ask her about her current art projects and how Pinterest has played a pivotal role in her creative inspiration.

When did you start using Pinterest and what about it caught your interest?

My friend introduced me to Pinterest about two years ago while I was on maternity leave with my third child. I was desperate to reconnect with my creative side and was having trouble finding a balance with three young kids in the house. Pinterest came along at just the right time and I connected with it instantly. The Pinterest community shares such fantastic visuals that it kept the creative wheels in my head turning in a way that I needed and appreciated.

Were you on any other social media platforms before Pinterest?

I was only on Facebook before, and Pinterest has definitely opened my eyes to a variety of different social sites like Tumblr, which is great because I share a lot of images pinned from Tumblr. I also created a Tumblr page for bearabbit, my current art project, because it’s a nice visual platform as well.

Speaking of bearabbit, could you tell us more about this project that you and your friend are collaborating on? Are you working on any other art projects?

My friend Anne and I have known each other since undergrad, so it’s been almost 13 years now! Both of us traveled abroad after we finished undergrad, and reconnected back here in Toronto. We started having coffee meetings once or twice a week and talked about how we wanted to keep our creative ideas going with my background in printmaking and hers in installation work. It took us two years to get off the ground and bearabbit finally came together back in January.

Bearabbit began as a creative collaboration for us to explore design together. Our focus at the moment is terrariums that combine the lush world of succulents and moss with tiny miniatures that are created in such a way to reveal an intimate moment on a very small scale. We are also currently in the midst of designing our own textiles suitable for young children – focusing particularly on boys.

Where do you look for creative inspiration?

Pinterest has played a pivotal role in helping us get bearabbit off the ground in terms of ideas, design possibilities and what’s trending — details that I’ve always been fascinated by. I love being involved with things are evolving in interesting new ways, like The Great Gatsby movie and the resurgence of art deco, which I’ve always adored. As an artist, Pinterest has been a great resource.

When did you notice your following go up and why?

Pinterest is a great way to test what people like. I remember thinking it would be great if I could get up to 1,000 followers to see what people think of the content I was pinning. At a certain point, my following started to grow exponentially. In a week, I noticed my follower count went from 300 to 10,000 followers! I did a lot with food at that point and I was very diligent about being on Pinterest regularly and being interactive with my followers and following them back.

What’s your favorite thing about being a tastemaker?

I really love when people respond to my pins with positive comments. It makes it easy to build a relationship with people you don’t know in person but you share similar tastes with. I like the reciprocal following/follow-back relationship so I can see what they curate on Pinterest too.

Being a tastemaker has also helped me focus more even on my own taste. Looking at my boards every day I can see aesthetically what fits and what doesn’t. I really like that I’m learning about myself in the whole process.

What’s something someone wouldn’t know about you just by looking at your Pinterest boards?

I love to travel and I’ll be traveling to Cozumel, Mexico to dive with whale sharks in June! It has been on my bucket list forever. I will officially be a qualified diver and cannot wait to experience warm water diving!

If you would like to follow Paula and her work, visit her social links below:

• Pinterest – bearabbit Facebook – bearabbit Tumblr

Pinterest announced yesterday they’re rolling out rich pins, powered by Schema.org and OpenGraph code, for pins. So far the feature is only available for products, movies and recipes. They’ve teamed up with several big brands like Netflix, Anthropologie and The Kitchn to begin showing users just how quick and easy it is to find the information they want.

Now when you click to expand a product pin, you will see the real time price of the product, where it can be purchased and whether or not it’s available—information that’s updated daily. When you view a movie pin, you can view ratings, reviews and cast members. For pinners who love to cook, you can view cook times, ingredients, serving size and even dietary classifications such as vegetarian or gluten-free without ever leaving the platform. This encourages much more qualified traffic to brands’ sites by allowing users to decide if a product fits in their budget, or a recipe fits their current dietary needs, before clicking through.

To take advantage of this new feature, brands will have to do a little work. Sites must be prepped with meta tags, and then rich pins will have to be validated. After that, brands must apply to have their rich pins approved and added to Pinterest. You can get started with Pinterest’s detailed Rich Pins guide. Pinterest plans to make rich pins available for all pins in the coming months.

What are your thoughts on this new feature? Will more brands become serious about adding Pinterest to their social media strategies? Tell us in the comments.

Image credit: Pinterest

Pinterest has announced a very interesting new feature called “rich pins.” The idea is that instead of a pin being just an image and description, certain kinds of pins might include other specific information that always applies to those kinds of pins, and make the pins far more informative and therefore more useful. Initially, the kinds of pins that have this capability are Products, Recipes and Movies. And those are three huge categories! Pinterest also announced new support for pinning within mobile apps. Let’s take a quick look at each of these new types of pins, and how businesses can get started.

Products

The driving force behind Pinterest is sharing images of cool and interesting products, so this is a brilliant move. Now, when looking at a product pin, pinners will see pricing and availability, and where to buy that product. Pinterest is calling these “rich pins” and has already worked with a number of retailers to provide these useful pins:

Anthropologie, Asos, BHLDN, eBay, Etsy, Free People, Home Depot, Modcloth, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Overstock, REI, Sephora, Shopify shops, Shop Terrain, Sony, Target,Urban Outfitters, Walmart, Wayfair, Zulily

Recipes

Along with products, recipes and foods are a huge hit with pinners. Pinned recipes will now have cook time, ingredients and servings right on the pin. You will still need to visit the website to see the full recipe and instructions, but if you’re trying to choose a recipe based on ingredients or cook time, this will certainly speed your search. Pinterest has already signed up a ton of the top recipe websites, including:

101 Cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens, Bon Appetit, Chobani, Country Living, Delish,Epicurious, Good Housekeeping, Leite’s Culinaria, Martha Stewart Living, MyRecipes,Naturally Ella, Nestlé Very Best Baking, Real Simple, Simply Recipes, Skinny Taste, The Girl Who Ate Everything, The Kitchn,What’s Gaby Cooking, Whole Foods Market, Woman’s Day

Movies

The Movie pins are really cool. Looking at a pin for one of my favorite movies, The Lord of the Rings, in addition to the gorgeous movie poster image, we get release date, rating, tomato score, director and featured cast members. Currently participating film buffs include:

Flixster, Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes

Getting Started

In order to participate, there are some meta tags that you need to apply to your site, and then apply for approval. Once accepted, Pinterest will automatically scan and pull relevant data from your website. There does not appear to be any charge to businesses to participate.

This is obviously huge for any online retailer. Go to the Pinterest Rich Pins page immediately to start the process for getting your website configured and approved.

For products, Pinterest is supporting oEmbed and semantic markup (Schema.org and Open Graph). For most sites, I expect that Open Graph will be the easiest to implement. For each product within your site, you will need to add a series of og meta tags for specific attributes like price, description, etc. Open Graph is a format developed by Facebook, while Schema.org is a format developed by Google, and is slightly more complicated to implement. oEmbed is actually preferred as it is far more flexible and secure, but it is probably the most difficult of the three options to implement.

Recipe pins support Schema.org and hRecipe, while Movie pins support Schema.org only.

This is exactly what Facebook had hoped to do last year when they released Photo Collections, but that feature never really caught traction. The difference here is that people are already sharing and viewing product pins and businesses are already seeing sales as a result – this feature is simply designed to improve that process and hopefully drive more traffic and sales to participating businesses.

Mobile App Pinning

Pinterest has worked with a variety of businesses to bring pinning to the mobile app. These include:

Behance, Brit+Co, Etsy, Fotopedia, Jetsetter, Modcloth, Snapguide, TED, The North Face, and Zulily [all iTunes links]

Previously, pinning from mobile was only available on mobile websites, so this is yet another great option for online retailers who have an app and products people want to talk about.

These are some really interesting developments from Pinterest that I think a lot of businesses can take advantage of to get even more traffic and sales from the social network. What do you think? If you have an eCommerce site, will you be enabling these capabilities?

These abilities are especially helpful for social media managers, who often have to log into multiple companies’ accounts every day. Without such platforms, such as TweetDeck, hootsuite, etc., they’d log into a profile, post/schedule, and repeat for each corresponding account. And to make it all possible, a slew of passwords and login names would be needed – none of which could be saved within a single browser. Separate login attempts would also be needed to check on interaction, such as questions, retweets, new followers, and more. Because it’s good social media practice to respond ASAP, the social media manager would – in theory – spend the day traipsing from one account to the next.

Impossible? No, but far more tedious and time consuming than is necessary. Thankfully, available multi account platforms eliminate this middle step. For Pinterest, however, there’s no such luck. Because they haven’t released multi platform software, companies aren’t authorized/just plain can’t create these types of capabilities.

The Backlash

For social media managers, this means bringing out a Post-it of login info, and jumping between accounts. Each page must be logged into, explored, and then logged out of – easy, albeit exhausting – to reach a specific profile. For individuals, it’s likely only a single Pinterest account exists, but this still means a separate open app or window, as it can’t be linked to outside social media platforms.

No one is sure exactly what’s holding Pinterest back in this front – perhaps pictures cause logistical errors, or maybe the site isn’t interested in allowing outside hosts. Whatever their hesitation, however, it’s a much-needed necessity for social media users of all kinds.

The public clearly loves you, Pinterest, why not return the favor and allow multi-platform usage? I’ll be first in line to sign up.

Considering Pinterest’s phenomenal rise to the top of the social tier, visual emulations were inevitable. We’ve witnessed countless variations of the image-focused, block design trending across the web. Yet not many have taken this Pinterest inspiration as far as Walmart, Sears and Kmart. We delve deeper into how they recreated this successful, visual shopping experience – in very different ways on their own sites – below.

Walmart

Along with maintaining a profile on Pinterest, the retail corporation took the visual influence one step further with the “Trending Now” section of Walmart.com. They encourage users to “Get Inspired,” and offer trend filters by way of store department sections. They also include top searched for terms of the day.

Each image includes a reason for why it’s trending. For instance, some of the recent ones are labeled: “New Pin,” “Just Reviewed,” and “Best Seller.” This is an excellent way to highlight products as well as add value for customers.

Integrating social networks, Walmart provides the option to tweet, pin or “like” the item in the picture along with looking at the product page on-site. So although it does look a lot like Pinterest at first, it incorporates Facebook and Twitter elements too. Walmart demonstrates an effective way to improve your site for the increasing social and visual elements online.

Sears & Kmart

The two retailers teamed up – along with Land’s End and My Gofer – for “Shop Your Way,” a digital-focused loyalty program. Hosted on its own site – separate from the retailers – Shop Your Way is essentially an ecommerce-focused version of Pinterest. The overarching options are broken down into sections such as departments, brands, stores, topics, etc. It gets even more specific within those categories, as shown by the Tools page.

Users can follow certain brands or departments – or even products. Then, they can tag items they’d like to save/view later and create wish lists. It’s considered a loyalty program because customers earn points for shopping on the site. There’s also a big mobile component, recognizing the increase in shopping on mobile devices.

Walmart’s “Trending Now” section places a large emphasis on their social presence. Sears and Kmart’s “Shop Your Way” isn’t as much of a push toward other social networks as a personalized on-site Pinterest. Both demonstrate digital innovation, and it will be interesting to watch how customers adapt to, and other brands expand on, these ideas – making social media profitable.

Have any questions about social media optimization? Contact ZOG Digital today for an SMO audit.

1. Emerald Living Room

Add some of Long Island’s North Shore glamour to your living space with emerald hues, sleek furniture and crystal lighting.

2. 20s Inspired Women’s Fashion

Women’s fashion experienced dramatic changes in the 1920s that still heavily influence the fashion industry today. Add some of Daisy Buchanan’s glitz and allure to your wardrobe with fringes, beautiful bead details, sequins, and drop waist tea dresses.

3. DIY Faux Bob

Get the popular bob cut hairstyle of the 1920s with this DIY tutorial.

4. 20s Inspired Men’s Fashion

Sportswear was introduced to men’s fashion in the 1920s and still remains a popular staple today. Add Gatsby inspired sophistication to your wardrobe with pinstripes, silk ties, vests and club collars.

5. Champagne Bar

Image via [weddingchicks.com]

Treat your guests to a champagne bar at your next Gatsby inspired soiree for a fun and festive night.

Will you be seeing Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby? If you have already seen it, what did you think?

But Pinterest has so much more to offer than just simple “pinning”. For example you can create whole communities and campaigns revolving around your brand.

How do we do this you may ask?

Enter WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) and Pinterest. What a match this can be for marketing your products via the grapevine. Here are a few examples:

1. Join Communities. Pinterest community boards offer a great opportunity to get your message out via WOMM. You can pin your blog or your pins of choice and you have a whole community of sharing and engaging possibilities. If you are promoting for example your line of pies, you can “pin” them on a community board that offers foods.
2. Create Your Own Community. Perfect for your vertical marketing campaigns. Pin your products with “repins” of symbiotic products. If you are an interior designer you can pin color samples, furniture, room designs using keywords and hashtags from other boards to create a new home look and be easily searched.
3. Use Repins Wisely. Create a branded environment by repining and uploading your own pins. Enhance your brand by sharing and curating related content. Users will appreciate the repin and will pin your content in return.
4. Humanizing Your Brand? In this day an age of Social Media messaging you have unique opportunity to tell a story about yourself, your brand and your company and thus humanizing your brand and encouraging your followers to share and engage. Pinterest offers this visual and powerful platform that can aid you in this venture.

Are you using Pinterest for WOMM?

Dan recently participated in a Google Plus Hangout with PinLeague and this is a recap of some of his ideas and perspectives about Pinterest as a super user with over 1.5 million followers. Yes I know you usually expect me to share tips about content marketing and social media for business, but I think you will find the ideas Dan shares provides an interesting insight into what a Pinterest super user thinks.

Dan started to see his Pinterest boards grow at a fast rate in 2012, building from a few thousand followers to over a million followers.

He commented that he initially started sharing his own photography which he cross posted from Flickr, but he soon realised his photographs were not repinned, commented on or liked, so he started to share other peoples content.

Dan stated that he avidly tracked the performance of his pins making a spread sheet to monitor which pins were getting the biggest response – of course we can now avail of Pinterest analytics if we have a business account directly from Pinterest and there are other independent Pinterest tools available such as the hosts of the Pinterest Google Plus Hangout PinLeague.

Dan’s biggest board in terms of numbers of followers is his gardening board (examples of the content are in the image on this page) which currently has over 1.46 million followers. Dan carefully manages his account and regularly ‘prunes’ his pins. He explained that he if his content does not get around 150 – 200 re-pins in the first 24 hours he will analyse if that is because his content did not hit the Pinterest feed at the right time. In some cases he re-pins his own content to give the pin another chance of being seen by his followers. However if his content is not responded to well, he will delete a pin.

He also made reference to the fact that he attracts about 1000 – 1500 new followers a day.

His success on Pinterest has attracted attention from some brands who have approached him to try new products and services – consider it ‘Pinterest Outreach’ just as you would refer to Blogger Outreach’ and influence marketing programmes.

Dan summarised his view of Pinterest as being like a magazine and had a healthy warning for brands as he does not want the site to be turned into a catalogue with just product shots. I am noticing some brands treating Instagram in the same way where all they post are products for sale, rather than being imaginative with their visual content marketing.

When asked how to grow your following on Pinterest, Dan commented – “Be objective, we all have our favourite things. If you want to be unique you need to have a niche”. He commented that we need to share content that is different and not what many people share.

Three Tips For Pinterest Business Accounts From A Super User

Dan is retired and therefore his personal use of Pinterest is not going to reflect how you would use the platform for your business, but here are three points worth considering that can apply if you are looking for advice on how to use Pinterest for business:

1. Do not just pin content that you think people will like – analyse what content is doing well and be prepared to ‘prune’ your boards and pin great images

2. Review the times that you post your pins – examine if your content reaching your followers when they are online, just as you plan your content on Facebook and Twitter to ensure you attract the maximum reach

3. Remember that people on Pinterest are not looking for a replication of your website or a catalogue of your products – develop a content plan for Pinterest but stay true to your brand and ensure that the Pinterest boards you create reflect what your business stands for. Some of the most progressive businesses on Pinterest seeing results from investing in the platform have a content policy where they also curate other peoples content.

Additional Resources To Help You With Your Pinterest Marketing

Access my the slides and notes from my recent webinar about how to get started using Pinterest for business plus access to additional resources.

Follow my Pinterest for business marketing tips board that I curate on Pinterest.

Check out my curated board of organisations on Pinterest to inspire you in how your business could use Pinterest in your content marketing plan or contact me about the content marketing training programmes I deliver – most of my open workshops include best practice guidance for using Pinterest.

Discover how to create eye catching content for your Pinterest boards in this training programme.

What have you found is working for you when looking to use Pinterest for your business?

Pinterest has announced an improvement to its suite of mobile apps that includes notifications, mentions, easier search, sending pins and more.

Pinterest Notifications

The Pinterest apps now feature a complete set of notifications, including Push Notifications, for events like Comments and Mentions.

Pinterest Mentions

Following the lead of Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and more recently LinkedIn, Pinterest will now allow you to mention one of your connections within a pin. Pinterest uses the @ symbol like Twitter and will automatically suggest friends as you begin to type in their name after the @.

Pinterest Search

Search is improved in that it will now autocomplete as you type, as well as display a history of your previous searches, all designed to save you time.

The update states:

 - Send a pin to someone
 - Get push notifications to know when someone comments, likes, or repins your stuff
 - Search… and you shall receive suggestions
 - Invite friends to pin with you on group boards
 - Easily pin from the web
 - Mention your friends in comments

The bottom icons have been changed somewhat. Home is still the first icon, followed by Search and then an option to add a new pin. The next to last icon is for Notifications, followed by your Profile. Notifications settings are handled within your phone’s Notifications settings and not within the Pinterest app itself.

For businesses and social media marketers, the Mention and subsequent Notifications improvements are key features. Brands can now pin or repin and tag influencers by mentioning them in the pin description. This is a technique that can be effectively used to show appreciation, as well as notify influencers that you’ve posted new pins they might be interested in seeing and sharing to their own audience.

Download the update and step up your Pinterest game today!

Links: iTunes or Google Play

Thousands of repins, hundreds of sales, dozens of influential brand advocates – Virality can certainly do a lot for a brand’s marketing plan. But where does a viral pin get its start? To answer that question we used PinLeague’s Analytics Suite to trace back, Pinterest Influencer and PinLeague interviewee, Dan Ashbach‘s most repinned pin and mapped its roots:

Click to Enlarge

• Verena first shared the image 48 weeks ago to just over 30 followers, where it received four repins. 32 weeks later, Dan found the image and shared it to his 1.5 millions followers.
• The “family tree” diverges into two main branches after the four initial repins
  • One branch, beginning with Shirin’s seven repins, gained 33 repins before coming to a dead end.
  • The other branch, beginning with Irene’s one repin, gained 41 repins before reaching Dan.
• Dan isn’t following the user he repinned from. In fact, none of Suzanne’s 7 repins are from users who are following her.
• It took 66 total repins by 68 users to eventually reach Dan.
  • Since Dan shared the pin, it has garnered 2306 repins, 916 likes, and 19 comments.

Lessons from the “Family Tree”

1. Content is king. Verena, with only 32 followers, started this entire process by pinning an eye-catching, simple DIY image. Make sure your images pop and maybe Dan, or another Pinterest influencer, will pick it up. I mean, who’s ever seen a boring pin go viral?
2. Virality takes time. It took 32 weeks between the time this image was pinned and when Dan repinned it to his followers. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, pins on Pinterest continue to gain traction for months after they are originally pinned. Even though Facebook and Twitter have instant gratification from posts, content on Pinterest has staying power.
3. CHECK YOUR LINKS! Sadly, who ever came up with this image cannot receive credit because the link is broken. If you want traffic from Pinterest to your site, make sure your links work! Test your links by pinning images to your board and clicking through from Pinterest. If you no longer sell a popular product, it’s also a good idea to have the page redirect to something similar. It’s a great way to make sure your site is still able to receive the traffic!

Although there is no magic formula for making a pin go viral, there is a reason some pins are shared more than others. Just remember to make sure your images are eye catching, your links are active and you don’t expect instant gratification. Someday you, too, could have a viral pin.

I searched for a number of brand names to see what I could find, and I honed in on boards that are good examples of a brand using Pinterest to collate content in an indirect way. Let’s explain.

Tesco adopts a yellow theme

On its official Pinterest account, Tesco features a number of pinboards that promote Tesco and its products – in a direct and an indirect way. This board, however, is all about colour. They have pulled together a number of items featuring the colour yellow. Some of the items are pinned from Tesco’s own sites, but not all of them. This is a great example of content curation on Pinterest.

Pepsi does cakes – and why not?

On its Pepsi Next brand page, Pepsi promotes not only its product but it also shares images from the various marketing campaigns. Tucked in among the brand marketing, though, is this pinboard featuring cakes – a hardy perennial for any Pinterest user.

British Design Experts show classic logos

British Design Experts uses Pinterest to share logos, infographics and other marketing graphics – reinforcing what the company sells. Rather than just promote new products, though, the company has created a board as a homage to classic logos.

Ascot hats and promotional products

What value is there for a marketing company in putting together a board full of hats when they don’t sell hats? ID Promotional is a company based in Ascot. On its Pinterest account, the company has a board featuring pictures of Ascot, as well as this board dedicated to Ascot hats. The idea is to promote the association between the company and the town in order to gain any potential SEO benefit from local searchers.

Creative wedding invitations – for brides to be

Compare Stag and Hen is a website dedicated to helping people find a venue for their stag or hen party. Naturally, their Pinterest account is full of boards about clothes for stags and hens, places to go, where to party. One of their boards is this one, dedicated to creative wedding invitations.

Understanding what matters on Pinterest

When you build your Pinterest boards, you should think about visibility, shareability and SEO. My 17 Pinterest tips article should be helpful. Here are some other tips to follow.

• Create boards with themes that are loosely related to what you do
• Think about art and colour
• Find content from around the web and pin it to your boards, as well as re-pinning from other boards
• An advert or product photo is less likely to be pinned than something artistic that relates to your logo or incorporates your product in some way.

We recently caught up with Jessica to ask about her recent adventures, what’s next on her bucket list, her love of Pinterest and how she’s excited to be a mother!

When did you start using Pinterest and what was it that caught your interest as a social platform?

I first started using Pinterest in September 2011. At first when I heard about it, I was a little bit confused- but it only took about two minutes for me to be completely hooked. I started blogging around the same time. If I didn’t know what to post on my blog that day, Pinterest became my inspiration, and I would post something I found on Pinterest that day.

Were you on any other social platforms before Pinterest?

No, I was just on Pinterest. Then I started my blog and joined twitter later. I’m a pretty visual person. I really liked the layout of Pinterest and how easy it was to customize it to my taste and what I wanted. I didn’t have to necessarily interact with anyone else on a personal level. It was only me and I liked that.

When did you notice your following go up? Was there any correlation between your Pinterest following and the traffic to your blog?

I noticed in January 2012 that my following went up. I didn’t notice a correlation between my Pinterest following and blog traffic until I started to pin images from my blog posts.

What inspired you to start your travel blog?

I had a previous travel blog that was just for my family to look at when I was traveling in Asia. But, when I got back, I decided that I wanted to broaden the content a bit and include lifestyle posts, but still keep it focused on travel. I didn’t know where my blog would go; it was just my way of having a record of my memories from traveling. I love to scrapbook, but it’s an expensive investment and takes up time. Blogging is my inexpensive way of scrapbooking.

What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?

Image via [goodfon.com]

This is a hard question! I would say probably Nepal. I didn’t appreciate it as much at the time while I was there. I did a long trek in the mountains, and it was my first long outdoor experience without the luxuries of everyday life. But being in the Himalayas was so incredible. It changed my life.

Where to next?

Probably nowhere too far for a while since I’m pregnant. However, my fiancé and I can’t sit still for too long – I anticipate some road trips within the U.S. and Canada over the next couple years. The U.S. National Parks are incredible, and right in our backyard.

What inspired you to start your bucket list? What is next on your list to cross off?

I started my bucket list mostly because I found myself saying to people “I need to do this” and “I have to do this.” So, I wrote it down to have them organized in one place.

Next on my list is being a mom!

We absolutely love your fashion and food boards and how niche they are — how do you stay so organized!?!?

I cook a lot. My fiancé and I rarely ever eat out. Back in college, I was training for a marathon and studying all the time, so cooking became my escape. My cooking boards are organized the way I would store them in a notebook – with dividers between soups, appetizers, etc. It was pretty obvious in the beginning, to me at least, to organize my food boards that way. Sometimes I sit there and ask myself why didn’t I make a chicken board? Or a beef board? But at this point it would take me forever to transfer recipes to a new board. I also organize my boards in a way to help my followers out. I wouldn’t want my feed to be blown up with recipes I’m not interested in.

Fashion didn’t start that way. I just like things in their place. Once I started figuring out how I wanted things to be organized, I hoped it would make it easier on people who follow me too.

Do you find you think about what your fans or audience would love and posting content based on that?

Not in terms of what I pin. I pin what I like. But I do organize things in a way that would make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

You also studied molecular, cellular, and developmental biology – what’s your dream job?

My dream job has always been to be a mother. Although I have a lot of interests– science, travel, and photography– I feel like I was put here to be a mom. I couldn’t think of any better job.

If you would like to follow Jessica and her travels, visit her social links below.

• Blog – Pinterest – Twitter – Facebook – Google+

Just as most business-to-business companies are coming to understand the importance of social media for client engagement and business development, there’s a new monkey(wrench) in the social media zoo that is already expected to become the 800-pound marketing gorilla.  In less than two years, Pinterest has amassed 48 million users; it’s already the third most popular network behind Facebook and Twitter, and is generating more referral traffic than Google+, Linked In and You Tube combined.

For those unfamiliar with Pinterest, the “image-sharing meets bookmarking” service began as a way for consumers to find and organize online images and share them via digital bulletin boards. Pinterest quickly became an infectious way for women to share everything from favorite recipes to fashion finds.

But Pinterest is no longer just for consumer brands and online retailers. Today, Pinterest is attracting companies of all shapes and sizes, from Fortune 500’s to small to medium-sized businesses.  Not only is the site gaining in popularity with men, it is becoming a primary outlet for business-to-business branding and lead generation.

Here are 10 good reasons why B2B marketers should get on the Pinterest bandwagon:

1. Pinterest increases SEO success

Pinterest is designed to leverage keywords, back links and hashtags. Each pin offers the ability to create searchable content and direct traffic to a company’s website. A company with 60 pins has 60 more chances to enhance their search engine results page (SERP) ranking. Moreover, when a company posts a pin that gets repinned by others (the equivalent of going viral), it increases the business’s social signal, which in turn enhances SEO.

2. Ride the wave without constant rowing

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, which require constant attention to feed the “content beast,” once your Pinterest boards are populated with meaningful content, you can be practical about pinning. Certainly, content should be kept fresh, but over-pinning (like constant tweeting) is frowned upon.

3. Your business is prettier than you think

At first blush, B2B marketers may struggle to find good images to pin.  The fact is we live in a visual world and images can bring your products and services to life. Pin photos of products in use, pictures of employees in the development process, images of screenshots or photos and videos of clients.  Pinterest challenges us to show what’s important. As Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.”

4. Create a one-stop storefront for all your content

Rather than request that a prospect visit your website, your Facebook page, your You Tube account or follow you on Twitter, inviting them to your Pinterest page is like asking them to stand in front of your candy store window. Visitors can instantly see what’s meaningful to them without hunt-and-clicking through your website.

5. Position your business as a thought leader

Every B2B firm would like to position themselves as “the leading provider” in their industry.  Pinterest provides you with ways to demonstrate your expertise and experience in your field.  Use boards to feature important surveys, industry association information and trade shows. Become the curator of articles that communicate the breadth of your industry knowledge.

6. Deliver the “great place to work” message

Pinterest provides the perfect opportunity to promote your work environment. Post pictures of your office, videos of employees, capture moments from company events and the like.  This not only make your employees feel important but can illustrate your culture to potential recruits.

7. Tell your brand story

Your brand is not your name or logo, it’s about connecting with your audience on an emotional level.  Focusing boards on your company’s history, community involvement, corporate philanthropy or environmental record goes a long way toward humanizing your brand.

8. If you pin it, they will come

Whether you’re presenting at a conference, hosting a webinar or participating in a trade show, Pinterest can help promote these occasions.  Use pictures from past events, display the raffle prize, or pin a pre-conference checklist.  Create a live-pinning event by posting photos in real-time.

9. Be social

By following other users, commenting on pins and inviting others to pin to your boards, you can create new relationships. Run a special promotion or contest that engages others to interact with your organization.

And lastly…

10. The fun is just beginning

Pinterest is growing at a faster rate than any website in history and experts predict that business usage will increase exponentially. Sooner or later, you’re going to want to join the parade, so why not be out in front with the early adopters. With a little pintelligence and pinitiative, you might just pinspire others.

Looking to include Pinterest in your social media marketing strategy? It might be a good time—with the roll out brand pages for businesses and compelling recent findings like these:

1.      2/3 of the top 100 brands now have Pinterest accounts (Simply Measured)

2.      Pinterest ranks 3^rd most popular social networking site, behind Facebook and Twitter (Experian)

3.      Traffic to Pinterest increased significantly in the 1^st quarter of 2013, compared to marked declining traffic to Facebook. (RichRelevance)

4.      The average consumer spends more on Pinterest than on Facebook  (RichRelevance)

5.      Pinterest is seeing over 4 million unique visitors daily (Brand Dignity)

6.      There were 2.3 billion Pinterest page views in March 2013 (Brand Dignity)

7.      70% of online consumers find purchasing inspiration from Pinterest more than other social media platforms (Bizrate)

8.      Consumers prefer to associate with brands more on Pinterest than other social media platforms (Bizrate)

9.      Pinterest users engage with brands more on Pinterest than on other social media platforms and serve as content creators for the brand through the repin feature (Bizrate)

10.   Mobile: The Pinterest iPhone app is downloaded 200,000 times per/day (Brand Dignity)

Top 10 Tips and Best Practices for Pinterest Marketing in 2013

Starting with the absolute basics then getting down to more advanced tactics, here are tips for amplifying brand awareness and best practices by some of the most widely followed brands:

1. Post Regularly

Your fans are looking for inspiration, don’t disappoint. If you want your fans to keep you top of mind, provide quality images that inspire on a methodical, consistent and regular basis.

2. Post Often

Stay top of mind for those browsing throughout the day. Leverage Pinterest’s business analytics to determine the best days to post then create a content editorial calendar that follows suit. The worst thing you can do: post randomly, or, abandon the practice entirely.

3. Post in Sets

Pinterest is very much like a digital magazine — use themes, concepts, and ideas to set a cohesive tone. Think magazine layout when pushing out content on the calendar. Leverage Pinterest real estate to create a visual palette to communicate a theme, an idea or a story instead of using words and text.

4. Get 2-Dimensional

Unlike a magazine, however, is Pinterest’s unique social platform that allows for dialogue. Get out there and be social with your fan base. Interact and dialogue with your fans. Pinterest visitors are happy fans– they are there to get inspired, to see beautiful images, to share what they love, and they’re already in a good mood. Leverage the serendipity by rewarding your fan base with a reply from the brand.

5. Leverage Text to Boost SEO

Maximize the limited area for text that you are allowed in your pin descriptions, including strong keywords and a link back to your website. Use messaging aligned with your brand voice and that resonates with your audience. HubSpot has found that the pins with the most engagement have descriptions that are 200-310 characters in length.

Check out how Google ranks relevant Pinterest pages when I search for “DIY Mother’s Day crafts”. Right after Country Living and Huffington Post, a few other Pinterest pages show up.

6. Link Directly

If your user wants to see a recipe for making Shrimp Curry, then, make sure you take them there. Make absolutely sure you have the right landing page when linking your pin—don’t make the mistake of wasting the user’s time– they may never revisit your profile or boards again. If your user wants to see a recipe for making Shrimp Curry, then, make sure you take them there.

7. Cross-Promote

E-commerce businesses can increase traffic to your Pinterest boards where there’s better conversion by cross-promoting from other social media platforms. In the same vein, if your customer service team is better equipped to handle inquiries on Facebook, then use Pinterest to send them there.

8. Try Something New

Leverage Pinterest to extend your brand beyond the original concept of the product, like Starbucks does with its #TWISI, The Way I See It board:

You’ll quickly notice that Starbucks gets beyond the boundaries of a coffee shop. Instead, any good memory related to coffee might wind up on this popular board—and sometimes, the pins having nothing to do with coffee at all.

Pinterest is a safe place where happy pinners are open to imaginative play, so you can get a little more creative and try some new direction with branding. It’s a great place for listening, where you can bounce new ideas and get some feedback. Leave an impression, create a mood. Have fun.

9. Delight and Surprise

Better Homes and Gardens devotes a whole board to their Pinner of the Month. BHG clearly understands the power of spotlighting their best fans. These brand ambassadors then gladly carry their duties to other social networks, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

BHG’s Pinner of the Month

Occasionally surprise your fans with the unexpected: a personal video message, a coupon… a chance to upload a video about something related to your brand.

10. Create an Experience

Create a customer experience that wows and soothes the soul, and at the same time, allows your fan base to deeply connect with your brand. You will be rewarded with engaged brand ambassadors that are eager to repin and share with their friends and followers.

If you have already determined that Pinterest is part of your social media marketing strategy, then leverage your brand to connect with your fans on a more intimate level, by doing this you will be maximizing the power of social marketing to its fullest potential.

But perhaps you have wondered how you could turn the images you create into a PDF that you could then print and use in your meetings perhaps with your team or with clients?

This is where the content curation platform Clipzine.me just might prove efficient for you. I recently tested the platform to turn a Pinterest board I had curated after an event into a PDF and JPEG presentation and below you will find a summary of how to use it in conjunction with your content marketing.

Turning Your Pinterest Boards Into A PDF Or JPEG Image

1. Create your free account at Clipzine.me

2. Add the Clipzine.me bookmarklet to your browser tool bar

3. Open the Pinterest board you want to curate as a PDF or JPEG

4. Click the Clipzine.me bookmarklet tool and you will then have the opportunity to select multiple pins from your Pinterest board

5. You can reorganise the content of your curated pages including identifying which page is to be the cover of your PDF or JPEG

6. Edit and style the content including setting the style of your fonts

7. You can then download the Clipzine you have curated from your Pinterest board images as a JPEG or PDF file – the PDF will have a live link back to your Pinterest board

8. The option is then available to embed your Clipzine on your website or blog, pin it to Pinterest or share it on Facebook.

Additional Clipzine Features In Development

The site indicates that the following features will be available (you get a unique URL for your Clipzine so can cross post to social networks in the meantime):

- Sharing to Delicious, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Twitter (plus other social bookmarking sites)

- Sharing the content to Blogger, Tumblr and Typepad (plus other sites) – cross posting to WordPress.com is already available

- Publishing to SlideShare, DocStoc and Issuu – posting to Scribd is already available

- Sharing the image to Instagram and Flickr plus other photo sharing sites.

Enhancements I Would Like To See From The Clipzine.me Platform

As a free service if you want to curate your Pinterest board the service is helpful. Here are some changes I would like to see to enhance the service:

- I personally dislike having no option other than to register for an account on a technology platform other than with a Facebook account which is how Clipzine is currently set up. Registration using an email and password address would be welcomed.

- Once you have logged into the platform there is no way to disconnect your Facebook account – I’d like to see this feature added.

- At the time I registered and tested the platform, the help desk was not working so I could not contact the site owners about questions I had about the platform.

- There are some elements of personal data (such as location and date of birth) that are required when registering for your account which I think are unnecessary – if these do need these to be provided I would like to see a notification that these are not going to be made public .

- You can curate content from several boards or event other peoples Pinterest accounts into a Clipzine. However if you want to add separate pins or content rather than curating from one Pinterest board, the styling of the Clipzine means that there are large spaces for text which do not seem to be able to be reduced – it would be good to have the same styling available as you have from a curated board.

Overall for a free platform, Clipzine.me will be a platform that I am sure a number of Pinterest users will appreciate. There are many curation tools available which offer similar functionality but the promise of the future functionality for me identifies it as a platform to watch in the future.

Bonus Tip For Creating A Quick PDF Of Your Pinterest Boards

If you do not want to create a Clipzine of your content and just want a simple PDF of your boards for reference (note I do not consider this the best way of ‘backing up’ your account and recommend specific services for that) then follow these tips:

- Navigate to the board that you want to print as a PDF

- Either click ‘File Print’ in your browser tool bar or click ‘Control P’ on your PC which provides you with the option to print – set your printer to save the document as a PDF rather than sending it to your printer

- Save the PDF to your hard drive.

Do you ever turn your Pinterest boards into JPEG’s or PDF’s so you can refer to them when not online? What other approaches do you use to do so?

If you would like to see the visual content that I am bookmarking over on Pinterest you can follow me there.

1. Breakfast in Bed

Start off Mother’s day by surprising your mom with breakfast in bed. What mother wouldn’t appreciate not having to cook for once?

2. DIY Photo Vase

Create a gift for mom with sentimental value, like this DIY photo vase displaying family photos.

3. DIY Paper Flowers

The quintessential mother’s day gift – flowers, because what girl doesn’t like getting flowers? Here is an easy DIY tutorial on how to make your own paper flowers that will last for mom this Mother’s Day!

4. Spa Kit

Treat your mom with a spa kit or a day at the spa to help her relax and get pampered like she deserves.

5. Engraved Jewelry

Gift your mother a nice piece of jewelry with an engraving on it telling them they’re the best mom anyone could ask for!

What will you be doing for your mother to show your appreciation this Mother’s Day?

Contests create interactions, mentions and referrals about your brand. Referrals, interactions and mentions on Pinterest result in sales.

We wanted to give you a few tips on how to run a successful Pinterest contest.

7 Tips for How to Run a Successful Pinterest Contest:

1. Make the Pinterest contest easy to enter
2. Make the contest visually appealing
3. Make your sweepstakes prize appealing
4. Ask for a repin
5. Ask for contestants to create boards
6. Make your Pinterest contest mobile friendly
7. Cross-promote your contest through Facebook, Twitter and your website

1. Make the Pinterest contest easy to enter

It sounds simple, but if your contest or sweepstakes is easy to enter, more people will enter.

Create a pinterest sweepstakes that just requires an email to take part. Or, make it as simple as asking for a comment on the Pin.

Check out how Gilt Home has used this to Pinterest contest success:

A significant benefit of your contest is to gain more emails for future follow-up and CRM leads. It is also a great way to create brand awareness for your business. The more people who enter, the more your contest pin will be repinned.

Make your contest simple, and you will have more success.

2. Make the contest visually appealing

Pinterest boards are very visual. Keep your contest pins on Pinterest visual.

Check out how brands like Sephora make successful visual Pinterest contest pins:

By using seasonal colours, and showing samples of their Spring collection, Sephora creates visual appeal. They are also very savvy in both creating engagement, and promotion of their latest products.

3. Make your sweepstakes prize appealing

Keep your target market in mind when you are developing the prize for your contest. The more appealing it is to your customer, the more entrants you will get.

You might give away a gift card, a guest blog post, a book, or even an experience. If your prize connects with your audience, you can create a referral frenzy. On Pinterest, referrals result in higher spending.

Check out how Etsy uses Pinterest contests to giveaway a branded gift card, and a book appealing to their market:

4. Ask for a repin

84% of Pinterest users time is spent repinning. Cater to this desire!

In your contest, ask entrants to repin it to win it. This not only gives what your audience what they want, it also gives you what you want: to spread your contest to their Friends.

5. Ask for contestants to create boards

If your contest prize is appealing, and you can invoke motivation in your contestants, ask your dedicated Followers to create their own Pinterest boards to enter.

Carnival Cruise Lines is brilliant in their Pinterest contest interactions. In their “Create a Winning Pin Board Contest”, they ask entrants to make four boards with pictures of their dream destinations.

Not only does this spread their brand, through friends of friends on Pinterest, it gets contestants to actively think about their dream vacations, and share it with their friends. Carnival Cruise Lines becomes associated with these destinations.

6. Make your Pinterest contest mobile friendly

Mobile is quickly becoming the most common method to access social media. Make sure your Pinterest contests are optimized for mobile devices like phones and tablets.

An easy way to do this is to use a third party contest app, like Wishpond. Not only do we make your social contests easy to set up, are ready for mobile, we give you simple to use analytics and exportable CRM lists.

7. Cross-promote your contest through Facebook, Twitter and your website

When you run a contest on Pinterest, make sure you promote it to all of your social media networks. Post it to your Facebook page, tweet it through Twitter, and post a blog about it.

Using our social contest apps, you can even run a Pinterest contest through your Facebook, Twitter, website, blog, or a Wishpond hosted landing page.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

The future of social is changing how we interact. Are you engaging digitally with your consumers? Wishpond social promotion apps make it easy. Get interacting with vote contests, photo contests, video contests and more on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and more.

Pinterest is a great asset for your business that you can use to build up your creditability, demonstrate your knowledge and have a little bit of light hearted interaction with your network.

Pinterest is highly visual and one would be forgiven for thinking the only B2B content to be found would be a few clever infographics. Well, there are infographics, buckets of them, but it doesn’t end there.

So if you’re starting out on Pinterest or you feel you’ve neglected it for too long or you’re simply looking for some great online resources; then here are 5 Pinterest boards you need to follow.

1. Hubspot – Blog: Inbound Marketing

This board is an extension to Hubspot’s own blog, re-sharing their content. They also have links to landing pages buried within the board, cleverly designed to get readers engaged. The board has great variety from tips to articles and the photos are lively; not just your average stock photography.

2. Your Social Media Company – Everyone’s Social Media Resource

Everyone’s Social Media Resource is a collaborative board that allows other Pinterest users to add to the board. To date it has amassed an almost un-readable number of pins, but it’s a great crowd-sourced resource that is regularly updated with the most popular articles and insights.

3. Mashable – Infographics

An infographics board just had to make this list and this is one of the finest;  79,000 followers can’t be wrong, can they? Mashable collect interesting and topical infographics from around the web, so it’s a great resource for some quality infographic content now and again.

4. Social@Ogilvy

If you can’t get enough infographics then you should check out Social@Oglivy – they’ve got you covered ten-fold. There’s no single board you should be following here, follow and re-pint to your heart’s content. At the very least take a look their Google/Google+ Infographics, it’s a real gem.

5. Constant Contact – Mobile Tips & Facts

Pinterest is the perfect place to store articles and blog posts that you found that you enjoyed and think others should read. Constant Contact have organized their consumer relationship-themed profile into specific marketing areas such as Email marketing, SEO and marketing tips. Their Mobile Tips & Facts is no doubt going to become as mobile marketing picks up speed.

So never again will you miss the hottest infographic, that much-talked-about article or the latest marketing buzz. Why not pin this article and share it with your friends?

Create pin-worthy content – download our Winning Content whitepaper today!

According to his website, Chris Falman is called Baker By Design for a reason: This Boston resident is both a “graphic designer and bacon lover turned student of pastry”. It’s this combination of eye for design and love of all things edible that helped turn Chris into one of Pinterest’s most popular users, with over 400,000+ followers.

We recently caught up with Chris to ask him about everything from his Pinterest popularity to love of Kylie Minogue and everything in between.

You have a background in graphic design – what motivated you to make the switch into a full-time pastry designer? What was it that got you into food and cooking in the first place?

It was a number of factors. I was just really not happy with where I worked and started looking for other jobs in graphic design. Nothing was grabbing my attention except for design jobs related to food, but it was hard to interview for them since most of these jobs were far away. One day I was just like, why don’t I just do my own cookbook? I got encouragement from family and friends just went for it. It all just fell into place!

Why did you decide to focus on desserts and pastries?

There’s more of a mystery to pastries and the whole process of it. You can spend all this time making it, and you’re not going to know how it comes out until maybe an hour later after it’s cooked in the oven. Unlike more savory dishes, you can add a little bit more of salt, or a little bit more of this as you go along to make it taste better. But with pastries, you just kind of have to wait to see how it turns out.

When did you start using Pinterest? What was the turning point that helped you amass over 400k followers?

I think I started using Pinterest when it was in the imitation-only phase. There was no real reason I got on it except that I just wanted to try it and that it could be something different. And, being in graphic design, I am a very visual person so it was a natural fit.

As for my large following… I think it’s some sort of fluke. I don’t think I was doing anything that much different than anybody else. I don’t know, one day I kept getting e-mails that I kept getting new followers. I had no clue what was happening. I pin what I like. I don’t think I’m that special or all that different.

How do you feel when people say Pinterest is mostly female dominated? Did you notice at all?

I mean, you can’t help what you like. I don’t like labels and I personally love The Golden Girls…

Do you use Pinterest a lot to look for creative recipes or to inspire your own creations? Have you found any of your favorite recipes through Pinterest?

I used it more before I went to pastry school. One reason I went to pastry school is to learn that if I take this much flour or this much butter, it’ll turn into something good. From that I can work on my own recipes and creations. But, I’ll still use Pinterest to see what’s trending or something and work it in there. After all, if it’s not trending or something other people are currently into nobody’s going to want it.

Buttered Popcorn Cake with Salted Caramel Bourbon Buttercream made by Baker by Design.

What’s your favorite dish or ingredient you like to use?

I like food way too much, and like just about anything. However, the one thing I will never use and hate is cilantro. It tastes like soap to me. Sometimes I’ll see other people enjoy it in their food and I just want to know what it tastes like to them so that I can like it.

I do tend to use cinnamon a lot, but I try to mix it up. I notice when I do too many similar things and I try and keep doing something totally different.

How much do you love bacon? If you had to choose between bacon and Kylie Minogue… what would you choose?

That is such a hard question! I would probably say…. Kylie Minogue, because I wouldn’t get a heart attack from having too much of her.

If you could cook a meal for anyone, who would it be and what would you make?

Oh, this is also a hard question. I wouldn’t be able to say a Chef, because then what if they don’t like what I make? It’s a lot of pressure. It’s a cheesy answer, but I would say my closest friends and just have them over and just make them something like chili and pasta and have some good wine.

What would you pick for your last meal?

Anything with dairy. Lots of ice cream and nachos.

What is your favorite restaurant? Who is your favorite chef? Why?

I’ve lived in a lot of great cities that have great food. Like when I lived in Providence, there’s so much good food there. There’s this restaurant there called Tini. The restaurant is tiny. They have only small plates. The menu changes all the time. And the food there is s good. Here in Cambridge I really like the restaurant Rialto. Every time I go there I’m like, blown away.

Do you think you will ever open your own restaurant?

Maybe one day. I just graduated from pastry school a year ago, and then worked at a bakery for about a year. I just started working at another place, so I’m just currently getting a lot of experience and learning the ins and outs of a restaurant. One day I’d like to do my own thing and open my own place. Ultimately, I would like to write and design my own cookbook, going back to why I decided to go to pastry school in the first place.

Any advice for those of us whose friends never trust them around a stove?

Don’t be afraid. If you know someone who cooks, ask them how to do something. Everyone thinks or says that baking is exact, but it’s not really. You know, depending on the humidity, maybe you have to throw in more flour. Or if it’s too dry you’ll have to add more water. Like anything, it just takes practice.

If you’d like keep up to date with what new and interesting food concoctions Chris has up his sleeve, visit his social links below.

Website – Pinterest – Twitter – Instagram

The rapid growth of Pinterestwas one of the big social media stories of 2012, and by all accounts, the platform is continuing to see strong growth in the first half of 2013. What was originally a platform used by women is now expanding across wider demographics, and some businesses are even using the network in rather creative ways. If your small business or nonprofit is not yet using Pinterest, now is a good time to take a look at how it might fit into your overall digital communications plan.

Remember, anyone can just pin their products to Pinterest. That’s boring. Look beyond the obvious and find more creative ways of drawing people in and encouraging growth and repinning activity.

With that in mind, here are 5 ways that small businesses can use Pinterest more effectively:

1. Employee boards

Have you ever walked into a music or book store and seen a shelf of employee recommendations? Pinterest is perfect for this sort of things. Give each of your trusted employees their own board to play with. For a high end salon, let each of your stylists have a board to show off their work, or images of hair styles they like, to give customers a sense of their individual styles. You hire employees for their expertise and they are a big part of your brand. Let them show off their styles, interests, and sensibilities.

2. Customer boards

Your customers are the reason you are exist. They buy your products and services, and presumably are happy. Think about opening up some boards for all of your customers, or maybe just a few for some of your more loyal customers, to let them share what’s on their mind, particularly in relation to your products. Perhaps they can show off how they are using your products to inspire other customers.

3. Ideas and How-to

Rather than just showing off your products, explain to users some of the ways in which they can use your products. My friend Kim Carlo works at Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill, a regional chain of grocery stores and garden centers, and she does a great job with their Pinterest boards. Since they sell food, they offer boards with recipes on how to use that food. Another very popular board is one on Fairy Gardening and Terrariums, with ideas on how to use plants and other items purchased at the store.

4. Share a wide variety of content

We hear the phrase content marketing a lot these days, and it simply means you are creating some sort of content for your customers, whether it be blogs, ebooks, videos, or something else. It’s one thing to create that content, but another to give it legs. We share our content on Twitter, Facebook, and G+, but why not Pinterest? As you can see from the above image, SKH creates original “Gardening How To Videos” that are not only on Youtube and their website, but are pinned to their own board. I have a board of my own where I share both my own blog content as well as other blogs that I find interesting. It ends up being a good source of traffic. Plus, sharing the content created by others is just a good thing to do.

5. Contests

Brands big and small have learned that Pinterest can be a great place for a contest. “Pin it to Win it” contests have been done by Macy’s, Land’s End, Campbell’s Soup, and Volkswagen, to name a few. Have your customers pin their own images to your boards (perhaps integrated with Instagram) as a means of winning a prize. It’s a great way to get user generated content while building buzz and engagement.

Consider these ways of using Pinterest, and see if any might work for you and your business. Understand your audience and discover if they are using Pinterest, then figure out how they are using it.

What other creative ways have you seen businesses using Pinterest?

1. Cinco de Mayo party decorations

Decorations are always important for a party to set the right ambience. Hang up bright colored paper cutouts around the home to set a fun and colorful atmosphere.

Image via [stylemepretty.com]

2. Individual seven-layer dip

To avoid all that dipping (and maybe even double-dipping) mess, here’s an easy way for everyone to enjoy their own seven-layer chip dip.

Image via [culy.nl]

3. Mini tacos and tequila

Tacos and tequila are a very necessary food and beverage combo for cinco de mayo and will surely be a crowd pleaser.

Image via [lunaandchloeweddings.com]

4. Tequila sunrise

Mix tequila with some orange juice and grenadine for a delicious tequila sunrise cocktail.

Image via [wonderphul.com]

5. Pinata cookies

A clever and creative treat for your guests with a sweet surprise on the inside!

Image via [thepartydress.net]

How will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo this weekend?

Generating a healthy eCommerce business with Pinterest is no easy task. Apply these tips to your brand’s Pinterest page to start turning your pins into profits:

• Use stellar visuals – Don’t use images that are bland and boring, because users will scroll right past your pins. You might consider dedicating resources to good photography of your products to ensure your images give off a “wow” factor.

• Vary your pin selection – Don’t just pin your own products. You’ll turn off consumers. Rather, create an essence for your brand that people want to emulate and recreate on their own Pinterest boards, as well as in their own lives. Search related blogs and sites for recipes, craft ideas, inspirational quotes – anything that relates to the content of your board – as well as related products from your brand. Remember, you are creating an overall personality that people want to aspire to, not just selling your products.

• Find great keywords – You should identify specific keywords that your customers use to search for products like yours. Take care to include those keywords in the pin description. Even name your boards on Pinterest with key terms. This focus on SEO will give your pins a higher page ranking in Google searches.

• Link, link, link – Links on Pinterest drive traffic to your site, increase brand awareness, and make it very easy to purchase. Always use the full link, not shortened ones, which tend to get marked as spam on Pinterest. Try to link to useful content because that too will increase how repinable it is.

• Vertical images – Use longer, vertical images, rather than wider ones. Make them longer by adding step-by-step instructions for a DIY project, a collection of images, or an infographic. Longer images show up larger on the site, and therefore have a longer ‘scroll-life.’ The more visible your pin is on a customer’s board, the more likely they will see it, click it, and repin it.

Notice how much more real estate on the board longer pins receive.

• DIY ideas – Pinterest inspires creativity so inspire your followers! Pins that feature DIY projects, a tutorial, or a recipe have a 42% higher click through rate than other pins, like products.

• Include the cost – If your product has a price and can be bought online, include the price in your pin. According to a survey by Shopify, people are 36% more likely to like a pin that includes the price.

• Update frequently – Check your Pinterest page frequently (how often depends on your available resources) to add pins to your boards, and see what others are pinning and saying. Keep the conversation going by engaging with your customers when they comment or repin your pins.

As the number of Pinterest’s monthly visitors surpasses 20 million, the potential for success with eCommerce becomes more likely. Try out these tricks and tips on your brand’s Pinterest page and check out the free white paper for more Pinterest marketing strategies.

Below see how users are driving the conversation on Pinterest and how brands can boost audience engagement.

Now that we have a better sense for how often community interactions drive engagement to brands, the next step is to focus our content accordingly. First, it might make sense to understand exactly why consumers like to engage with content in the first place. Fans and advocates drive brand messaging. By better understanding the community brands have the ability to better frame their message and focus their story on the visual web.