Pinterest has been around for not that long, but it is already a social media force to be reckoned with.

1. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
Should Your College Be On
Pinterest?
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2. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
Overview
1.
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Are current and/or prospective students on Pinterest?
What is my Pinterest strategy?
What type of content should I share on Pinterest?
Do I have the resources to create relevant content?
Is it worth my time?
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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3. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
Pinterest is quiet a new platform, but it is already a social media
force to be reckoned with:
 Every day over 2 million users share visuals on Pinterest
and promote their Pinterest activity on other social media
platforms.
 Pinterest is now driving more referral traffic to websites
than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined, and more
referral traffic than Twitter itself.
Schools are becoming increasingly interested in tapping into this
referral potential.
 Here are 5 questions to ask yourself before making the
Pinterest leap:
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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4. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
1. Are current and/or prospective students on
Pinterest?
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As of January 2012, 80% of Pinterest users were females
aged 22 to 44 with already some college education.
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Because of its reputation as a female-only platform, many
schools are reluctant to use Pinterest, worried that they may
be less exposed to their target audience.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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5. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
1. Are current and/or prospective students on
Pinterest?
This is why you are unlikely to miss your target:
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Beyond Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, all schools are
struggling to find a relevant platform in the middle of dozens
of options.
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As pointed out by Lee Neel, unless you are certain that a
significant portion of your students are on other platforms,
there are huge benefits to being active on such fast-growing
platform as Pinterest and be among its first users to get
ahead.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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6. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
1. Are current and/or prospective students on
Pinterest?
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Facebook and Pinterest are becoming increasingly
integrated.
 Each day, 10 million Pinterest users are connecting
through Facebook. Their pins appear on Facebook,
which your students are already highly exposed to.
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The Pinterest format forces users to create highly attractive
and relevant content which will belong to your school and
which can be used on other platforms.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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7. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
2. What is my Pinterest strategy?
Pinterest is a great way to reach out to students and to let them
get to know you and your values in a fun and casual way.
But your Pinterest strategy depends entirely on your overall
objectives.
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What goals you are hoping to achieve through Pinterest?
Do you hope to increase visibility?
Strengthen your brand?
Bond with your students?
How does your Pinterest strategy fit into your social media
marketing strategy?
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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8. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
3. What type of content should I share on
Pinterest?
Content will be directly correlated to your Pinterest strategy:
 If you wish to focus on promoting specific programs, then
your posts should reflect that.
 If you want to increase hype on non-academic initiatives,
like volunteer programs or campus-wide sustainability
practices, then you can create theme-specific boards to
increase exposure.
Take a look at what Drake University is doing on Pinterest to
showcase a variety of different topics.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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9. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
3. What type of content should I share on
Pinterest?
While everyone knows that Pinterest is a picture-based
platform, the fact that it is now possible to also share videos is
still under the radar.
Given that very few people are doing it, curating short videos
on Pinterest can give you a valuable edge on your
competition.
 Here are 10 video tips for your school to use videos on
Pinterest.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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10. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
4. Do I have the resources to create relevant
content?
Creating good photography and condensed, relevant content
can be time-consuming.
You will need to determine whether you have the resources to
do this internally or if you will need to outsource the work to a
freelancer or external professional.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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11. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
4. Do I have the resources to create relevant
content?
But keep in mind that there are great tools out there to help you
create picture-based content.
Here is a great photo editing service to add text:
 http://www.picmonkey.com/
 that allows you to add your own overlays and create great
attractive content.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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12. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
5. Is it worth my time?
As on every other social media platform, the best results are
reached when:
 you post on a regular basis
 you share content from other accounts.
Although using Pinterest can increase your exposure, perhaps
your school’s marketing initiatives may be better served
through other, more traditional tactics.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Should Your College Be On Pinterest
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13. Should Your College Be On Pinterest?
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