Presented by Krista Jacobson and Kate Bessey at the 2012 Minnesota Library Assocation Conference.

1. Getting Their :
Using Pinterest to
Market Your Library
Krista Jacobson
Minnesota School of Business – Moorhead
Kate Bessey
Central MN Libraries Exchange

2. What is Pinterest?
• A virtual corkboard
• Visual bookmarking: websites, blogs, videos, etc.
• Displays and organizes your interests
• Social
• Interactive
• Learning tool
• Connects with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

3. History of Pinterest
• Mission - "connect everyone in the world through the
'things' they find interesting”
• Founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan
Sharp
• Currently funded by a small group of inventors and
entrepreneurs
• Development began in 2009
• Beta invite-only site launched in March 2010
• Not immediately successful, eventually took off in Des
Moines and Minneapolis
• Time Magazine listed Pinterest in “50 Best Websites of
2011”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest

4. Rapid Growth
• Fastest stand-alone website to pass 10 million unique
monthly visitors.
• Had around 12 million unique visitors in February, 2012.
Currently averaging about 19 million visitors a month.
• 3rd most used site next to Facebook & LinkedIn.
• Pinterest drives more traffic to websites than YouTube,
Reddit, Googleplus, and LinkedIn combined!

5. Locations of Pinterest Users
• Highest use in parts of Midwest and South.
• Minnesota and North Dakota are among top users!

6. Demographics
• 12% of all adults use Pinterest, and 19% of all women.
• Similar usage levels amongst all ages younger than 64.
• Those with an income of $50,000-$75,000 are more
likely to use.
• Most users have had at least some college.

7. Most Commonly Pinned
• Sources like Repinly analyze the use of Pinterest
• Most popular categories of pins typically are:
– Food & Drink
– DIY & Crafts
– Home Decor
– Women’s Apparel

8. Copyright Concerns?
• Should you be concerned about copyright?
• Kirsten Kowalski
– Discovered Pinterest put the onus on users
– “You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum
extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of
your access to and use of the site, application,
services and site content remains with you.” -
Pinterest
• Pinterest Terms of Service aren’t that different from
other social media sites

9. Copyright Best Practices
• Pin from sites that encourage pinning. Look for “pin”
button.
• Pin directly from source. Avoid repinning.
• Consider asking for permission to pin.
• Snap your own pictures to pair with links that don’t allow
pinning.
• Give credit in comments area!

10. Getting Started with Pinterest
• No need to wait for invite!
• Simple step-by-step process.
• Required to connect with Twitter, Facebook, or
(recently) email account. You can choose to post or not
post to these accounts.
• Choose topic categories of interest.
• If desired, Pinterest will recommend key pinners –
including libraries!
• Get the “Pin It” button.

11. KRISTA’S MSB BOARD

12. Libraries are Flocking to Pinterest!
• Advertising the collection (All)
– New arrivals!
– Special genre sections
– Recommended books & book reviews
– Special collections

13. Other uses
• Study tips (Academic, School, Public)
• Take pictures of resources (All)
• Link resources for coursework (Academic, School)
• Infographics (All)
• Job hunting information (All)
• Professional development opportunities (All)
• Other ideas?

14. Best of the Best!
• New York Public Library
• American Libraries Magazine – ALA
• Sacramento Public Library
• Oakland Library Teenzone
• San Francisco Public Library
• UofL Libraries

15. MN Libraries on Pinterest
• Minnesota Historical Society
• College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University
• CheckIt Out – Libraries at St. Catherine University

16. Best Practices for Pinning
• Add content! Add value. Follow back!
• Interact. Be descriptive, add comments and participate
in discussions.
• Pin from permalinks.
• Have a point of view!
• Pin to the right board.
• Beware of viruses.
• Consider asking others to contribute to your board(s).
• Watch for scammers – skimming for information.
• Want others to follow your site/blog? Add the “Follow
Me on Pinterest” button.

17. Where we’d like to go…
• Invite library users to pin to library boards.
• Create a professional board
– connect with other librarians where they are!
• Checkout Learnist
• Use Repinly to follow Pinterest trends – informing work!

18. Questions? Comments?
• Krista Jacobson
– Minnesota School of Business – Moorhead Campus
– kjacobson@msbcollege.edu
• Kate Bessey
– Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange (CMLE) –
A Minnesota Multicounty Multitype Library System
– kmbessey@stcloudstate.edu