The What, Why and How
March 2012

What is Pinterest?
“A content sharing service that allows
members to "pin" images, videos and other
objects to their pinboard.”
- Pinterest

What is Pinterest?
“The latest craze in social media – the chic new
visually stimulating social sharing site is quickly
joining the likes of Facebook, Twitter and
StumbleUpon.”
- Jeff Bullas, jeffbullas.com

What is Pinterest?
"A fun reminder of the clothes I will never
afford/fit into, the home decor I will never
afford/fit into our small house, the recipes and
crafts I am too lazy to ever make, the sayings I
wasn't clever enough to think of my own, the
photos I wish I had taken but didn't."

Pinterest reached 10M (U.S.) monthly uniques faster
than any standalone site…. EVER

The New, Shiny Toy

Women Rule!
30% Female
70% Male

How Does Pinterest Make Money?

Revenue Could Also Come From…
• Advertising through branded
campaigns, outbound links and traditional ads.
• Ecommerce partners for affiliate links
• Selling goods and services to users (e.g. virtual
goods, printed collections, premium tools)
• Selling user data/analytics

Let’s Get Started – 1, 2,3
1. Ask for an invitation
2. Create a Pinterest profile.
3. Link a Twitter account and upload a branded
logo
4. Follow other people with the same
"interests" as your brand
5. Create boards
6. Pin, pin, pin

Get the Browser Add-On

Place it on Website or Blog

Use an iPhone

What to Pin, What to Pin?

How to Pin
Step#1:
Select
Image

Step #2
After clicking on “Pin It” button in browser or Website,
images will appear. Select the one you want to appear.

Step 3:
Click on “Pin This”

Step 5:
Pick the board for it appear, write a short description
and, if you want, also post it to Twitter

What’s in it for PR and Marketers?

The Power of Referrals

“This is big”
- TechCrunch, March 8, 2012

Links, Baby!
Every pin links back to a Website. The more
something is pinned or repinned, the bigger the
potential for referral traffic.

The Power of Referrals

Everyone’s Climbing on the
Bandwagon

Engagement
• More than 80% of all pins are re-pins, which
shows Pinterest’s viral potential.
• Comments and likes on your pins show fans
are engaged and invite others to join in the
conversation about your content.

An
infographic is
pinned

And then
this
happens
…..

Contests

• Best Pinboard
Users create a pin board; brands select the best one.
• Most likes/repins Entrants create pinboards and
specific images for users to like and/or re-pin.
Winner(s) based on the amount of likes/re-pins they
receive.
• Sweepstakes Entries Random winners drawn from a
pool on entries. People can enter the sweepstakes by
repining an image and/or following a brand on
Pinterest.

Metrics
• Pinterest currently doesn’t provide analytics
or metrics
• You can track referrals using a service such as
Google Analytics

New Analytics Services Are Coming

Copyright

• TOS updated to remove Pinterest’s right to sell
a user’s content.
• It also released simpler tools for people to
report alleged copyright or trademark
infringements.

No Pinterest for You!
Websites can block people from pinning
their content by inserting a small piece of
code provided by Pinterest

No Pinterest for You!

Copyright
1. Try to pin original content
2. If you pin something, make sure there’s a link to
the original Web site so the owner gets referral
traffic
3. If you get a DMCA Take Down Notice,
comply…immediately.

Thanks!
Mark Evans
Principal, ME Consulting
“Helping startups and entrepreneurs succeed”
www.markevans.ca
mark@markevans.ca
Twitter: @markevans
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/markev