What is Pinterest and why is everyone so 'interested' in it all of a sudden? Basically, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard just like the corkboards we had in our rooms as kids and you may still have in your home or office. It is a social networking site that allows users to create photo collections online – like online, upscale scrapbooking. It is primarily a photo sharing website where the members are allowed to create albums pertaining to a certain theme or pattern. In a very short period of time, Pinterest has become one of the leading social media networks! Fairly recently, given that it launched in early 2010, the site has grown in leaps and bounds and is viewed as a strong competitor to the older social media networking websites. At present, the website attracts over 11 million visits each week, placing it among the top 10 social networks! Pretty amazing!
Have you checked it out yet? If not, now's the time as this is going to be a wonderful marketing channel for many of you.
Currently, to join Pinterest, you need to be invited. Without an account, you can browse and search what people a “pinning”, but you can’t enjoy any of the functionality and the FUN that is Pinterest!
Below is an example of what you might see by browsing the site without an account. However, if you sign up, you can follow specific people with interests common to yours. You can choose to follow people with interests similar to you own.
Pinterest currently has about 4 million users and about 80% of their audience is female, but there is definitely male representation on the site. With this large of an audience, it’s relatively easy to secure an invitation and get started.
If you go to Pinterest.com, you can click the “Request an Invite” button.
On the next page, enter your email address and click “Request Invitation”.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be greeted by this message.
The time it takes to get an invite is unknown but can take a few weeks in some cases. I recommend trying Method #2 as the best alternative to getting an invite quickly.
Method #2: Contact a Member Directly for an Invite
If you’re active on other social media sites, chances are, you know somebody who is using Pinterest. You might try checking out Facebook and if you see something like this, ask that person for an invitation. You can also contact me through the contact form at the top of the page for an invite and I will be happy to send you one!
Or if you look at someone’s timeline, you might see a section dedicated to their Pinterest activity.
On Twitter, a Pinterest update looks something like this:
When you find someone using Pinterest, send them a message directly and ask if they mind sending you an invitation. All that person has to do is log into their account, fill out the “Invite Friends Form” and you will receive the invite via email. They can also choose to invite you by Facebook, so if that’s the case, you’ll get the invite through Facebook.
We’ll demonstrate the email process in the next section.
Accepting Your Pinterest Invitation
After your connection sends you the invite, you will get an email that looks like this. The subject line will be “Check out my stuff on Pinterest”:
Click the link at the bottom of the email you received and you can start creating your account.
Side note: if you are invited through Facebook, you’ll see the invitation in your Notifications and it might look something like this:
But let’s keep going through the process of accepting an email invite.
Setting Up Your Account
Once you click the link in the invitation email, you will see a page that looks like this:
In order to use Pinterest, you can sign in with your Facebook or Twitter account. Signing in with Facebook or Twitter makes it very easy so I would recommend using one of of those options.
I am going to go through the process of signing in with Twitter, so if you click "Login With Twitter" You will have to authorize the Pinterest app.
On the next page, you’ll see that Pinterest automatically grabbed your avatar. Then you can choose a username, add your email address and password.
Click “Create Account” when you’re done. Next you’ll be presented with 28 categories that you can choose as being related to your interests. Pinterest uses this information to automatically suggest people with common interests. You have to pick at least one category to continue.
When you’re done choosing, click “Follow People” at the bottom of the screen.
On this page, you’ll be able to see who you Pinterest has chosen for you to follow. You can remove any that you don't think fits your interests. Once everything looks ok, then you can start creating boards.
On the next page, you will see suggested boards you can create. You can name these whatever you wish, delete them, etc. If you are not sure about the boards you are going to create, you can start with one and add as many as you want later. You can also see further suggestions to the right. If you click one of those, it will automatically be added to your list.
Click “Create” when you are done deciding how to name your boards. Again, you can add whatever you want or delete any boards later. Now you are ready to star PINNING!
If you would like even more details on Pinterest, I invite you to check out my new book; 'The Quick and Easy Guide To Branding Your Business and Creating Massive Sales With Pinterest'
To receive Kim's "30 Fun & Creative Ways To Increase Your Facebook Likes "CLICK HERE"
Great article Kim!
Pinterest is on a roll, and this is great information for people to learn to use it.
Thanks for sharing
Twitter: happycoacheshc
Kim, this is one of the best tutorials on Pintrest I have seen. Great work. Very easy to follow and user friendly.I must share.
I FINALLY did it. I joined. And your site was incredibly helpful in helping me get on!
thank for this tutorials on Pintrest, this articles was incredibly helpful in helping me..