I discovered Pinterest long before I was ready for marketing and writing, and was very quickly hooked. It was like a giant, visual bookmarking program. In a few short weeks I pinned literally hundreds of cool craft ideas, and became quite addicted.
When I started researching marketing for my novel, I naturally thought Pinterest would be great. So I signed up for an account for my writing (my personal one is far too cluttered with craft activities for anyone to see anything else!), and started making a few boards, and adding friends from facebook and twitter.
But unlike my personal account, this one just didn’t take off. People didn’t re-pin my pins, and I struggled to find boards to follow that gave me interesting new pins to share. For a while, I focused on twitter and facebook and didn’t visit Pinterest, since I didn’t seem to be able to crack the code there.
Then something made me come back. I can’t remember what. Perhaps I was just pinning one of my blog posts, or perhaps it was the fact that I was getting some consistent blog traffic from a couple of my pins. I spent a bit of time adding some new pins to my board, and every time I found an interesting pin, I’d look at other similar pins, and click follow on most of the ‘this pin is also pinned to’ boards. I followed more people from twitter and facebook.
Suddenly, my pinterest started to take off. I was being followed back by authors, and I was invited to pin to a couple of group boards. I wouldn’t say it’s a huge marketing strategy just yet, but I’m beginning to think it’s worth the time.
If you want to check out my boards and follow me, I’m at http://pinterest.com/rinellegrey/
How do you use Pinterest? Do you find you use it as a reader or writer, or for something else?
I started a Pinterest account to promote but found on minimal success and stopped using it for the most part because it was just another social media site I had to take time to use. I might revisit it but haven’t heard any compelling reasons to spend the time. Yours is the first story I’ve read that sound successful with it for marketing/promotion
It’s hard to judge if it helps specifically with book marketing itself, but I can say that it has helped bring more visitors to my site, which I figure is good exposure, if nothing else.
But yes, like any other marketing strategy, it does require time. I have found though, that pinterest is less ‘social’ than other forms of social media. There’s very little commenting and discussion, and it seems to rely solely on repining, and the occasional ‘like’. I find this requires less brain space than other forms of social media.
I loved pinterest when I first discovered it, thinking it would be great for pinning the inspirational pictures I use in writing my novels (images of models or actors I think look like my protagonists, houses for sale that I use to scene-set, pictures that make great cover shots). Then I started reading about people being sued for pinning images they don’t have copyright to, and I ran away with my tail between my legs. Since then I’ve missed a huge opportunity to pin the pictures from my daily blog on there, since I either have copyright to all of them, or they are Creative Commons licensed. Except I can’t remember my log-in and I keep forgetting to change the password! You have motivated me to find the password and get pinning….
Yes, the copyright can be an issue, something I’m really aware of. I usually only repin, or pin from blogs that have a button specifically for it. And my own articles of course. I never pin images from stock sites, or the like. I think if you’re careful, and link back to the original page, most people won’t have an issue with it.
I’m glad you wrote this, Rinelle! Gives me hope…. I have an account I just started. I have a few boards and I pin my daily blog post to my blog board each morning and get a few referrals and repins, but not much.
I don’t invest much time in Pinterest because I honestly don’t have the time… but maybe i should make more time. Thanks for outlining your strategy. It seems simple and not too long to do, but effective!
Finding time for social media of any sort, especially without sacrificing your writing time, can be difficult. Pinterest is one I think you can visit occasionally, once every week or two I think, without really losing ground. At least, I hope it is!
Me too! 😛
I’ve just started trying to use Pinterest and I do enjoy it, it’s so easy to get lost on there! I hadn’t really thought about the copyright issues but that’s a good thing to keep in mind. Great post – following you there now! 🙂
Yes, it is easy to get lost. I find it hard to stay focused too, and not pin every cute puppy and kitten I see! They’re probably not encouraging my target audience! There are some beautiful pictures there though, and some great articles.