I finally took the Pinterest Plunge: tips

  

Cheri Cowell here.

I've been a lurker for several months. There were several reasons for my reluctance 1. I didn't want to spend time on a fad that would fade, 2. I couldn't see adding one more social media need-to on my list of must-dos, and 3. I just didn't get it. I didn't see how I'd use Pinterest and how the time invested would offer a worthy return. But, after several months of reading the stats (Pinterest looks like it is here to stay and its power as a good return on one's investment is now proven), I finally decided to take the plunge. Here is what I found.

First, go ahead and sign up. You don't have to participate right away in pinning; you can simply lurk and follow and accept followers while you get a feel for what people are doing. I didn't spend a lot of time looking around, but when someone followed me, I clicked on their link to follow them. Then while there I glanced at their boards to see what they were doing.

While I was gatheirng this info I began to think about what I do and how I could tell "the story of Cheri" in pictures. What are those categories? I looked for a good balance of personal and professional because this is, after all, social media.So, I certainly want to share a little of my personal likes, but to be honest I don't have time to only be social. I need to spend my time marketing so the bigger question for me was how do I express my professional interests in pictures?

The next step was to fill in my descriptive bio. This is where the info from the ponderings described above came into play. I described myself with the categories I planned to use in creating the "boards" of pinned images. Here is my bio:

Author, faith walker, cabin owner, storyteller, Bible story lover, ebook promoter, and Holy Land ambassador

Don't I sound interesting?

Next I used these categories to begin creating boards and pinning. A huge thing I learned while pinning was how a "pin" is linked to a URL where guests would be led if they "repinned" my pin. For instance, the Holy Land is one of my boards (because my new book is a study of the parables and is a natural link) and I had a few blog posts with photos from the Holy Land. However, I wanted more links to more of my blogs, so I went back into my blog archives and added more Holy Land photos where appropriate so I could link to these posts with my photos. 

The results? Within hours of creating my boards I already had a handful of people repinning my images and linking to my website, blogs, and articles. Now, I'd say that is time well spent!

Come check out my Pinterest site - follow me and I'll follow you: http://pinterest.com/chericowell/

www.Facebook.com/chericowell www.Twitter.com/CheriCowell www.CheriCowell.com

Comments

[Dianne Neal Matthews]

Great ideas, Cherie! I will definitely reread my book to get ideas for marketing. That will be especially helpful for a daily devotional, because by the time I get to #365 I have no idea what all I've written about! Thanks for your insights.

[cheri cowell]

I heard of a prolific author who was doing some research when he ran across this incredible book that said exactly what he wanted to say. He was so excited with his find, he decided he would look up the author to send him a note. Then he discovered he was him. He had written the book over 20 years ago. We really do need to re-read our books, if nothing else but to help us remember what we've written.

[Lorilyn Roberts]

These are great ideas.

[supra shoes]

The author said, good article

[Karen Whiting]

Great ideas--I like to spend time during Jan praying and evaluating my career and will review these ideas as I do that.

[David Larson]

Starting and maintaining a database of contacts, whether from a business card contact or other is essential in today's world. This is the first step toward creating buzz about your work and spreading the news about you in today's electronic community.

[Cheri Cowell]

Nice tie-in with social media. Whether its business cards or contacts through electronic media, its about networking. We can't serve a need if we haven't made a contact.

Thanks for writing!

[Marti Pieper]

I don't normally like posts that induce guilt, but in this case guilt may prove a good motivator. Lots of fantastic ideas here, Cheri. Thanks!

[Cheri Cowell]

You made me laugh. I prefer the word "conviction" to guilt. Glad it helped.

Thanks for posting.

[Karen Prough]

Thank you for the ideas. I'm sure they will be helpful in the future.

[verna]

I have been a "lurker" also . . .! Thanks for defining a few things for me - great post!

In fact, I just signed up and love some of the things of interest I've already found.

[Martha Rogers]

A great article, Cheri. Now if I can just figure out what I'm doing. :) I have a Pinterest account and boards, but things on there are by accident or pinned by others. Haven't really figured it out yet.