Finding out this information lead me to giving it a try.  I played around for a day or two and then ignored it for a couple weeks.  Then I got engaged, and my fiancé decided to create a couple of wedding themed boards.  One of them I was allowed to look at and post to, the other was specifically “Not for the Grooms Eyes.”

This, of course, prompted me to start using the site more, and I eventually started pinning and re-pinning things I found.  This inevitably lead me to trying out pinning a few of my own stories onto a board to see what kind of traffic I got.

Traffic

Whoa!  The one day I pinned a few recipes I had my highest traffic ever.  And here’s the awesome part.  Not all of the growth was through Pinterest.  I received 22% more traffic from search, 17% more traffic from Twitter, and 8% more traffic from Facebook than I had previously.

Sales

So, at least for recipes, Pinterest seems to be a wholly worthwhile experience.  But what about other types of content.  I tried posting up a few Amazon products to see what kind of juice I could squeeze from my affiliate account over there.*  Again, a nice bounce in the number of connections through, but very few of those people actually bought the item, or anything for that matter.

No worries, I’m pretty sure that’s an expectation issue and it’s something I plan on working on to see if I can create more content and more traffic around those types of products in the future.  If I had placed those items on my own site, and had built in a good sales flow, I would probably have made a few more dollars than I did.

So, what about those out there that are posting links from their own site and pushing visiting customers through their own sales funnel?  How are they doing?  While I don’t have any hard data on this, I’ve spoken to a few people and read a few things that show that, as long as the images are good and the content behind them is relevant, they’re getting a pretty decent bump from Pinterest.

As with all online content, it’s about what you put into it and how you’re delivering that matters most.  If you have a great site behind that image and a well built funnel, it’s going to be a lot easier to get your customers to the “Buy” button.

Marketing

One thing I’ve found from my own use and the use I’ve seen of other groups is that you can’t just put your own stuff online.  You have to be part of the community and you have to share others’ pins in order to build an audience.  In fact, if you just post your own content, many people will flag your account, and Pinterest may remove you.

While Pinterest is fine with you posting your own content and sharing it with users, the whole idea of the site is to share.  So if you’re going to get your Social Media team on it, you’ll have to lay out some sharing guidelines.  Make sure they understand that it needs to be about the community, and that if they see something great that’s relevant to your business they should like it and repin it on the appropriate board.

Round-up

So, is Pinterest worth using as a marketing tool?  Yes, there is no doubt about that.  But as with every other marketing tool out there, you need to use it correctly or it won’t work for you.

First, make sure you’re staying on message within the community.  It’s about sharing images of great things.  So whatever you’ve done that is great, take a picture or get a screen-capture and pin it.  If you see something that someone else has done that’s great, share it on your own boards for anyone who follows you to see.

If you are planning on using it to push people into your sales cycle, then make sure the pages the images are on fit the expectation those images and the descriptions create.  Guide your customer as you would if they were coming from any other site and change your site to fit what they think they should be getting.

Finally, post often and share on other social media.  You have the option to share every pin on Twitter and Facebook.  Take advantage of that whether you’re pinning your own content or repinning someone else’s.  This will help others find you on Pinterest and will help build your audience there.

I was recently asked by a law student in Florida to build out a simple profile site.  She is finishing Law School in May, and wants to ensure that when potential employers search for her online they find her and her information easily and quickly.

Luckily Olivia had created a site many years ago to highlight her photography (something she had time for before going to law school.)  Also, luckily, she has a unique name and that site was already showing up on the first page of all major search engines.  SEO wasn’t going to be an issue on this one.  (But I’ve given her the option to build in a blog if she wishes.)

She showed me a couple sites she liked and wanted to emulate and one of those was an opensource, open copyright template that she thought was perfect.  As she already had hosting and a domain name, it was only a matter of getting her résumé and her cover letter and updating the HTML in the template.

It only took a couple of hours to manipulate the HTML and CSS to get the look and feel I wanted, and to update the actual information on the site.  Adjust a couple links for her Facebook and Twitter accounts, create an email box that forwards onto her GMail account, and bam.  New profile site that actually fits her needs is up and running.

Given her honors and accomplishments in law school I have to believe it’s only a matter of time until she finds a job.  Here’s hoping this site helps her in that search.

I found this on a recent post on TechCrunch and figured it would be appropriate to share.  Keas is a virtual game that promotes health within a company by using social pressures as well as rewards to encourage employees to live healthier.

I particularly like the achievable aspects of the game.  Setting small weekly goals that are easily achieved but that build up over time to create an overall healthy environment.

It’s both social and individual.  You have the opportunity to earn rewards as an individual and as a group.  The rewards can be both tangible and virtual providing incentive for everyone who gets involved.

The only initial issue I see is in an environment that has a high turnover, or bringing in a new employee and working them through the system.  It seems a little difficult to add members to a team, which may cause issues, but should be something that can be overcome.

That’s where achievements come in.  Giving your team members some sort of recognition for completion of a task gives them the ability to prove they’ve done something that another person may not have.

I usually recommend creating some type of simply badge or certificate system for employees.  First of all, it’s cheap.  Badges and certificates only have one initial cost and one ongoing one.  The initial cost is, of course, creating the system and the the badges in the first place.  The ongoing cost is the paper you’re printing on (if you’re even printing them.)

To create a certificate system you’ll have to figure out what your measurements are going to be.  First, what is the position?  Is it a sales position, a support position, a task oriented position?  What are the goals of the position, and what type of knowledge is required for those in that position?

By understanding what the position is, what that position does, and what people in the position need to know, you can set different levels for the employees in that position.  If you’re selling something this is pretty easy, just define what you’re selling, what the sales agent should know about the product, and then set different levels of sales goals to earn different certificates.  If the sales agent wants to go out of their way and learn more about the product, offer them further certifications for different levels of knowledge.

If you’re working with support agents you’ll have a little harder time.  The goals here are knowledge of the product, tool, task, etc., and ability to perform within a designated timeline or scope.  So, we again work to define the position, and then set multiple levels of certification for different levels of understanding.  You’ll have to increase the amount of training material here, you probably have something in place already, and offer certifications for meeting different levels of skill/understanding for the position.

Keep doing this for every position you can, and soon you’ll have a more engaged employee base with a higher level of understanding.  You can even have your current employee base help you in creating whatever materials you need (and usually for the low cost of free) by offering different certifications and badges for those willing to go outside their normal work scope to help in the creation of missing training material, new badge sets, or whatever it is you need.

Photo Credit:  Olaf

I also made some suggestions on implementing gaming techniques on your website and into your workflow.  By adding these techniques for your employees you will see an increase in productivity and morale.  If you’d like to know how, contact me.

(I will be posting the video of the talk in a future post.)