What an announcement, right? Welcome back to 2010 my friends! I may as well write a post about just discovering hand sanitizer! I’ve said it before that I’m not a trendsetter, and joining Pinterest is no exception.
Now, I may be a little slow on the uptake but once I “take?” I’m all over it. You just wait – I will be pinning and creating boards and, um…errr, whatever the hell else you do out there, on the only speed I know – fast! Fortunately, I’m a quick study and this is what I’ve learned so far:
1. Tamara, Janine, The Dose Girls and Michelle are really big deals out there. Damn ladies! When there’s a comma involved with the number of people who follow you, that’s like another dimension of super social-mediadom that I know nothing about. Teach me your ways sensei.
2. You need to make the cover of your boards visually appealing. Eye candy. I get it.
Is this a good image for my “running shoes” board? Too much?
3. You can organize and categorize everything! There’s 357 boards for what essentially is all FITNESS – workouts, activity, health, get your sweat on, 30/20/10/5 minute workouts – and only one beautifully universal word for COCKTAILS. Oh Pinterest you are a mysterious temptress!
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
Obviously I’m still working on setting up boards and pinning however, before I get too carried away, I need to know what not to do! I mean, that is way more important – don’t you think? Remember all those people who announced illicit affairs or their money laundering activity all over FB thinking it was a “private message?” Right.
What I really need is help with etiquette. I actually need help with that in all facets of my life but let’s focus here people! First of all please FOLLOW ME…and I will follow back. Second, tell me everything you need to know (or maybe just one thing) about pinning, re-pinning, commenting, boards – whatever silent rules there are to the Pinterest gang – I need to know!
Any and all Pinterest related advice is welcome! Is there one thing you wish you didn’t do on Pinterest?
Are there rules of Pinterest? If so, I have no clue what they are. Pin what you like. That’s my motto! I’m following you now! Here’s mine:
http://pinterest.com/happyfitmama
Perfect!! Thank you and I followed you back.
The only rule of Pinterest is pin…pin…pin!!! 😀 We love Pinterest, LOVE it! We adore the bizarre (obviously) but we also love the funny, sweet, inspiring, and helpful things you can find there. Oh, it’s just the best ever!! My advice is don’t limit your boards. Have as many fitness boards as you like organized as you like, but also have boards for any other thing that strikes your fancy (and sometimes you don’t know until you see a pin about something that you need a whole board of it) ENJOY!!!! We’re so excited to see you there!!!!!! Going to go follow you right now!! –Lisa
Great advice!! I already love it and it is SO much fun!!! Thank you 🙂
Totally following you and as Lisa said the only real rule for Pinterest is to keep pinning away and also join in on Pinterest Hops, because those two things are what helped me gain more followers on top of pinning away daily. I seriously do love it over there though and am so happy you have joined.
Me too!! Thank you so much and I will absolutely be joining the HOPS!
Just followed you! My boards desperately need an organizational overhaul, but I still use it and keep adding to them. Welcome on board. 🙂
I think they look great! I’m also psyched to have my hands on the detox board – yay!! Thanks Laura.
Once I figure out how to get my FB page more likes, I will tackle Pinterest. I will follow you and hopefully you can pass along the pointers you’re getting . 🙂
Thank you Kris! Part of the reason I wanted to join Pinterest is b/c FB is getting so ugly with bloggers and sharing our posts. The word on the street is just to pin, pin, pin!…I think I can handle that.
hah! I never thought of myself as a big deal before. Yay! I find that with most social media forms, it’s more “follow for follow.” WIth Pinterest, for some reason, people follow me even if I don’t already follow them. It’s nice not having to work as hard to fit in, like I do elsewhere.
It’s just pinning. Lots of pinning. And loving it. And having clear, easy-to-follow boards with nice photos. And using hashtags does help. Re-pinning is a nice thing to do.
You’re a big deal everywhere girl! Thanks for the tips. Yours boards are amazing…but you already knew that!
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing on Pinterest – I just slap my posts up there and hope for the best. I didn’t even know how to change my board covers – so thanks for that tip! I followed you – I bet your workout video board will be popular. It will be nice to be able to go to it and pick a workout. That’s one you should definitely promote!
YES – I’m going to work on that one first for sure. I’m happy to know I have company when it comes to “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!” I think I’m already following you but I will double check 🙂
followed! Love the temptress that is Pinterest! I love it for the discoveries–both good and bad haha. But like everyone say pin, pin, pin and other will find you. I think I didn’t pin enough in the beginning. Now I find a way to do a few each day!
Is it really that easy? God I hope so!! Thanks Nellie 🙂
Good for you! I KNOW I should be on Pinterest, but I just can’t imagine where I’d find the time for one more platform. So, I’ll live vicariously through you!
I must be insane for sure but, I’m thinking (hoping? praying?) it’s not as time consuming as FB or Twitter. Word on the street is that you just need to pin, pin, pin!
I love Pinterest! So glad to see you there (will follow after I hit “submit comment.”
It’s definitely quicker and easier than spending time on facebook. But it IS addicting.
I know that I’ll be able to pin some AWESOME fitness tips and motivational pins from you. =0)
Have a great weekend,
Kim
Thanks Kim! I followed you back and I agree – it’s not as much of a time suck as I first thought.
I’m bookmarking this post (I know, so 2001), so I can come back to it when I finally get the time and gumption to set up a Pinterest account. It’s on my to-do list of not-very-important-things-that-I-will-eventually-waste-too-much-time-doing-so-I-can-check-something-off-the-always-growing-never-ending-list.
As it should be!! It IS a pretty cool resource for all things fitness but absolutely another place to get “lost.” Thanks Nicole. I’ll be waiting for you out there…
I mostly just use Pinterest to aimlessly pin recipes I’ll never use. But adding you now 🙂
Perfect! I followed you back… 🙂
Yay! I’m following you! You should try to join some group boards because more of your pins will get picked up!
I heard that. I will definitely try to join/link/pin up with some groups. Thanks Britt!
what’s nice about pinterest is that I feel like there is less “etiquette” than other social medias since it is not as personal. You can pin whatever and how much you want and liking isn’t made as public so it is not weird to pin things from people you don’t know. That’s how I feel at least and I may be living in the stone age since I never track who is following me or liking my pins. It’s been really helpful pinning ideas for my wedding!!:):)
OMG there’s SO much wedding stuff out there!! Thanks for the tip. From what I can gather, you are right which really makes it that much more fun. Thanks Jenn.
I don’t know about Pinterest rules but I will share a couple of things:
First, find people who would be pinning similar things to what you’ll pin and try to get yourself added to a community board. This will get you much higher exposure than you could get plugging along pinning just to your own boards.
Second: comments and likes on pinterest are pretty useless, it’s all about pinning and repinning.
Happy Pinning!
THANK YOU! I was confused about the comments. I will definitely work on being added to some communities. Perfect!
Yay! Welcome to Pinterest! I am looking to build my Pinterest boards and following too. We can muddle through together.
The buddy system! Perfect 🙂
I am following you! Here is my link: http://www.pinterest.com/anastasia33/
There are some rules because I have had pins removed by Pinterest. No nudity or even partial nudity; my pin was removed because the lady was in lace underwear and a bra. Not what I would consider revealing but someone reported it. If you can credit the photographer, I suggest that you do. It will avoid some photo legality issues. Also, as other pinners mentioned, visually appealing boards seem to do well. Good luck and happy pinning!
Good to know!! Thank you and I will definitely follow you back.
Welcome to Pinterest!! I love it but don’t spend much time hunting up pins anymore (blogging or something!!). I probably pin 10-15 things most days in the course of blog reading.
I don’t really know any tricks or rules – I just do it like all other forms of social media – the way that works for me!!
And that’s what I love about you!! Good advice Kim, thank you.
I just went and followed you. My suggestion is this (and I’ll use a simple example): make your boards somewhat specific. Don’t create one called food because you are going to want to break it down at some point and you might as well start organized, it’s a PITA to go back and re-pin everything, trust me. Food = breakfast, appetizers, cookies, main dishes, side dishes, smoothies, etc. You will use them all. I create as I go but if a board isn’t “just right” then I create a new board.
Luckily, I realized that when searching for “fitness” related stuff. Some people get really nuts with breaking things down but, like you said, I would hate to have to go back and re-pin! Great tip. Thank you and I’ll follow you back.
Welcome! I can’t offer much accept something that’s probably already been said; Make the images in your post the title of your blog or at least what you want it to say. If I click to pin and it’s like image 130789 or baby girl or some dumb shxt like that, I click right off!!!
I hear ya!! Thanks for always keeping it real Joi. Love that about you 🙂
Pinterest is like the final frontier for me. I have an account but all of my links are to my old domain so they are all broken! Maybe you will inspire me to get caught up….and I love the cover of your running shoes board! Haha!
It’s hard enough to start so I can’t imagine having to go back and fix links. Maybe you should just start fresh? Whatever you do, I will follow you 🙂
Pinterest is my main gig. LOL! Not really anymore. It just seems to take care of itself once you get so large. My biggest tip is to not have all your pins be repins. Also pin new content from blogs and websites. It pays off if people think you are finding original pins.
Oh, and of course I followed you!
That is a great tip – thank you!!
Yay! Welcome to Pinterest! I’ve followed you, yet another way to follow you around 🙂 I can’t be on Pinterest too much because before I know it, it’s 2 hours later and I haven’t done a thing!
That’s what everyone says! Right now I mostly forget that I can pin things so I see something I like and then have to go find it all over again b/c I forgot to pin it!!!
Yay, you joined Pinterest!! Hello beautiful things, goodbye time!
Kidding.
Not really.
🙂
The only rule I really care about on Pinterest – check your sources. Don’t rePin aimlessly. Check the Pin by clicking on it, and see what website it came from. Preferably it should be from the actual source, and not a website that compiled 10 recipes into one, and you have to click 5 times to get to a recipe, for example. And don’t Pin from Google Images. Go to the source. My main rule. 🙂
Oh, don’t PIn ugly things.
And, and, add a description for each Pin and your Boards.
That’s all.
Maybe. 🙂
See how much I LOVE Pinterest?
Great advice!!! This is exactly what I was looking for – thank you!! Now I just need to remember it all 🙂
My favorite thing about Pinterest is I feel like it’s a virtual file cabinet. I used to hoard everything in the world I found interesting…I’d cut it out of a magazine and put it a file cabinet, never to be seen again. I am not kidding, it really was never seen again. But I actually go back to things I pinned. I love that I don’t have to print them out. Need a recipe, just transport by computer to the kitchen. I have a bunch of Pinterest stuff pinned to my social media board if you want to check it out!
Oh I have definitely been checking out your boards and have read more then one article. I’m sure I’ll be re-pinning your stuff in no time. You have some great resources out there and on Google+ too!
I actually have a couple things I tore out of magazines in my computer bag!! So funny. I’ll have to pin them asap or, like your old stuff, they will never be seen again! Thanks Michelle.
I like Pinterest. I really need to pin more. I’ve already followed you. Don’t feel bad. I just made it to instagram and have all of one picture on there. it’s a learning curve. You board already looks like a professional.lol
Thank you for saying that but I feel like I have to “catch-up” on pinning – there’s so much!! Thanks for the follow. I will definitely follow you back AND follow you on Instagram.
You promised you wouldn’t show anyone that picture of me!
ha.
OK, I hate Facebook, but Pinterest … I just don’t feel comfortable getting an account. Like, hold-your-bag-and-walk-around-in-Victoria’s-Secret uncomfortable. Yet, I’ve played along in Tamara’s Girls Only blog things.
I’ve got problems.
I just couldn’t resist Eli! You’ll be more popular now then ever. I hear ya on joining the Pinterest party. A man has to draw a line somewhere and I’d say that’s a pretty good line.
It took me awhile to do the pinterest thing. I joined right when it came out but then I was like AW EFF THIS – I DON’T CARE. I DON’T TAKE PRETTY PICTURES and DO I REALLY NEED ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA!!!! But actually, I kind of………… Like Pinterest. GASSPPP! I like it because I can bookmark recipes there as opposed to on my bookmark bar that gets outrageously OVERWHELMING! ha ha ha! FOLLOW ME! AND I WILL FOLLOW YOU 😉
I already follow you my friend!! So far I find it the least addicting of all my social media addictions 🙂 I like that you can just pin it and get back to it later. Brilliant!
Whenever someone complains that Pinterest is too confusing I just feel like rolling my eyes 🙂 Not in a mean way, but they’re giving me way more intelligence points than I deserve 😉 Like you’ve found out from the comments, it’s super easy! I don’t really use it to promote my blog much, more so just because I just enjoy finding new recipes, articles, memes, etc.
No rules that I can think of exactly. Except for a few tips if you didn’t already know them. Adding a Pinterest widget along with your Facebook and Twitter one at the bottom of your posts would be super useful. There is also a way to add a pin it button to your pictures, so that when people hover over them a little “P” icon appears and BAM, pinnable. Here is a tutorial: http://www.digitalkonline.com/blog/add-a-pinterest-hover-button-to-wordpress-blog-images/ It can only be done on wordpress.org or blogger blogs (unfortunately no wordpress.com yet 🙁 ).
And one more suggestion… Wait, no two! First, you can check out any pins that come from your site (pinned by you or others) by going to this page: http://www.pinterest.com/source/vitatrain4life.com/ It’s also available by clicking at the bottom of any pictures from your site on Pinterest when it says “Pinned from: _____” And finally, to make your pictures more “pinnable” when making posts— If you used the pin it button or pinterest widget featured that I mentioned above, the text that would appear in the pin description would probably read as the name of your picture. Now, as someone else pointed out above image10002333 isn’t very helpful for pins, and most people will not take the time to change it. To help with this, when you write your posts and insert your pictures, you can click on the picture and do that little “edit thing” in the top left hand corner where it allows you to change the alignment/link? And then in there you just wipe out the alternative text and put in whatever you would want it to say.
Golly, that is a long comment from someone you don’t even know! Haha. I hope that at least one of those things was helpful to you though. 😀
Wow! Thanks for all the great info!! Some of the stuff I know but a lot of it I didn’t. THANK YOU!! I’ll be following you out there for sure… 🙂