How I Discovered Pinterest

Of all social media networks, Pinterest ranks right behind Google Plus (G+) in terms of monthly users. As quickly as Pinterest is growing, their ranking behind Google + may have changed by the time you read this post.

I first heard of Pinterest when I interviewed Amy Guth, social media manager for the Tribune Corporation last year for GotInterviews.com. In one of my questions, I had asked Amy to name her favorite social media networks. She listed Twitter and Pinterest.

I’m sort of ashamed to admit that I didn’t yet know about Pinterested at that time. The name didn’t even intrigue me enough to cause me to Google the social network. A little over a month ago, after reading about Pinterest on almost every social media and online marketing blog I visited, I finally decided to give Pinterest a try.

Pinterest for Bloggers

If you’re a blogger and enjoy driving traffic to your blog, you may want to give Pinterest a try. I don’t claim to be a Pinterest pro, but I do enjoy the traffic I receive from the rapidly growing social network.

Pinterest is good for bloggers, but it’s not the best way to drive traffic to ALL blogs. If you want to promote blog posts with Pinterest, make sure you use pictures in your blog posts or better yet, only promote visually appealing blogs. Some of the best types of blogs to promote with Pinterest are travel blogs and artistic blogs such as your photography portfolio (phootblog), fashion blogs, review sites. Recipe or cooking blogs are a few other platforms easily promoted through Pinterest.

I have to admit, I have not had a lot of success at promoting blog posts through Twitter and Facebook. THe lack of successful blog promotion via traditional social media has caused the trickle of visitors from Pinterest I receive look like the Nile at flood stage to me.

You will want to learn more about this latest social media obsession called Pinterest. I will be writing more blog posts about Pinterest in the near future. Until then, go over to Pinterest for the first time and sign up. If you’ve already received an invite, go back to Pinterest and browse around. I spoke to a friend recently who says the first thing she does on the internet is visit news sites, and because the news is so depressing, she then goes to Pinterest to cheer up. I can see her point. Pictures are a happy thing to look at and Pinterest has a lot of pictures, in fact, that’s about all it is, oh yeah, and comments on pictures.

Your Experiences

Are you like Amy Guth, a long-time fan of Pinterest, maybe one of their first 100,000 users? What have your experiences been with the social network? Please comment below to let my readers know if Pinterest has changed from when you first signed up, whether or not it is worthwhile to add this network to the others people may already be using. I would like to also know if you have found unique ways Pinterest can be useful for blogging.

Thanks for anything you can add to this post. It’s much appreciated.