Pinterest Tips For Photographers and Other Visual People.
Of all the Social Media I’m into, Pinterest has become my absolute undeniable favorite. Maybe it’s be cause I’m a visual person, I don’t know- but nothing can kill my free time and put a smile on my face like Pinterest can.
But am I really wasting my time?
There’s been a lot of talk online about the value of Pinterest, and the influence it is having on web traffic. Blog posts about the value of this new social sharing platform are popping up everywhere. I’ve read claims that it is driving more traffic for some types of sites than Facebook. So, yes I’ve got my personal pin boards, but I am also lightly pinning my work in design and photography as well.
I think if your work is visual, then you will love Pinterest and should certainly be using it and having as much fun as me. But since Pinterest is having such an impact, I’m noticing some things related to marketing that you should be aware of.
Tip #1
You can’t Pin from a Flash website. If you are STILL running a flash website, then please, now is the time to move on. Your visual content can’t be shared directly from your site, so your never going to benefit from Pinterest’s ability to drive traffic to your website.
Tip #2
WATERMARK YOUR IMAGES (If they are yours, of course). People may Pin your work, so make sure if you’ve put it online , you’ve watermarked it. Brand your work, so that when it’s shared you are immediately credited, regardless if someone makes it to your website or not.
Tip #3
You can’t Pin from Vimeo. No matter how much Vimeo is touted for being a better outlet for creatives and good filmography- you need a You Tube account.
Tip #4
Keep your marketing Pinboards at minimum. Over selling yourself and your work is not bringing value to your followers. Participate and Pin with care. Contribute regularly, don’t just repin and like Twitter, Follow what you love.
Tip #5
Add Pinterest Social Media links to your website now. Encourage people to connect, share your work and see what you love.
Randy Eustace-Walden
Hi Andrea, If you pin directly from within Vimeo you will get a Vimeo logo for your trouble (not the video poster frame), and I’ve seen that over and over again – totally lame! The question I’ve been trying to get an answer to for two months from Pinterest (and don’t get me wrong – I love this site), is why? And what they’re doing about it, if anything. I find it ironic that there are dozens of Vimeo videos about USING Pinterest, but you can’t pin them to the site! The issue for Pinterest, as I understand it, is that Pinterest was never meant for video, only pictures. Their early GUI didn’t show ‘video’ in their navbar – that’s relatively new, so maybe they’re playing catch-up. If anyone has any if/when/why information about Vimeo, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it. Thanks.
Andrea
i would be interested to know why too! thanks for you comments
Leo
I copied this from another blog I was reading regarding posting Vimeo links to Pinterest.
Trying to pin a video from Vimeo and having difficulties?
If it reads, “no large photos or videos detected” when you try to pin from the bookmarklet, simply go back to the vimeo page and click on the “view in couch mode”. Once that starts try to pin it again, it should work. Then, if you like, you can edit your pin to have the URL of the original vimeo page, and it will work.
Andrea
awesome, thank you! Although it’s not so straightforward and easy peasy like I want it to be!