Pinterest: Is it your interest?

The first time I saw Pinterest was from a student who definitely has the same social weirdness as me - the last time I saw her was at a comic con, just to illustrate how similar we are - and so of course I had to see what the appeal was. So this post is to either convert you to trying it out because it is just fun and to give others an idea of what to do with it if you want to dive into using it for your own business.

For some it could be a complete time sink as you can spend ages just scrolling and scrolling through all the goodies that you love in life. But as a user the best way to get what you want is to make pins. The algo love you get is amazing if you give it some of your honest pins. But on the other hand if you pin the wrong thing you might start getting some weird suggestions.

Since the website's goal is to match you up with your interests they are pretty strict with their rules of what you can post. So if you see anything dodgy or NSFW then there is a reporting option in the bottom right corner of the post.

As you can tell most of my posts revolve around cats. These posts are constantly changing. Though I have to admit I don't like that when you go to the site it first takes me to my business page. Like seriously I want to have fun before I have to create ads etc.

But you can see why they want me to spend money instead of scrolling through joyously for hours and hours.

Ads? Yes I said ads. Most don't realise there are ads on Pinterest. I like that it is mostly hidden amongst the other ads. But some do stick out like a sore thumb. This one here is for eye glasses. A nice little ad but seriously - I don't wear glasses. Completely irrelevant and frankly it means they wasted money on me. Because you see there is a price to pay to get impressions and clicks.

If you do want to use it for your own business you will need to make sure you have a business account. I always knew I would use it for my books so I started with that. I still use it for personal things so it is something that can easily fit personal and business interests.

Once you have a business account you can create ads. Videos tend to get better engagement. But

even if you don't have a lot of skills the process is simple enough that a striking image will draw in people to your site.

So try it out and have some fun not only exploring but maybe dipping your toes into creating your own ads.