
Pinterest is sensational. It is that simple. It is a visual feast for the imagination, and a fantastic tool for showcasing all that your yarn store has to offer. It far excels Facebook as a showcase for your business. A brief look at a picture speaks volumes, and those of us in a creative industry like knitting and crochet can really go to town communicating with each other via Pinterest. Think of Pinterest as a “pre-shopping”place, a creative smorgasbord where your customers will assemble ideas they can use in their hand made goods. In a world where time has become a valuable currency, a well done Pinterest page can engage and inspire your customers along the avenues that they choose to explore. The more specific your Pinterest boards are, the less likely a visitor to your page will navigate away. They will check out the board topics that they want to spend time on, and not feel frustrated that they have to sift through tons of material to find the inspiration they are seeking.
To learn how to use Pinterest, I recommend the book Pinfluence by Beth Hayden. You can visit her website to learn all about what she has to offer. There are many other Pinterest experts out there in cyber space, and Pinterest itself has information to get you started. If you are not a member of Pinterest yet, I suggest joining as a business. This will give you the ability to verify your website with Pinterest and will give you access to Pinterest Analytics so you can track how your pins are doing. If you are already a member of Pinterest, you can rejoin as a business. One of the most helpful things to me has been how to use PicMonkey to edit and create pictures to use for all my online endeavors. Repinning photos on Pinterest is fine, but the more original photos you publish from your own shop the better. This link on YouTube explains how to create images starting with a blank photo. This link is a general PicMonkey tutorial, and this link is how to edit collages in PicMonkey.
Can Pinterest be a time suck? Oh Yes! It is a fun one though, and easy to use. With thoughtful planning before you set up all your boards, and with the help of all your employees, Pinterest can rocket your shop and its creative online presence into a fabulous new dimension. I am not a fan of a board that has only one or two pins on it. It tells me that the pinner is not organized, and is not staying current with that board. The solution to this is to use the secret board option and wait to publish until your board has been filled out. Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be specific with your boards. A good example of this is Knitomatic. One board I visited on another yarn shop page was titled organization and it ended up being filled with knitting cartoons, a turn off and a time waster in my opinion. One of Beth Hayden's best tips, and this is true for all social media, is to share and solve rather than schill. This will ensure your customer's loyalty, and not turn them away.
I have created a list of board topics to get you going. If you want to keep a professional look to your Pinterest page, I would suggest staying away from food recipes and other unrelated topics.
To learn how to use Pinterest, I recommend the book Pinfluence by Beth Hayden. You can visit her website to learn all about what she has to offer. There are many other Pinterest experts out there in cyber space, and Pinterest itself has information to get you started. If you are not a member of Pinterest yet, I suggest joining as a business. This will give you the ability to verify your website with Pinterest and will give you access to Pinterest Analytics so you can track how your pins are doing. If you are already a member of Pinterest, you can rejoin as a business. One of the most helpful things to me has been how to use PicMonkey to edit and create pictures to use for all my online endeavors. Repinning photos on Pinterest is fine, but the more original photos you publish from your own shop the better. This link on YouTube explains how to create images starting with a blank photo. This link is a general PicMonkey tutorial, and this link is how to edit collages in PicMonkey.
Can Pinterest be a time suck? Oh Yes! It is a fun one though, and easy to use. With thoughtful planning before you set up all your boards, and with the help of all your employees, Pinterest can rocket your shop and its creative online presence into a fabulous new dimension. I am not a fan of a board that has only one or two pins on it. It tells me that the pinner is not organized, and is not staying current with that board. The solution to this is to use the secret board option and wait to publish until your board has been filled out. Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be specific with your boards. A good example of this is Knitomatic. One board I visited on another yarn shop page was titled organization and it ended up being filled with knitting cartoons, a turn off and a time waster in my opinion. One of Beth Hayden's best tips, and this is true for all social media, is to share and solve rather than schill. This will ensure your customer's loyalty, and not turn them away.
I have created a list of board topics to get you going. If you want to keep a professional look to your Pinterest page, I would suggest staying away from food recipes and other unrelated topics.
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