When I was introduced to Pinterest back in the summer, no one had heard of it. I was one of the first people I knew to start using the site, thanks to my ultra social media savvy cousin. When I first got an account, I just thought it was fun to use my spare time to look at clothes and jewelry that I wanted and occasionally see a funny meme or something. I saw the benefit for people using the site to plan their wedding, a vacation, or house renovations. There were also a ton of craft and cooking ideas that would be more appealing to others than myself. However, when I first started using the site, I never thought about its benefits from a public relations standpoint. Yet, now that so many people use the site and its uses have grown from more than just a website to plan your imaginary and so ridiculously expensive and unnattainable wedding, I can see the benefits.
A picture is worth a thousand words and so many people are visual, so advertising products and services on Pinterest is a great way to reach new clients reconnect with current ones on yet another social media website. Information and pins spread like wildfire on Pinterest and if something is popular, it can reach millions of people within hours. Also, since Pinterest is divided into categories, you can really reach your target audience and guarantee that the people who want to see your pins will see them because you can group them with similar items.
I certainly don’t think Pinterest is a fad. There’s always new items to look at. Even though sometimes I see pins a million times, I always see something new or I wouldn’t keep coming back. If you constantly stayed on the site, you might get bored after a while, but if it is something you do only in your spare time, you’ll never get bored with it.
Part of me loves recommending Pinterest to new people so they can get in on the craze. But another part of me really wishes it was still the tiny website that only a handful of people knew about like when I first got an account last July because it made it seem like I had such great ideas for crafts of outfits. Now everyone knows where those ideas came from!
Oh Julianna, your posts always make me chuckle. I disagree with you about Pinterest not being here in years from now. I think it will, although I thought the same thing about Myspace back in the day too so who knows? Social media is constantly changing. I love Pinterest for looking at clothes but I’m not super crafty either so I don’t use it for that stuff or for cooking. I also like looking at the funny pictures too, espcially of little babies!