30 The Broomfielder™ // December 201430

LOOK TO PINTERESTFOR FUN AND CREATIVE

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The Broomfielder™ // December 2014

a picture tells a thousand words, Pinterest is the biggest conversation happening online. Your holiday planning, cooking, and shopping will benefit from this social media hub that is overflowing with clever, stunning, and simply convenient examples of holiday magic – all in a free, easy to browse format.

By Dan Powers

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For Broomfield companies wanting to quickly get exposure on Pinterest: accounts are free to create. You can upload photos of your most popular and most important services and products and show people using them. How-to ideas are common themes (Note: ads are not allowed.) Link to your Pinterest page with the red swirly P icon through your website and other advertising. Short on time? Link instead to search results for your business’ name or key product on Pinterest. This shows all the various images uploaded by friends, customers, industry groups, and more – and there is no page or pinboard management necessary. Business accounts do have terms and conditions, check www.Pinterest.com.

P interest.com began in 2010 as an online photo sharing platform. It now has more than 70 million users providing comments, instructions, advice, web links, and other details along with their images. Demographically speaking, a significant percentage of Broomfielder readers are already using Pinterest

several times a month. According to Shareaholic, an online content and engagement service, Pinterest is still the reigning queen of social tra c, second only to Facebook. Various social media analysts describe Pinterest’s user base as at least 80% female with most between 15 and 45 years old. If this sounds like you, the various categories and items you’ll find on Pinterest are described in ways that can be especially relevant and helpful for holiday planning.

OWN A BIZ?

THE IDEA GENERATORYou won’t believe how fast your wheels will start turning when you search for ideas on Pinterest. The site is built to easily adjust to regular desktop and laptop screens, and is particularly easy for tablets (there is of course a smartphone app for iPhones and Android). You can search without creating an account, although you’ll likely see the practical reason to create one. Pinterest is built around the concept of sharing – or “pinning” – images, and you can easily create categories and fill them with thousands of pictures.

Put the word “holiday” in front of your favorite item or activity and search Pinterest. You will instantly delve into a huge world of possibilities. For example, search the terms “Holiday Party.” Pinterest will suggest additional words you can add to refine your search, ranging quite conveniently from food to games to decorations to invitations and more. You can also get more choosey; the default setting shows “All Pins,” and you can scroll through often thousands of related images. You can also refine results to “Your Pins,” “Boards” or “Pinners.”

NEVER FORGET A GOOD IDEABy creating “Boards” you can categorize and compile photos of recipes, fashion, toys, decorations, wish lists, you name it – literally, YOU name it. You can easily pin another user’s photos onto your Boards, and quickly scan anytime. Similar to online gift registries created for weddings and the My Wish List feature on Amazon.com, your boards are viewable by others. You can also invite friends to pin their favorites onto your Boards. If you’re hosting a party, ask friends to post favorite recipes or games; you get to choose the top three to make. Or have everyone vote! Parents can create a Board, kids help fill in the photos and faraway relatives can view the boards for specific gift ideas. You can also create “secret” Boards, only visible to you, for gift ideas or other special events.

Count on finding very sophisticated imagery from corporate giants as well as genuine selfies and photos shot by regular folks with smartphones. Part of Pinterest’s allure is the accessibility to a huge spectrum of ideas and graphics. You can’t purchase anything directly via Pinterest; it isn’t meant to be a shopping site like Amazon, Overstock or other company-specific sites. Plus there’s no advertising popping up, flashing or filling up the top and sides like other websites.

Another side of all this is the opportunity Pinterest provides to Broomfield businesses and organizations. The ease of browsing and the ability to easily categorize and update content makes Pinterest a smart addition to holiday marketing efforts. Some of the popular companies on Pinterest include Starbucks, Target, Este Lauder, Lowe’s, Tory Burch, Elle Magazine, and Four Seasons Hotels. They have experts in their industries creating clever, offbeat, and simple ways to use their products – you won’t ever run out of holiday ideas browsing and pinning.