Pinterest - As A Marketing Tool - ?

Good Morning -

I have been wandering around Pinterest and am confused to say the least -

Can it be used as a marketing tool? Does one create a theme board with things they find on the internet and slip some of the items they are selling onto that board? -

And then - once a board is created how is it seen by others than your followers and perhaps other Pinterest users who happen on it?

Are you using it as a marketing tool? and if so, how?

Thanks to Carolyn for inviting me into this very overwhelming world.

Marie

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Graceful Antiques on March 1, 2012 at 4:24pm

http://pinterest.com/gracefulshops/

I have seen others with a board with RL shops but cannot figure out how to do that.

Permalink Reply by Jan Story on March 1, 2012 at 9:10pm

What I'm doing with my RL shops board is I just go to the shop's main page and hit "pin it" on my browser toolbar. It then gives you a choice of images; pick the shop logo. The image link will then take clickers right to the shop.

Permalink Reply by Graceful Antiques on March 2, 2012 at 4:29pm

Oh, I do not have a toolbar downloaded. This is why I cannot find the image for main shop logo?

Guess I will try to find the ones on pinterest and repin.

Permalink Reply by Jan Story on March 2, 2012 at 4:58pm

It's a bookmarklet that sits in your browser. On Pinterest in the upper right under "About" is a thing called "Pin It Button" - get it there.

Permalink Reply by 2Hearts Uptown @Ruby Lane on March 3, 2012 at 9:38am

Copyright issues - on another forum there was a link to an article by a lawyer. The gist of it was that Pinterest explicitly states "too bad, so sad" if you use and get in trouble for using copyrighted materials; any legal repercussions are yours alone. This lawyer decided the potential minefields were too much, and opted out of Pinterest entirely. But... the whole concept is based upon "repinning" other people's images, many of which are surely copyrighted with no clue as to original source. I would be happy just to pin my own merchandise and those posted on sites like Got Vintage for Sale, but this is considered particularly bad form.

Any thoughts?

Permalink Reply by Jan Story on March 3, 2012 at 11:39am

I've seen some discussion of this, but as long as the original pin was done from the image's original location you're not actually stealing or improperly copying anything because all you're doing is linking back to the original site. If anything, it could be classed as "fair use" the same way a review is "fair use." You could actually argue that a repin, or a pin that says "great product" or "I want this" is a sort of review. And most online merchants would be glad to get additional eyeballs on their stock, especially if what I'm seeing about the "conversion rate" on Pinterest (the ratios of views to actual purchases) is true. It's a type of viral marketing, and most online merchants have embraced viral marketing wholeheartedly.

It's easy to tell where a pinned image goes back to - it will display the link (even on a repin), and if you click twice it will go back to the page it came from.

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on March 3, 2012 at 1:17pm

The problem is some people just pin the images and do not link back to the shop/item that it relates too...that IS copyright infringement IMO

Permalink Reply by Jan Story on March 3, 2012 at 1:53pm

All I'm saying is that as long as YOU adhere to best practices, YOU shouldn't have anything to worry about from a copyright-infringement standpoint. My comment was directed at 2HeartsUptown and anyone else who is hesitant about joining Pinterest or pinning stuff - you shouldn't be deterred because of the actions of people who are less responsible.

Also, if you look under "About" you'll find a link for reporting copyright infringements (you have to be the copyright owner) and under "support" there are not only directions for reporting pins that violate TOS, but also a meta tag for any web site that doesn't want its images pinned. Seems to me they've got it reasonably covered.

The people endlessly repinning bogus "free gift card" scam-spam are a much bigger problem right now IMO!

Permalink Reply by Graceful Antiques on March 3, 2012 at 5:42pm

Cheri, I may not be understanding your ? but any pin will always lead back to the site it is on if it is clicked upon as Jan stated.

A link is not needed. I do not put a link on any of my pins. I see some that do but do not understand it?

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on March 3, 2012 at 8:01pm

As I have hardly used Pinterest I don't know the details there Sandy, but the complaints I have heard is sellers who are upset at their items being pinned without their permission and especially when there is no link included

Even tho the image may lead to the item, the description should include a link as a courtesy ...jmho

But, as already stated, as I am a total novice there, only 2 boards (tried to promote a lot of other people's RL items) and not really having time to do much else...I guess I will just back out of this discussion. Pinterest will either come under fire for copyright infringement or not.

Graceful Shops said:

Cheri, I may not be understanding your ? but any pin will always lead back to the site it is on if it is clicked upon as Jan stated.

A link is not needed. I do not put a link on any of my pins. I see some that do but do not understand it?

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on March 4, 2012 at 8:06am

I see Lora posted this article in the Social Networking group

http://socialmediatoday.com/node/457517?utm_source=smt_newsletter&a...

I found this para interesting, as when I signed up, I did not see anything stating that I was agreeing that I hold the "rights" to anything I pin???? Guess I didn't read the small print? And surely that makes pinning anything we don not own the "rights" too an infringement???

So far, Pinterest has been trying to follow the typical routes to protect their business interests. In order to post anything, users have to state that they hold the rights to the content they pin. Most of the time they aren’t telling the truth, but it allows Pinterest to shift the responsibility off of themselves and onto the user. Copyright law has a carve-out provision for publishers of third-party content like Google or Yahoo, meaning they cannot be held responsible for every email, image, and piece of content that has been posted. Pinterest is hoping to fall under the same category, though it is not clear they can be considered a ‘publisher’.

Permalink Reply by Graceful Antiques on March 4, 2012 at 3:18pm

Hmm..I mainly pin my items and also the ones associated with my page but have been pinning other RL and RP dealers items. A few other site items associated with vintage.

See, I had asked earlier about what is the etiquette with a place like Pinterest. Oyvey as usual.

All RL dealers feel free to pin my items. VV members also if associated with vintage.