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Pinterest Generates More Conversations and More Referral Traffic Than Twitter - Pin It!

By Caroline DeVore, Stowe Vermont Lodging, VT Bed and Breakfast Inn, Vacation Homes

Services for Real Estate Pros with Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT Romantic and Luxurious Inn

March 10, 2012 11:42 AM

Pinterest Generates More Conversations and More Referral Traffic Than Twitter - Pin It!

This is Big. According to a new study by online sharing tool Shareaholic, Pinterest has now passed Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn, combined in referral traffic generated. Today, a business's social media marketing strategy needs to include Pinterest. Shoot, friends talking to friends using social media will love Pinterest, and it is fun! Pinterest is pinteresting!

From Real Estate to Restaurants, Hotels to High School Friends, Pinterest is THE new way to share cool ideas and communicate....via pictures.

There are several articles out there on how to get started including this page from Pinterest. Let me give you 3 more reasons to activate your account today.

1) Visual Sharing/Marketing - Yeap, pictures really are worth 1,000 words. Just this week the new iPad introduced the new Retinal display. The highest resolution model yet. With a 2048x1536 and an astounding 3.1 million pixels, Apple knows something about the benefit of visual data. Folks surf via pictures more and more. Pinterest "gets it".

We are visual folks!

2) Information and interaction - With Pinterest, you can post/pin pictures of your favorite products, restaurants, places to visit. Businesses can post menu items, rooms for rent, photos of houses for sale. Think of using Pinterest to highlight your community, contribute new interesting pins your followers will want to see, comment on and share. Be part of the community.

3) Tweeting and FaceBooking are harder than pinning - Yeap, that just may be the cold, hard truth. I think I'm fairly representative of the average "joe". I like visual stimulation that then begs me to look deeper. Pinterest grabbed me and was easy. If I like a muffin recipe, I pin a picture under "Breakfast favorites". I see a porch on a house I love, pinned under "Curb Appeal", a great restaurant, pinned under "Recommended Restaurants". Soft Boiled Eggs

I have a Pinterest account for my real estate business; and I have one for my Bed & Breakfast business Stowe Meadows Lodge. I also have one just for me, linked to my personal email and Facebook page and my friends. Yes, you can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to your Pinterest account. That is a great trifecta! Your Boards may be "colors", "our favorite restaurants", "things to do in XXX", "foods we love". Whatever the idea, get creative and make it work for you and your business.

Cheers and Happy Pinning-

Caroline

www.pinterest.com/

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Caroline DeVore, Stowe Vermont Lodging, VT Bed and Breakfast Inn, Vacation Homes

Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT Romantic and Luxurious Inn - Stowe, VT

Caroline DeVore | Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT

Hey Mimi- That is GREAT news! Congrats on making Pinterest so relevant for your friends and your clients! I'm definitely going to visit your page.

Norma, Cameron, Rene - Let me know how I can help. Here are a few ideas to get you going (and I really do feel that there is a lot of value for your business and brand). Think of boards as groups of things that go together and may be interesting to your base. For example, create a boards for:

- Landscaping ideas

- Top restaurants by town or community

- All of your current listings - or a specific board for each property

- Get creative beyond just real estate

Make it fun and see what others are pinning. I've found some great ideas out there....and it can be a bit addicting.

Hi Debbie! Send over your Pinterest username when you get it up and running...I'd love to follow you there. If you need an invite to get going, let me know and I'll send one.

That goes for all of my ActiveRain friends. Pinterest is by invitation only, if you need an invitation, email me.

Mar 11, 2012 03:11 AM

Ira Bodenstein

PNC Mortgage - Montclair, NJ

NMLS#: 445143

This is great! I never heard of Pinterest and will now check it out. I am always looking for new ways to network with potential customer. Thanks for sharing.

Mar 11, 2012 04:18 AM

FN LN

Toronto, ON

Hi Caroline - I am about ready to get started with PInterest and am reading everything I can about how to maximize its benefits to me.

Mar 11, 2012 06:15 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Caroline interesting statistic w Pinterest. It reminds me of the Denny menus with massive photos for the late night drunk crowd to order. Just point your finger at the Grand Slam breakfast and hand the menu back to the waitress. Maybe we have dumbed down so much in society is all we can relate to is pictures now not words.

Mar 11, 2012 06:27 AM

Barbara Altieri

Better Homes and Gardens RE Shore and Country Properties - Shelton, CT

REALTOR-Fairfield County CT Homes/Condos For Sale

Caroline -- I have read pros and cons here on AR. To me, the pros outweigh the cons since we really are a visual society. I can see why this is taking off. One of the biggest cons mentioned here was copyright issues; but if you just post your own stuff, there isn't an issue. I will take a look at yours to get some ideas. Thank you for some great ideas. Can you send me an invite to join? I'd really appreciate that. Thanks.

Mar 11, 2012 07:39 AM

Caroline DeVore, Stowe Vermont Lodging, VT Bed and Breakfast Inn, Vacation Homes

Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT Romantic and Luxurious Inn - Stowe, VT

Caroline DeVore | Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT

Ira- Let us know how it goes. I think that pinning can be a bit addictive once you have a few ideas for boards going.

Marc- I posted a follow-up article with 8 Steps to get your branding going. There are lots of great articles out there.

Hey Gary- Interesting, but what my customers have said about Twitter and FB are that they've become places for people to talk vs. communicate. With Pinterest, if I see something that is interesting to me, I can check it out for more info vs. having to read through lots of comments, tweets, posts, etc. I remember years and years ago attending a Dale Carnegie course. The instructor gave a great example of how we are visual thinkers. He said the word "elephant", then asked what we saw in our minds. Did we see the letters E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T or did we see the picture of an elephant. Hum.... In real estate, I don't think buyers are reading our listings in detail until they look at the pictures first and decide to go further. I suppose that adding all the possible communication venues to my marketing plan will help me reach a wider audience...the readers, picture folks and maybe I need to start singing to reach those folks! ha ha

Hey Barbara, There are copywrite issues and we'll see this evolve over time. Some photographers block pinterest access, FB doesn't allow pinning directly from their site. If you use the same type of care with pictures that you'd use on your blogs, you may be ok. Also, think about how you are using the photos. Are you promoting your business or re-pinning organizational tips. Gosh the social media world moves so quickly!

Mar 11, 2012 08:20 AM

John Turner

PARKS - Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Tennesse - Murfreesboro, TN

The Turner-Victory Team at PARKS

Thanks for the pointers in your reply. I just joined Pinterest last week. I am exploring wats to use it to help me grow my business.

Mar 11, 2012 09:15 AM

Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan

Keller Williams Select Realtors-Buy a home in Washington DC. Sell a home in Washington DC - Bowie, MD

I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Just when you think you are getting things done on your to do list and now this-Pinterest. I wasn't going to even bother with it at first. But now it is something that I am definitely going to take a look at. Got to bookmark this one. Thanks for sharing.

Mar 11, 2012 11:03 AM

Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Caroline- I love Pinterest but slowed down because of the copyright issues. I'll have to check out the Pinterest group here. If you pin soemthing you like, for example from another site, even though the website will get the link, are you able to use their picture?

Mar 11, 2012 11:09 AM

Christine Donovan

Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA

Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Caroline - I've joined Pinterest but have done absolutely nothing there. I need to get moving apparently.

Mar 11, 2012 12:47 PM

Jonathan Benya

The Benya Group - Waldorf, MD

The Benya Group

Mimi, How are you generating real estate business off of pinterest?

Mar 11, 2012 02:50 PM

Janet Jones

Just Your Style Interiors, LLC - Kihei, HI

Home Staging, Interior Redesign Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Hi Caroline--I had no idea Pinterest was generating this much traffic. I joined early on but have been reluctant lately to use it because of all the copyright issues. Think I will rethink that now.

Mar 11, 2012 05:36 PM

Pamela Seley

West Coast Realty Division - Murrieta, CA

Residential Real Estate Agent serving SW RivCo CA

I'm really not interested in pinterest because of the copyright infringement issues. Although I did come across a hilarious board on "legbombing." LMAO

Mar 11, 2012 05:59 PM

Cheryl Ritchie

RE/MAX Leading Edge www.GoldenResults.com - Huntingtown, MD

Southern Maryland 301-980-7566

That is interesting you have several accounts. The success stats are fascinating, too.

Mar 11, 2012 06:21 PM

Rich Cotton

Rich Cotton The Waterfront Specialist EXiT Preferred Realty - Chesapeake City, MD

Waterfront Specialist Cecil and Kent Counties MD

Caroline,

Thank you for the post. I have been hearing more about Pinrest but not really understanding its value. I will visit your boards and check them out.

Mar 11, 2012 10:27 PM

Rich Cotton

Rich Cotton The Waterfront Specialist EXiT Preferred Realty - Chesapeake City, MD

Waterfront Specialist Cecil and Kent Counties MD

Caroline,

I clicked on your real estate link and it can't find the server??

Mar 11, 2012 10:27 PM

Jennifer Cote

RE/MAX Properties Nashua - Nashua, NH

Realtor, Nashua NH Area Homes for Sale, Everything

Hi Caroline,

Great post! I'm on there, just getting it set up. Need to update my blogs with lots of pics so I can reference them in Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/jenncote/

Jenn

Mar 12, 2012 12:49 AM

Caroline DeVore, Stowe Vermont Lodging, VT Bed and Breakfast Inn, Vacation Homes

Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT Romantic and Luxurious Inn - Stowe, VT

Caroline DeVore | Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT

Hi All - Check out my followup post to this one Establishing A Brand On Pinterest - 8 Strategic Steps to Get You Going. There was so much discussion on finding strategic value in Pinterest in this thread, I decided to write a quick follow-up.

After reading even more comments, it sounds like we need to have a blog discussion about copyright issues that may/may not surround Pinterest. Pinterest doesn't distinguish, yet, personal accounts from business accounts. Remember in the beginning, FB didn't either, but that changed over time. I touch on this in my second blog post, but I'll look to see what other folks are posting and shoot out a follow-up.

Hey Rich..and THANK YOU. See what happens when I don't slow down and make sure the links are correct? Thanks for letting me know that they link to my real estate acct was broken. It is all fixed now. Check out http://pinterest.com/hallnhrealty/ My partner Dave Hall and I have teamed up to create this Pinterest account, so we both create boards and add Pins. It is a fun partnership that is easy for two or more to create and fun to see how each of our brains works.

Thanks Jenn! I'm on my way to check your site right now!

Hey Rene - This seems like a program/SEO play that would fit so nicely in your marketing plan...you are such a rock star at things like this!

Also...for those of you who are concerned about copyright questions....pick a few companies who are on Pinterest and follow them to see how they are handling this. Wholefoods is a great one. They don't use Pinterest as a "selling" site....they use it as a community and sharing site. I think that is exactly the right path.

Mar 12, 2012 01:46 AM

RealSupport, Inc.

RealSupport Inc. - Schaumburg, IL

- Virtual Real Estate Marketing

Hi Caroline, thanks for the post! We've been hearing a lot about pinterest lately. As someone who frequently uses it, how do you see that is has been benefiting you as an agent? We're just curious. Do you find it to be beneficial? We know how visual the site is and that you have to incredibly eyecatching, aesthetically appealing pictures and items posted in order to be "re-pinned". How have you been using it and what are some of the results that you've seen? We're purely asking out of curiosity, as we've been hearing so much about this site and it's piqued our interest!

Mar 16, 2012 07:00 AM

Caroline DeVore, Stowe Vermont Lodging, VT Bed and Breakfast Inn, Vacation Homes

Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT Romantic and Luxurious Inn - Stowe, VT

Caroline DeVore | Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT

All great questions. I think the real value in Pinterest for RE is in the build-up of the community...not solely in pinning listings. Take a look at our board (link in the article). We have boards that would appeal to folks who are looking to buy, or remodel, or just want ideas for everything from landscaping to where in the town/area we recommend dining....or which service providers we recommend because we pin them (hvac, landscapers, painters, etc) We are the experts in our market, and our pinterest presence should demonstrate that. I suppose having a board of "sold" properties could be interesting, along with properties you have listed. But, gaining a following comes from shared interests. There was a follow-up article I wrote on strategies that may be helpful to you. here is a link. I suggest letting people find you because they relate to your pins and want to know more and see more of what you suggest through your pins.

Mar 16, 2012 08:23 AM

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