Pinterest.. more than a passing interest for small business marketing

You can drive traffic and leads to your website, but be WARNED... you are not to be TOO OBVIOUS - otherwise, you will be gone from Pinterest as fast as you arrived. Which if you think about it, isn't a bad thing.

Quality is paramount. If you sell drinks, homes, services - you name it, and you can put it into pictures or into a video, then this is the platform for you.

Pinterest is all about visually sharing, curation, discovering new interests by pinning images or videos to your own or others pinboards. You can browse for hours other items that have been pinned and get ideas. As with most social networks, you can share to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, or send as an email or embed into your website or blog.

Etiquette is paramount. Actually, if you don't have good manners, you won't last long. If you use someone's pictures you must give them credit. You cannot blatantly self promote. No negativity or blasting other people's pins. This is very much pleasantville but with an artistic twist.

Things you can do on Pinterest;

1. Post your logo - only if it's cool
2. Post a picture of your product - once again, make sure the picture is really good otherwise no-one will look at it. But with the quality of iphones today and the fact you can photoshop your picture on your iphone, will make your life much easier and you can always be picture perfect.
3. Do a video about a topic of interest. In my case, it may be about marketing or how companies have promoted their brands through pinterest.com.
4. Pin pictures, sayings and videos that resonate with your brand and followers.
5. Find followers - encourage friends and friends of friends to follow you.
6. Put a 'pin' tag on your website and on your blog.
7. Feature events online and offline.
8. Use hashtags.
9. Be creative and innovative. Show off your own style - chances are that there will be others that will appreciate it too.
10. Set up a pinterest.com account for your business NOW! Don't miss out before someone steals your brand name.

And if you have a moment, say 'hi' to me on pinterest.com and we can pin each other. Look for Mellissah Smith. See you soon!