How Can Pinterest Work For You?

Pinterest---the newest social media darling---is growing faster than Google+ and is getting more face-time than Facebook (15.8 minutes vs 12.1 minutes). It doesn’t make sense to ignore it. And why would you---it’s fun! You create ‘boards’ of images you love, causes you love, books you love—it’s an online scrapbook!

Here's one of my own Pins I added to "my favorite books" board. I created personal boards to share with friends, and set up a separate account for my employer to showcase animals in need of homes. This will be a terrific add-on to my grant writing efforts to show potential grantors what we are doing. 

Pinterest is currently invitation-only. But you can request and invitation from a friend or from Pinterest. You’ll usually receive your invitation within two days. Why by invitation? The talk is that it allows the Pinterest team to handle the growth without having too many bugs in the system. Learn how to Pin.

So, what I want to know is, how can I make Pinterest work for my business? The web is buzzing with how to use Pinterest for branding your company. Retailers, among many others, are using it to showcase their products. But how can I brand services such as writing and editing, on a visual platform?  

For those of us who don’t have visual products, you can upload a short video clip about your business. Take a look at the types of videos people are adding and see if this is a method you can use.

Today Pinterest has about 12 million unique visitors. The stats indicate that 68% of the users are female, with the largest demographics in the 25--34 age group, followed by 35--44 age group. Read the rest of the story.

There are Pinterest rules to follow, and the team is watching for violators.

1.      Be Nice—I don’t think this needs explaining—we’ve been part of online communities now for a few years.

2.      Credit your sources (the legal issues of pinning copyright material is another story) 

3.      Avoid self-promotion—that doesn’t mean you can’t promote, but you’re asked to “try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.”

4.      Report objectionable content---refers to nudity and hateful comments.

5.      Tell us how to make Pinterest better!

It will be interesting to see how Pinterest grows and changes over the months. And how it will begin to make money for its investors. We'll have to watch as it grows.  But for now, I'll pin my own boards and watch to see how others are using it for branding, so I can jump in and play too.

I'd like to hear how YOU are using Pinterest. You can follow my Pinterest boards here!

That Pesky Apostrophe

That pesky apostrophe continues to baffle. Oh sure, I make mistakes myself when I'm flying through some of my own writing, which is why everyone needs an editor.
 
But still, with all the eyes that must have looked at these signs and ads, mistakes were still made.

No Drink’s Allowed (sheesh)  Thank's???

The Most Versatile Crossover In It’s Class (ouch)

So where DOES this pesky mark go? There are some pretty simple rules for apostrophe usage:

1. To show a contraction: The cat’s out of the bag.
2. To show possession: The cat’s feet are out of the bag.
3. To avoid confusion when talking about the plural of lower case letters such as there are two s’s in Mississippi.

You use an apostrophe after the plural s as shown by the Chicago Manual of Style below:

• a consumers’ group
• taxpayers’ associations
• children’s rights
• the women’s team
• a boys’ club

And Chicago Manual of Style dispenses with the apostrophe only in proper names:

• Publishers Weekly
• Diners Club
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• a housewares sale

 Hope that helps a bit!