Collection of Pinterest Tips and Tricks

Pinterest is the new talk of the town. This is a new type of social networking site that allows you to create pinboards online, but its much more than that. After creating a pinboard, users can comment, like and repin that post if they wish to. Thus, it combines social networking features and pins that really works well. Pinterest uses images as webpage bookmark and clicking on this image, the user can visit the site from where that pin is bookmarked.

In simple language you can upload pictures and bookmark a URL. Pinterest works great if the URL that you are bookmarking has an image in it, as it can attract the person to visit that link. Instead of a wall as in facebook, you have got Pinboard where you can post a pin or upload a pin and friends can follow you. Those who have similar interests and those who find your pins as interesting can start following you, just like Twitter. For every individual pins, user can like it, comment on it and can also repin (just like retweet as in Twitter).

Pinterest can also be called as photo and video sharing community that uses pinboards instead of photo albums. Each pin is linked to the original website. It cannot be regarded as bookmarking site as its much more than that.

Tips and Tricks to Use Pinterest Effectively

Browsing Pinterest for your interest is also very easy, as you just need to select a category of your choice. Pinterest is image based that’s because it extracts the image from your website and highlights your pin with it. If you have used an attractive image on that post then there are more chances that your pin will get repinned by others and they will also start following you.

How to Embed and Share Pinterest Pins on Twitter and Facebook

The pins (or call it as posts) can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter or via Email. Click on the pin and on the right side you will be able to see options like “like” (on Facebook), Tweet, Embed and Email. These social buttons help you to increase the popularity of your pins. If you have got a blog/website then you can also use the “embed” option to embed a particular pin to your website.

Creating your First Pinboard

Click on the “Add” button from the top right side. The first time you create a Pinboard, you need to enter a board name, select a category and who can pin (just you or anyone).

A category helps you to categorize your various pins. For example, you are posting some tips on Android, therefore you can create a category named as Android and post all your Android related stuff in this category.

Pin it Button (Bookmarklet for Pinterest)

To bookmark or pin a story, you can of course visit Pinterest and click on “Add” button. But there’s no need to follow this procedure every time as there’s an easy way to do this. Go to this goodies page and drag and drop that “Pin it” button to your bookmarks bar. If your bookmark bar is not visible, then you will need to make it visible from browser’s settings page.

Now when you want to pin a story, just click on this “Pin it” button. It will grab an image from the website and you can select which image and category name to use on your pinboard. The source link is automatically grabbed the website. This bookmarklet helps you pin your favorite stories easily.

Add Price to your Pins

You may have stumbled upon a pin that has a price with a currency symbol. Yes, you can add a price to a pin.

To add a price to a pin, type the $ or £ symbol followed by the number amount in the description. When you are finished, click Pin It. For example, this chalkboard tablet costs $60. Now this pin will display the price on it. This is of great help and the visitor doesn’t needs to even visit the link to get more information.

Stop Email Notifications from Pinterest

Pinterest users often complain that their email inbox is bombarded with emails from Pinterest. Pinterest sends you email alerts when:

• When someone comments on your pin
• When a new pin is added to a group board
• When someone likes your pin
• When your pin is repinned
• When a person follows you
• News updates and weekly activity

Seriously, do we really need email for each of these activity? To disable and change email notification settings, click your username from the top-right toolbar, then click on “settings”. From notifications section, click on “change email settings”. Now you can toggle off the notifications from here that you do not want to receive. There’s also an option to turn off all the emails.

How to Tag or Mention a Pinterest User

To mention a pin to a Pinterest user, you first need to be following at least one board belonging to that user. Type the @ symbol immediately followed by his/her username. Matches related to this username will load. Click on the username that you want to tag/mention. You can mention a user in a pin/repin description or in a comment.

Add Follow Button or Pin it Button to your Website

If you’re a blog or website owner, then you can add the follow button and pin it button to your website. This will make it easier for your site visitors to follow you and pin your articles on Pinterest.

This is a great way to increase your influence on this new emerging social networking site. Head over to the goodies page to get the code.

Using the Handy Search Bar

On the top left side you can find the handy search bar. Search for something that you are looking for. For example, gifts. You will see the results that can give inspiration. This would help in a situation when you are confused as what to gift to your loved one. The search function can really help you in such cases.

Finding Gift Ideas and Popular Pins

In the home page, you can see “gifts” in the navigation. Just scroll your mouse over gifts and click on your budget. For e.g. if you are looking for a gift idea within $50-100 budget, then click on it and you will get results within this budget. Yes, Pinterest can definitely help you in finding a gift idea and its that easy.

From the home page, click on “Popular” to get a list of popular pins. From this page, you can find some popular pins that interests you. Also you can click on “Video” to view video pins. Click on it and then you can play that video from the next page.

Browse Pinterest Without Comments

Browsing on Pinterest is addictive and fun. If you have have noticed, then some pins have a long list of comments and likes. Likes do not affect the browsing experience but comments definitely do, as they will utilize more space on the page. Fortunately, there is an easy to hide comments on Pinterest. Use the bookmarklet to hide or unhide those comments. All you need to do is to just click on the bookmarklet to hide or unhide comments, yes its that easy.

Automatically Fill-in Description When Using Pinterest Bookmarklet

This tip is great for those who are using the Pinterest bookmarklet to pin web pages. Open the page which you want to pin and also highlight (select) the text that you want to be that pin’s description. Then click on the Pin it button from your bookmarks bar, select the image, category and you will see that the highlighted text have automatically become the pin’s description. Thus, this will save your precious time when you don’t want to write descriptions. Just select the text before hitting that Pin it button.

Tips on Using Pinterest And Extending Your Reach

• Like what you like and pin what you love. Do not just see those beautiful images but if you find a pin as useful, then like it or re-pin it. Be in the community be showing that you are also there and active.
• Pin something useful and what you think others would like. This is a simple way to gain followers or at least some re-pins or likes. You do not need to post some ninja stuff but something like a tutorial or article that you really enjoy reading.
• Spend some time writing description for your pin. This would be useful when someone searches on Pinterest and if your description is written correctly, then users can find your pin easily.
• Categorize your pinboard into different categories and stay organized. The category name should be something that would make sense. Its like selecting a correct category when you are writing a blog post.
• If the article contains multiple images, then choose the best one to pin. The best catchy one is what would attract readers attention and the readers would most likely click on them.
• If someone follows you, then its a good idea to reward that follower by following back. Like their pins or re-pin them.
• Repost pins to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Spread the word about your pins and let the world know that you are on Pinterest.

How to Get Pinterest Invitation

For now, there is no way to sign-up directly. You can join Pinterest only if you have an invitation. But the good part is you can head over to the invite page from here and request an invitation. Just enter your email address and hit the “request invitation” button. In most cases, you should be getting an invitation link to join Pinterest within 24 hours.

But there’s one more way to get the invitation. Registered users like me can invite other members. There’s a big red “invite friends” button for this. Just leave your valid email address in the comments below and I will invite you to join Pinterest.

One thing’s for sure. Invitation only services definitely create more hype. Perhaps this is a new type of marketing tactic that they are using. Does this Pinterest has the potential to become the next popular social media website? For now this question remains unanswered as its still an invitation only. All the speculations can only be answered after it opens for public.

And now since you are here, why not start following Technostarry on Pinterest.

Hope this small guide to Pinterest helps you to get the most out of it. Its new, its hot and worth trying out. Happy Pinning !