August 8th - 2012

Wired Office: Pin your hopes on Pinterest

Even if you aren’t yet a user of Pinterest, you’ve likely heard of it. Similar to a corkboard or bulletin board, this electronic locale allows you to “tack” or “pin” visuals and text to view and share with others online.

Pinterest imageEven if you aren’t yet a user of Pinterest, you’ve likely heard of it. Similar to a corkboard or bulletin board, this electronic locale allows you to “tack” or “pin” visuals and text to view and share with others online. Pinterest is reminiscent of a scrapbook in which people cut pictures out of magazines and paste them onto pages (minus the gluey mess) or pin them to a bulletin board (more push pins please).

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. Visit http://pinterest.com/about/. A social network based on images, Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing standalone websites in existence.

On Pinterest, you can organize images onto virtual “pinboards.” Create as many boards as you need. People use pinboards as inspiration for decorating their homes, planning vacations, organizing their favorite recipes, etc. They pin favorite images they’ve encountered from the web onto their pinboards. For example, if renovating a home is in your future, you can place images of inspirational rooms you’ve seen on various websites on your “home renos” pinboard. You can browse pinboards created by other people on Pinterest, and “like”, comment on and/or “re-pin” their images. Don’t forget to label and categorize your pinboards so they can be found/shared by people with similar interests.

In much the same way that scrapbooking is a female-dominated hobby, Pinterest users are predominantly female, unusual for a social network. Why does this matter? As a real estate professional, you are undoubtedly aware that women play a key role in home buying decisions. Currently, single women form one of the most active home buying demographics. So why not take advantage of what Pinterest has to offer, and in addition to the other forms of media you’ve been using, connect with this demographic through images?

Be sure to include some unique images on your website or blog. People will pin what appeals to them. When images are pinned, links to their website are pinned along with them. When others see your image on Pinterest and click on it, they are brought back to your website or blog. Start your own pinboards on Pinterest (warning: this can be addictive) with images that may be of interest to homebuyers. For ideas, see OREA’s pinboards at http://pinterest.com/oreainfo/.

How to get started - To become a Pinterest user, you require an invite. You can Request an Invite on the Pinterest site (pinterest.com) – it takes 24+ hours for an invite to appear in your email inbox. Or have a friend who already uses Pinterest invite you (much quicker). OREA would be happy to forward you an invitation. Request one through any of OREA’s social media properties. Once you have your invite, set up your account and start pinning.

Wondering how to pin an image you like onto one of your boards? In Pinterest, click About, located in the top right toolbar and then select Pin It Button. Instructions are provided for adding a Pin It button (also known as a “bookmarklet”) to your browser. The process is quick and easy. Once you’ve added this button to your browser, you can click on it anytime you encounter an online image you’d like to add to one of your Pinterest boards.

To upload an image from your computer, click Add, located in the top-right toolbar, and then click Upload a Pin. From there, select the file you want to upload, the board where you want to pin it, and type a description. Although hi-res images can be uploaded, they are displayed in low-res (quicker loading on the web).

You can add a Pin It Button for Web Sites to your website/blog inviting your visitors to pin your images onto Pinterest. The code for this button can be found on the page. As always, you’ll want to share images of value, not just sharing images for the sake of sharing something. Get to know your clients better by visiting their Pinterest boards. Perhaps they will inspire you.

Some pin etiquette: Be respectful in your comments and conversations; credit your sources -- pins are most useful when they have links back to their original source; Report objectionable content  -- content that contains nudity, hateful words or encouragement to people to hurt themselves is prohibited. If you find content that violates Pinterest’s Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy, submit it for review by pushing the Report Content link.

Like most other forms of social media, Pinterest is mobile-friendly. There is an iPhone app specifically for iPhone users. Pinterest Mobile enables anyone with a smart phone to access from their phone’s web browser.

Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. For additional information, check out “Taking an interest in Pinterest” under the Social Media section of the OREA blog and visit pinterest.com.

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For more information contact

Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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