Wednesday 13 March 2013

Pintrest for the Arts: Part 1

Are you "Pinterested"?



Pinterest has become hugely popular in the Social Media realm as of late and here at the Arts Marketeer we have become increasingly curious into how Pinterest can benefit Artists and Arts Organisations.

First things first! "What the hell is Pinterest!", you may ask.
Pinterest is an image sharing social media site and also kind of like a visual bookmarking tool.
When you set up a profile you create virtual Pin Boards based on your specific interests/works/areas etc.
If you an Artist and you create paintings for example, you might have as your Boards:

  • Current Exhibitions
  • Current Works
  • Works in Progress
  • Previous Works
  • My Interests (This is where you can put all your random images, but still in some way relates to your practice)
You then go about "Pinning" images to your board. You do this by uploading photos, images and even video clips you have to your different Boards. These are now your very own "Pins". Congratulations.

Then you go about getting into the more social aspect of Pinterest.
Much like twitter you can follow other people and organisations that have their own Pinterest profiles.
Once you get stuck into browsing other peoples pins you can then "Re-Pin" their image to one of your own Boards. (Just like a Retweet)
Then in true Facebook fashion you can like and comment on other peoples pins.

What you should have now at this stage done is created an online CV/portfolio for your practice or your organisation through just using imagery. And since the Arts sector is more focused on selling a visual experience, a social media site that is based in the "visual", seems like a fitting tool for Artists and Arts Organisations to have.

So how can Pinterest benefit me?


We have found some very interesting examples of how some organisations are using Pinterest to increase the sales of their products.
One very creative way in which we have seen Pinterest being used is by the Chicago History Museum.
They have set up a Pinterest Board where each pin they have included is an item they sell as part of their merchandise. Effectively they have created an online store within their Pinterest profile! Pins can have hyperlinks attached to them to redirect them to websites or other points of purchasing. So when people click on the image, they are sent straight through to that portion of their website where this item is for sale.

The hope is that if you upload an image with a link attached to it and it grabs peoples attention, they will be more inclined to Re-Pin this image to their own Board for their friends to see. This can then increase traffic to your site, facebook page, event page etc. and hopefully create you some sales (which is what we love to see!!)

This is just one example of how you can harness the potential of Pinterest for your practice or organisation.
We'll bring you more examples soon, but we hope you have enough to get you started!

We are definitely "Pinterested".

The Arts Marketeer

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