Pinfluence
By Beth Hayden
PAGES: 190
TONE: For helpful tips, just wait until the next chapter! [Next chapter] Wait until the next chapter!
DELIVERED AS DEEP INSIGHT: Imagine your ideal client and pin things you think they would enjoy. Make a vision board for them—glitter and dreams crowdsourced.
USEFUL TAKEAWAY: Strike a balance between a) blatant self-promotion and b) blatant promotion of others, in hopes of them promoting you.
PAGE-FILLING OVERTHINKING: A Hamlet-like debate over whether to link your Pinterest account to your Facebook or Twitter pages. Or, mind blower: both???
The Ultimate Guide To Marketing Your Business On Pinterest
By Gabriela Taylor
PAGES: 131
TONE: There is only Pinterest, a sentient being who knows all, pins all, is all. Join us. Jooooooin uuuuuuuus!
DELIVERED AS DEEP INSIGHT: Remember what's-her-name who makes stuffed animals for kids based on drawings they did? She made it big. On Pinterest.
USEFUL TAKEAWAY: A whopping 80% of pins get repinned, whereas 1.4% of tweets get retweeted. So pin it before you say it.
PAGE-FILLING OVERTHINKING: Twitter = "I eat #chocolate." Pinterest = "Here's a chocolate recipe." Foursquare = "This is where I eat chocolate." People pay for this!
Follow Fast Company's roadmap to social media: surefire rules, data, and expert wisdom guaranteed to show why this market is completely unpredictable.
Pinterest For Business
By Jess Loren and Edward Swiderski
PAGES: 250
TONE: We've got some pretty sweet advice. And here are 348 experts to restate what we just said, but longer!
DELIVERED AS DEEP INSIGHT: "Cats, jokes, infographics, and quotes. Images like these drive the Internet wild." Actual quote, folks.
USEFUL TAKEAWAY: If you use Pinterest, make it the center of your social media campaign, not just "another thing we post to."
PAGE-FILLING OVERTHINKING: Quoting the movie Kindergarten Cop as a way to ask, Who is your business and what does it do? (Social media: It's not a tumor!)
How To Build A Huge Following On Pinterest
By Kelly Cooper
PAGES: 38
TONE: Use Pinterest, you idiot! Do two hours a day. Do half an hour a day. Do once in 300 years. DO IT DO IT DO IT. Book, out. [Drops microphone]
DELIVERED AS DEEP INSIGHT: If you create bouquets of bright, inviting images, people will visit your page.
USEFUL TAKEAWAY: Easy does it with oversharing. Fans connect to your humanity but won't return your intimacy.
PAGE-FILLING OVERTHINKING: You're shown stock photographs, then asked things like: Which is more intimate, a baby or a living room? Answer: Now I hate Pinterest.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2012 issue of Fast Company magazine.
