1. A guide to Pinterest.
What’s all the fuss
about and why should
I care?
Social Summer #13.
Michael Litman (@mlitman)
September 2012

2. Who am I?
• Hello! I’m Michael Litman and I’m a Sr Social
Strategist at AnalogFolk where we make and
market interactive experiences globally.

3. Who am I?
• Hello! I’m Michael Litman and I’m a Sr Social
Strategist at AnalogFolk where we make and
market interactive experiences globally.
• Some of you might be very nice people and
read my blog at litmanlive.co.uk/blog.

4. Who am I?
• Hello! I’m Michael Litman and I’m a Sr Social
Strategist at AnalogFolk where we make and
market interactive experiences globally.
• Some of you might be very nice people and
read my blog at litmanlive.co.uk/blog.
• Others might follow me on Twitter as @mlitman.

5. Who am I?
• Hello! I’m Michael Litman and I’m a Sr Social
Strategist at AnalogFolk where we make and
market interactive experiences globally.
• Some of you might be very nice people and
read my blog at litmanlive.co.uk/blog.
• Others might follow me on Twitter as @mlitman.
• The extra special ones may even be following
me on Pinterest at pinterest.com/litmanlive

6. Who am I?
• Hello! I’m Michael Litman and I’m a Sr Social
Strategist at AnalogFolk where we make and
market interactive experiences globally.
• Some of you might be very nice people and
read my blog at litmanlive.co.uk/blog.
• Others might follow me on Twitter as @mlitman.
• The extra special ones may even be following
me on Pinterest at pinterest.com/litmanlive
• Regardless of your social media affiliations,
you’re all looking great today by the way.

7. Why am I here today?

8. Why am I here today? It ’ s
be roba
p
ca
use bly
this
. . . of

10. Wh
ic
littl h we
ec
raz nt a
y…

11. Or maybe it was this:

13. an
thr An
t a k op ol o
fur e on gic
ore th al
Pin arou e
t er n
est d

14. A Primer:
In current foraging and horticultural
cultures, a large portion of daily activity
revolves around finding and preparing
food (e.g, Hill & Hurtado, 1996).
In modern societies, much less time is
spent on food acquisition and
preparation.
Modern humans still devote considerable
time and effort to foraging, although the
foraging context is now in the settings of
shopping malls, grocery stores, and
Internet sites (Hantula, 2003).

15. But anyway, before we get stuck in...

16. What I’m going to cover today:
What is it?
Why are people talking about it?
Who is using it?
How are they using it?
How are brands using it?
Anything Else?
Key Learnings and Actions

17. What is it?

18. How the idea came about…
"I was always collecting images on the
web in folders on the desktop of my
computer, but it wasn’t a very good
system for remembering where things
came from or who made them. We
wanted to create a place where you
can go to upload or collect things on
the web and simply organize it the
way you want to.”
Evan Sharp, Pinterest Designer and
Co-Founder

19. Put Simply…
”Imagine getting to do window
shopping of all the best and most
creative things in the world without
having to go to the mall? That’s what
Pinterest is.”
Tuhin Kumar, Designer, Pulse (A
personalised newspaper app)

20. In more detail…
Pinterest is a content curation
platform which allows users to
organize and share beautiful and
interesting content they find on the
web.
Think of a bookmarking site, a social
network, a gift finder and a platform
for collaboration all rolled in to one.
Content is organised in “Boards” that
work as categories. Each piece of
content is called a “Pin” (see right).

21. But there’s a social element too…
People can ‘like’ your pins or they
can “repin” them on to their boards,
comment on them and share on
Facebook and Twitter.
You can follow people and they can
follow you.
Or you can just follow a particular
board of theirs rather than following
them which automatically follows all
their boards.

22. Why are people
talking about it?

23. It became the fastest website ever to hit 10m
unique users…

24. Traditional search engines are being hit hard by an
increasingly visual online experience elsewhere…

25. And more time is already being spent on Pinterest
than some of the key social networks...

26. And more time is already being spent on Pinterest
than some of the key social networks...
On
l
F a c y T um
e b
it in book lr and
min term bea
ut s t
by es sp of
use ent
rs

27. Here’s what a few of the larger sites are saying…

28. What a difference a year makes…
“Weekly visits to Pinterest from North
American users alone hit 29 million in
July, up from 1.27 million a year
earlier which represents a Y-O-Y
increase of 2,183% in site visits.”
Experian, July 2012

29. Who is using it?

30. It’s now open to the public, just register up on site…

31. Who are they?
Hu
g
in t ely p
h
l a r e U S o p ul a
ge wi r
l
au y fem th a
di e
n c al e
e
Wh
mo erea
we re h s it’s
ma ighte eavily
les d
in t with
he
UK
Source: visual.ly

32. Where are they from?
USA United
12,000,000 Kingdom
Unique Users 200,000
Unique Users

33. How old are they?
Old
yo er th
Lar u’d t an
g hi
ye ely 2 nk.
ars 5
old -44
.

34. What are they interested in? US vs. UK…
gn Bus
Desi d i
rela ness
e
relat t ed
Source: visual.ly

35. UK users are more business centric and cash rich
Si g
ni f
mo ican
re tly
wh so
co
m p en
to
US ared
da
ta
30%
o
in h f UK u
i s
inc ghes ers
om t
co brac e
mp ket
5% ared
(US to
)
Source: visual.ly

36. How are they
using it?

37. To convey your own individual personality and
interests through pins and boards…

38. To convey your own individual personality and
interests through pins and boards…

39. Yes, that really is my Dad. He’s addicted to it.

40. How are people pinning?
Ov
er
pin 80%
‘re s are of
p
‘O ins’.
as th
be sum er’
via ed
mo t o
bile
.

41. Eve
What are people pinning? ry
info thing
an grap from
dc h
ha ics
rts…

42. What are people pinning? To
foo
d…

43. What are people pinning? de Trav
stin el
ati
on
s…

44. What are people pinning? Ins
pi
Qu ration
ot e a
s… l

45. What are people pinning? Fas
h i on
. ..

46. What are people pinning? Co
ol H
ou
ses
...

47. What are people pinning? To
Mo Cars
t or a
bik nd
es…

48. What do Pinterest themselves pin? em News
pe p lo y ,
t e
the s, pa es,
ir o rtie
ffic s,
e…

49. How are brands
using it?

50. Here’s just a few, illustrating the platforms breadth:

51. Vis
ua
Travel Channel l
of insp
tak whe iratio
e y re n
ho our n to
lida e
y… xt

52. Ap
illu owe
Burberry wh strat rful
ima at p ion o
ge rem f
on ry ca ium
a n
pla visu do
t fo al
rm

53. Pi n
ni
tha ng th
General Electric the t in ing
mo m to spire s
ve bu
the and ild,
wo cure
rld

54. Re
-i
ma nven
ti
TIME Magazine g
thr azin ng th
rep ough e itse e
re v lf
of senta isual
pa t io
pre st an ns
sen d
t

55. Anything Else?

56. Yo
Let’s not forget, it’s not just imagery! u
vid can
Yo eos p
uTu fro in
Vim be m
eo a
too nd
…

57. And there’s a video section on site… So
wh you c
at ’
s p an se
op e
ula
r.

58. You could even use it for your CV… No
wt
h
ap no ere’s
pro vel a
ac
h…
.

59. By
Or adopt a dog (or cat!) t
Soc he H
iet uma
y
Yo of Ne ne
rk… w

60. But seriously… Wh
Go create a collaborative board. oth ere y
o
pin ers ca u an
the con n a d
sam ten lso
e b t to
oa
rd

61. P
pro inter
Showcase your products (and prices) vi es
hu ng to t is
dri ge t b
ve
r fo raf e a
fi c
ret r on
ail… line

62. An
You can even use it as a gift finder… d
gif filte
tc rt
pri hoic hose
ce e
t o o s by
…

63. In
ind sert y
Find out who has pinned your content e o
aft ed a ur or
n
Yo er/so y UR
u u L
sur migh rce.
pri
sed t be
…

64. Pin on the go, wherever you are…
Wit
(iPhone app) h
An the iP
d
iPa roid hone
d a an ,
pp d
s…

65. Pin on the go, wherever you are…
Wit
(iPad app) h
An the iP
d
Pa roid hone
d a an ,
pp d
s…

66. Is there any Pinterest functionality I can add to my
browser / site / blog / shop? Ad
d
you to
Ad
dt blo r
you o g
bro r
wse
r
A
you dd to
r
ne shop
ws
site /
Sho
ww
h
pin being at’s
ne
you d fro
r si t m
e

67. Key Learnings
And Actions

68. 5 key learnings…
Pinterest is a visual content curation platform and is a symptom of
us moving progressively towards the era of the visual web.
It’s a huge traffic driver for brands, retail, travel, charities, news &
more.
You don’t have to follow everyone, just the boards which interest
you the most. Remember, this is all about the interest graph.
Add buttons and sharing functionality to your browser / shop /
website / blog.
Now the site is open to the public, expect to see an even greater
take-up by brands and individuals alike.

69. 5 key actions…
Build your brand out of its specific sector by sharing interesting,
topical, relevant content, creating engagement.
Ensure that the visual content on your site is ‘pinnable’.
Don’t forget about video, they can be pinned too.
Use collaborative boards as ways of bringing your team together.
Add your products (with their prices) to drive awareness and social
currency along with adding buttons and sharing functionality to
your browser / shop / website / blog.

70. Thanks for joining me today…
Follow me on Pinterest at
pinterest.com/litmanlive
You should also check out
allaboutpinterest.co.uk
I’m a Senior Social Strategist at AnalogFolk,
a digital creative agency.
If you want to get in touch, then its
michael.litman@analogfolk.com

71. Thanks for joining me today…
Questions?
Questions?