Last weekend I went to a smaller, local writer’s conference. One of the workshops I attended was about social media, taught by Candie A. Price. While I knew a good bit of what she shared regarding Facebook and ‘Twitter there were other social media venues that interested me, one of which was Pinterest.
I don’t have an account on Pinterest and, honestly, at this point keeping up with the blog, Twitter & Facebook are as much as I have time to handle. Likewise, I don’t have much in the way of visuals to offer at the moment. But in the future, I plan to have artwork and other visuals available.
What am I writing about then? Well, marketing is the answer. Far be it for me to be an expert on Pinterest but here’s a great post I read today from Frances Caballo posted last month with tips for writers to use this form of social media. Take a look at the article when you get a chance.
So back to what I learned and my thoughts from the weekend. For those who use Pinterest this will not be new but there are plenty of writers who will learn something as I did.
- Pinterest is not only great for visual content but linking to your sales pages. Readers want to see rich content and this is one way of funneling them to your product.
- All other finds of artwork from screensavers to fan-art can be posted which is great for interaction with readers which improves customer experience.
- Now that video clips can be posted on Pinterest it’s a great place to share a book trailer or, at the least, link back to your trailer on YouTube.
Indie publishing is all about reader discovery and that comes through the type of interaction found on Pinterest. As Candie indicated during the workshop, you do not need to be into everything. Start with a few types of social media and branch out gradually. I’m in no hurry to be on Pinterest this week but over the next few months you’ll see my link to it appear on this blog and elsewhere in my brand. My final thought is that this is great for linking into an online launch party and publicizing other news for those readers who enjoy visual content as much as written content.
Bonus: Here’s a link from Marc Guberti with his Pinterest tips!
Bonus #2: Candie Price shared another Pinterest link with me last night – take a look!
Are you on Pinterest already? How are you using it? What tips can you offer? Please share comments and let other readers know. Also, please follow this blog through email and folow me on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for reading,
PHS
