Fast-track your understanding of Pinterest with this great 5 minute slideshow presentation including a 2 and a half minute introductory video.

(For best viewing, click the 'Fullscreen' icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the slideshare)

Heard of Pinterest?

What another social media channel I need to play with?

Pinterest is the 3rd largest social media channel in the word - larger than Linkedin and Google+ and fast chasing twitter in the US.

So what do you need to know to get on board the Pinterest bandwagon?

We had a great in-house session outlining how to get onboard - more information can be found here - at the Pinterest site itself.

We have been scouring the web to find great uses for Pinterest and have listed out top 7 items! We feel it is a great ADD-ON for e-Commerce sites and any site or business that uses imagery or photography to best focus on their products..

1. Spread the word about your product through an online photo contest.

 

Pinterest is a great place to organize contests. Your contest could be a search for the best pin of pictures of your product or your product logo being used by real people in everyday life. Your participants will pin photos of your brand and share them with friends. Therefore, your traffic will increase, as well as your product’s popularity.

 

2. Provide valuable and informative content for your audience.

 

Just like other social networking sites, providing high-quality content on Pinterest boosts your site reputation, thus attracting more attention from your followers. Provide useful information and problem-solving tips in the field you are an expert at - the use of infographics to visual display a key message are very powerful here and will drive pinners to you.

 

3. Pin some helpful shopping lists or product bundles.

 

Provide helpful shopping lists to your followers that include your products. Create a helpful mother's day suggestion list, kid christmas presents, tech toys - essentially a list of your products that you provide that are must haves and aid in the selling experience for potential customers. Recent studies have proven that Pinterest is a greater driven of online sales than Facebook.

 

4. Suggest gift ideas by adding price tags.

 

You’ve probably noticed that some items on Pinterest have price tags on them. You, too, can do it by simply adding a price in the description along with this symbol – $. We have recently been assisting clients do this and also integrating their Pinterest boards into their Facebook page.

 

5. Use Pinterest as a marketing tool.

 

Share the latest trends and browse other boards for inspiration - just like with all successful social media strategies, it cannot all be about you. Embed your Pinterest boards into your facebook page to maximize your reach. Encourage engagement and respond to comments and likes!

Is Google+ a ghost town on the demise?

"No way!" say's Guy Kawasaki, author of recently released e-book 'What The Plus?' 

According to Kawasaki, Google+ is on the threshold of becoming the largest Social Network ever, and not just because it's another Facebook or Twitter, but simply as part of the Google search engine we use everyday (which is 3 billion times per day by the way!).

To give you an idea of how successful the growth of Users of Google+ was when launched, it took just 24 days to reach 20 million users; whereas Twitter took 1035 days and Facebook took 1152 days.

(FYI new kid on the block - Pinterest - which celebrates its first birthday in May, has already reached 11 million users in roughly 300 days.)

As of February 2012, Google+ hit 100 million users, Twitter had 500 million and Facebook users numbered 845 million users.

'What the Plus?' is now available for download from Guy Kawasaki's website www.whattheplus.com