Pinterest - is it useful?

[Former_Member]

Hi!

I read somewhere that having a Pinterest for your shop increases your sales quite a bit, if you use it well.

What to do you think? Has Pinterest been useful to you?

I don't update mine that much, I don't find it very interesting.

[GirlpowerKnits]

Hasn't did too much for me yet, may be too early to tell. I use it a couple times a week, and post items from etsy.

[Former_Member]

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1f3ihK/www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m07/i20/s03/

[Former_Member]

Yeah, same here. I try to post other content as well.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I have a Pinterest account and I love using it. I don't use it to promote my shop though. You sell vintage items so your stuff really can't be copied. I avoid pinning my own items for the simple fact that most people using Pinterest are there for ideas, not to buy.

[Former_Member]

I think that's true, Judy, but I also think that if people see something they like and there's a link to click on, they will... and according to that poll, they migh actually buy it!

But I still prefer Facebook as a way to engage with potential buyers and promote.

[MaxplanationPhotos]

I'm on Pinterest but I don't get hits from there, have tons of followers but I don't think it drives sales

[Former_Member]

There are a lot of interesting things on Pinterest, but you have to use varied searches. I got the Pin It button so I can grab various images from other sites.
As with all networking, you get out what you put in. Our Team, In Here Life Is Beautiful, has its own Pinterest board. On my account, I have one board to showcase a few of my items but the majority are for inspiration or just making me smile!

[viadeinavigli]

Judy I agry with you. Also here no pinterest account.
I don't think pinerest and vintage are going well together.

I only use pinterest to entertaine my children, some new ideas to be creative with them, to learn them something.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I disagree that Pinterest and vintage don't go well together. People use Pinterest for home decor, remodeling and fashion ideas. Vintage fits right in with that (I have quite a few vintage items pinned on my boards).

[Former_Member]

I am trying it out. Too early to tell. But I hope that my stuff gets repinned and at least views go up. Then the chances of sales increase somewhat.

[SandyRubinJewelry]

I agree with Judy. I think it's a combination on making boards that other people will want to follow, plugging your pins in there, and following other people. It links directly to your Etsy listing and if someone wants it enough, it's right there! I haven't had great success from Pinterest but at least a handful of views this month and one sale (a friend of mine who didn't realize it was me).

At the end of the day, it's more eyes on your shop & that is never a bad thing.

[Former_Member]

Lovin' Pinterest!

Someone repinned one of my free tutorials from my blog. In the post I reference my ETSY page. 651 views later, I got several sales and lots of favorites. I think it's a great marketing tool.

:)

Annabelle

[Former_Member]

I use Pinterest. I get a lot of ideas from it but I get many view to my shop from it.

[Former_Member]

Pinterest for me is a fun place to browse (lately for organizational ideas!)

I have an account and some followers, but have not had any sales from it. I plan on continuing to use it though!

[StudioCherie]

I am getting views from Pinterest - over 700 in the last week. The traffic is coming from one of my listings that someone else pinned, not from pinning my own. When I am in the mood, I pin to my boards from Etsy - other peoples stuff. I think of it as paying it forward both for the sellers whose listings I pin and for my followers who think I pin cool stuff. I only pin things that I find really interesting and I would want to show my friends. I don't pin for any other reason.

[Former_Member]

I meant to say, I don't get many views from it.

[FenderGemsNCrystals]

I have a remarkably large audience on Pinterest and quite a few views coming from there. I was about to quit wanelo, then bang- a sale from wanelo

[RachelsCraftStand]

I have a board for my shop that I pin my newly finished products onto, nothing repinned by others yet. I mostly use Pinterest for inspiration for myself. I definitely see the potential there for driving sales, though.

[Former_Member]

I enjoy pinning items, typically a few every other day usually from my teams or from my Activity stream, but with any form of marketing, if it's not interesting to you, you're not going to do it or your heart won't be in it and it will show. There are a ton of ways to market your Etsy shop: try out different ways until you find some you like and then go for it.

If you're just posting links to your shop on any venue, it's not going to bring in customers, and with Google's paid searches, it's not going to do much for being found in the search engine either.

[Former_Member]

Great topic. I've just started trying to increase my social networking for LoveVTG. I've budgeted a set amount of time to FB, Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram for each day. I guess we'll see where the chips fall.

[rhodyart]

OK, so if I understand you guys correctly (because I"m really trying to understand how best to use Pinterest), I need to make boards and actually pin stuff to them in the hopes that someone will discover that I've created the boards and connect to them? Perhaps I'm losing it because I really have trouble connecting the dots on Pinterest and figuring out what its value is to me as both an Etsy seller and as someone interested in cool stuff. I think I need an explanation using words of less than one syllable!

[Former_Member]

I love Pinterest. :-) I haven't noticed a direct sale related to anything pinned there of my own work, but I saw someone else pin beautiful necklaces from another Etsy seller and I myself purchased one as a result. I like to pin things by other sellers. I'm also using it just as a way of organizing work online because it's so easy to create categories with boards. I think you can use Pinterest however you want to.