How I use Pinterest (and some of my top tips!)

I'm a massive fan of Pinterest and I'm actually a bit of an addict - I was an early adopter and I use it for practically everything.  It appeals to my list making tendencies, the fact I've got a memory like a sieve and that I tend to do a lot of online research for everything!

In case you're not sure what it is, in simplest terms Pinterest is an online scrapbook that you can organise and categorise images.  You can search and pin images from within Pinterest or from other websites.  The best thing for me is that it links back to the original site you found the image on so if you want to buy something later or find out where you found the image from it's so easy.  It's helped me so many times and has outlasted various technology fails.

Here's some of my tips for how I use my Pinterest account:

• Organise your boards - I have a variety of different boards ranging from food to weddings to nails.  It's easier to keep track of your pins and for people to find and follow your boards if they're categorised and not too general.  Call them something that makes sense too so interested people can follow you.
• Have a variety of boards - that way there's something everyone can relate to!
• Pin regularly - a bit like other social media, what's at the top isn't there for long.  I usually pin daily out of habit and this seems to work to keep my followers up.
• Fill in your profile - people are generally nosy and want to know more so why not oblige?  I have my blog link in there too so if people like what I'm about they can follow me on other social media too.
• Easy ways to pin - I have the Android app on my phone so if I'm on the go I can pin easily and kill a few minutes.  I use Chrome as my web browser on my laptop too and have added a Pin It button to my toolbar so whatever website I'm on I can pin easily rather than having to copy and paste each time.
• Descriptions and titles - if you're pinning it can be tempting (especially if you're adding a few images) it can be tempting to just type the minimum for each description to do it quickly but this means it's harder for people to search and find relevant pins.  A meaningful description helps with the search.
• Use Pinterest to promote your blog - when I publish a new post I pin the images from the post to my relevant Pinterest boards and my Beauty and the Blogger board - with a meaningful description of course!  
• Use other social media to promote your Pinterest - I use my blog and Twitter account to link to my boards just so people can find it easily.  I tend to ask people to tweet me their Pinterest links and include my link in there too so I'm not just spamming my own link again and again.
• Follow other people's boards - it's easier to find things to repin and things you like if you follow some other boards too, they show up in your feed and it can be a good way of seeing stuff that you wouldn't necessarily see otherwise.  You can synchronise contacts from other social media, search for relevant boards or even check if a person or brand you like has a Pinterest account.
• Utilise secret boards - a bit of mystery goes a long way sometimes!  I find secret boards really good for things like planning my actual wedding (I have a general wedding board that's public but my secret one is my actual wedding boards) and creating a portfolio of work I've had published
• Pinterest widget - using a widget builder to create a visual link to your boards like the one below can be a more interesting way to promote your boards instead of just a text link.

Visit Lucy -'s profile on Pinterest.

Hope you found this useful!  If you have a Pinterest account leave a link in the comments below so people (including me!) can follow - you can find all of my boards here.