Attention Pinterest Addicts – Babble

Attention Pinterest Addicts

By Rachel Matthews | November 30th, 2012 at 2:35 am

I think that I am safe in saying that like most bloggers, I’m completely addicted to Pinterest.

Actually, that’s not even remotely limited to bloggers:  probably 70% of the staff at our elementary school are on pinterest and use it for inspiration for everything from class tools to recipes to home organization.

I hear random people at restaurants, in the grocery store, at the craft store, in the mall: saying things like “I found this idea/recipe/design/inspiration… on Pinterest”

Pinterest is everywhere and as a blogger and  admitted Pinterest addict – I realize the power of Pinterest.

My 36 Pinterest boards are where I store/pin what  inspires me, whether it’s inspiration to decorate, to cook, to create, to unwind, to photograph, but also… it’s inspiration to remember to take time to enjoy my family, friends and blessings.

 Like I said before, as a blogger, I recognize the power of Pinterest – it’s influence and it’s draw.

Pinterest is a powerful tool that can help your readers to curate their favorite items from your site (and unless they’re terribly badly behaved, they aren’t copying your content/recipes/instructions into the body of their pin… don’tgetmestartedthatsapostforanotherday) and it is an amazing way for new readers to find you.

One of the things that I find fascinating, as I said before, is that Pinterest isn’t limited to the social media addicts and bloggers… some of the most avid Pinterest users – don’t read blogs, aren’t bloggers and some of them *gasp* aren’t even on twitter .

Pinterest brings people – okay, mainly women people, but people across the world, together – people of varied careers, income levels, ages and lifestyles together with one common desire:  The desire to create, to share, to laugh, to be inspired…. it brings all these people together and enables them to find each other, to share because of shared interests, shared desires, shared passions, shared loves, shared senses of humor, style, dreams….

As a blogger: knowing what people are pinning from your site is a powerful knowledge.

Sure, you can go into Pinterest and type your website name/your name/title etc… and see a page listing what and how many times something has been pinned, and that’s pretty cool.

But wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an Analytics tool that reports to you at your desired intervals every time something is Pinned directly from your site.  A tool that lets you see in real time what’s being shared, and by whom?

Wonder no more, I’m here to tell you – such a tool exists – it’s still in it’s Beta form, but PinAlerts is very much up and running and basically is like Google Analytics for your blog.

Sign up – set up your preferences – emails in real time, once daily or even weekly will tell you what, who, and how frequently something is being pinned from your site.  You’ll even receive a weekly email that tells you how many pins have happened directly from your site each week.

While this doesn’t calculate how many times each item itself has been pinned (via something other than your site – repinned etc…) it’s a pretty useful little tool to learn what your readers are interested in.

I heard about PinAlerts while at EVO this past summer, and while it was just a passing mention of a fun tool to look into, it stuck in my head and when I got home, I signed up for it (it’s free).  There’ve been times where I’ve gotten no data, but I think that’s to be expected in a program still in Beta, but recently (the past 6 weeks or so) it’s been really reliable and I’ve gotten a good insight into my current readership’s interests and whose doing some serious pinning and what they’re planning on making for dinner, parties, etc…

I’ve got the Pinterest app on my iPhone and iPad and I pin from my computer, but PinAlerts is definitely my favorite Pinterest tool – thus far.

Are you on Pinterest?  Do we follow each other?  We should!  Leave your pinterest link in the comments and let’s follow each other!  I’m Rachel Matthews (SthrnFairytale)

So, what’s your favorite Pinterest tool? What’s your favorite way to Pin, to track Pins?

Read more of Rachel Matthews’ writing about food, parenting, life and Texas at A Southern Fairytale

Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest

You May Also Like:

My Favorite Christmas Card Photo Ideas from Pinterest

Ten Texas Phrases Explained

Hot Chocolate With a Werther’s Caramel Twist