Pinterest- The World's Best Free Marketing Invention

This summer, I worked for a small boutique that sold jewelry, accessories, clothing, etc. and was frequently asked to update their social media sites. I did the basic Twitter and Facebook functions, where I would make fliers and post them for upcoming events and take pictures of new products. Then one random day when my boss was out and Grey's Anatomy was getting boring, I decided to make a Pinterest for the store. Without a doubt, this idea was probably one of the best marketing decisions this small business has made.

Pinterest allowed me to use my creativity to make a fun and colorful page that people would look at. I would set up displays of new products, take pictures, and add weird artsy effects to make them seem much cooler than they really were. I would then upload them to a specific Pinterest just for the company, and link the product to where you could buy it online.

After I posted around 4 boards, I sat back and forgot about it for a week or two. I logged back on to find I had hundreds of repins, and people were really liking our stuff. Without this medium, these people would never even heard of this small boutique outside of Philly, and we were starting to get in orders from people who had never heard of us before. Pinterest is all about sharing, and putting your products on this site will lead to only good things happening. I encourage every small business owner to learn what I have through this experience, and get the word out about your companies in a great FREE way.

Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do

Euan had a lot of very insightful information about social media. I think that the way he organized the book and his thoughts was very clear and concise, and his points were developed well with supporting details to help further my understanding. His passion and understanding for the topic was evident throughout his writing, and I think this book did a really good job proving its point. However, I felt at times that his points were repetitive. I think that he took a lot of time trying to convince people to blog and tweet more to get experience. While I think this is important, I think that he spent too much time trying to emphasize this when I found that other parts of his research were much more interesting. 

Overall, I found that his ideas and research were overall very enticing. I really enjoyed the chapter on what to do if your boss "doesn't get it." From my personal experiences with my internship this summer, I found that this is a pretty common occurrence. I often found that I had to explain myself and the advantages and disadvantages of social networking. I think that Euan provided a lot of really great insight about what the appropriate things are to say to your boss to get the total competitive advantage that social networking provides. This issue is a huge factor in businesses transforming to advertising and communicating on this medium and I think it is really important for us as well as our bosses to understand the positives social media has to offer.