social media – Page 2 – Water Water Everywhere

Pinterest is the hot social media platform of the moment. It is suddenly the number one driver of traffic to retail websites, even more so than YouTube and Google + combined. Pinterest is a wild hit with the non tech savvy population and most especially with women.

Smart men are interested, but as my friend Jason remarked upon joining yesterday, it can at first seem like “estrogen overload”. I don’t know the demographic breakdown and I’m sure it’s evolving dramatically every day right now, but it is clearly dominated by women.

So it makes sense that when a guy signs up and Pinterest suggests which of his existing friends he should follow, he’s going to end up seeing a huge number of feminine pinboards. It could prompt the guy with average intelligence to conclude the platform is only for women and he’ll see no benefit. But writing off Pinterest entirely is a mistake and I’m pleased to be following at least a few chaps of above average social media acumen, not to mention great style. (I recommend following Brian Block, Caleb Gardner, and Philip Edsel just to name a few.)

So my first piece of advice is the same thing I said about Twitter years ago…don’t follow everyone that follows you. Don’t follow everyone of you Facebook contacts that happens to have a Pinterest account. Skim through the pins of each person you follow and make sure they have something to offer, something that interests you. Unfollow those with only a handful of girly pins.

Some of my various pinboards

Here’s my biggest tip: when you decide which people to keep following, go to their list of boards and selectively unfollow the most gender specific ones. For example, unless you have a major fetish, it’s unlikely you, a guy, would be interested in my Shoes! board. Same goes for My Style. However guys might dig my Inked board or my Stuff I Want To Eat board. My photography board is pretty genderless, as is my board full of running quotes. I even have a Men’s Fashion board, though I need to find more stylish guys to follow so I can fill it up.

Who doesn’t love food?

My last piece of advice is to create your own unique boards for specific interests and do searches to fill them with pins. That’s how I made my Inked board, since not many of my friends are into pinning tattoos. It’s also how I made my Office Renovation board which is for a real project I’m currently working on, not just some home fantasy.

Once you’ve got a good group of peeps to follow and a bunch of focused boards, you’ll find it easy to pop into Pinterest for a few minutes at a time and quickly repin your favorite finds for safe keeping. It’s much easier to stay on top of than Twitter or even Facebook, and it’s the perfect end-of-the-day brainless activity for me to wind down with after hours of creating content and marketing it.

Channeling Charlie Sheen.

Happy pinning!

Got any more obvious suggestions for guys that I missed? Leave them in the comments!

This post is linked up over at Kristen’s Works for Me Wednesday.

Several times this week I have had conversations with people about social media including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Some of my friends are starting to buy into the concept of Twitter, but I keep hearing over and over again “Why would anyone use Foursquare?”

1. Well for starters, any and all competition is fun. While it’s not a big deal to me, it’s kind of fun trying to oust someone as the Mayor of your favorite coffee shop. For awhile my friend Kami and I had a friendly battle over the Mayorship of our local Panera Bread. Getting awarded fun badges is kind of cool too, Foursquare can be very creative with these. I happen to find the “Player Please” badge amusing, which you get when you check in to a location with three members of the opposite sex.

2. Seeing where my friends hang out can be cool. I have routinely discovered new restaurants right here in Katy because someone I know checked in there. If I had never heard of it or knew very little about it, I might ask them if it’s good and then try it out for myself. I like learning about which gyms my friends belong to and even what churches people I know go to. Not something I might think to ask of someone I don’t talk to every day.

3. The best reason for me to use Foursquare is the Specials! When you check into an area it will show you how many specials are available at that location or even at other places in the vicinity. Here are a few examples that I like:

Free chips and salsa at Chili’s just for checking in.
Check in with three other friends and you get any appetizer free at Chili’s!
Free fountain drink at the refreshment counter of my local Honda dealer for checking in.
$10 off any lab test of $49 or more at a local medical lab. That’s a great savings!
$25 off your tax prep at Jackson Hewitt.
25% off your lunch every third check-in at a local wine bar and grill.
One free large beverage once a week at Java Joe’s.
Five free 4×6 prints at our local Ritz Camera for checking in.
20% off a purchase with your first check-in at Radio Shack. 10% each time after that. 20% for the Mayor.

I’ve also seen flash specials, valid only for one day, at Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles and H&M. With such a ridiculously easy way of scoring deals and freebies, why NOT use it? You can keep your location totally private if you’re worried about security.

So that’s why Foursquare works for me.