Heard of the latest social network craze?
Pinterest, pronounced "interest" with a "P" in front of it, now has 11 million unique monthly users. It is a site where people can pin pictures to an online board, kind of like what you would do with a physical cork board and thumbtacks. Another way to think about it is as a virtual scrapbook, but a little different than the traditional photo sharing Web sites.
Pinterest's unique offering has made it one of the fastest-growing social networks in the country. What is interesting about the site is that its users say it is "addictive!" This is especially true for women, who represent more than four out of five users. Proof that it is addictive is found in recent comScore results that show that folks are spending significantly more minutes using Pinterest than LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and Google+.
How Do You Get Started?
Different from other social networks, one has to request an invitation to join, which does not happen instantaneously, but can happen in the same day. Once you get the "You've Been Invited to Join Pinterest" email, it works similar to Twitter, where you can follow others and see what they are pinning. You can also link to a Facebook account to share what you are pinning. It is extremely easy to navigate, and by one click of the "repin" button, you can save it to your boards. You can also repin or "like" something already on the site.
There is a search button if you are looking for something specific or you can just browse the most recent posts. Once you click on the photo you are interested in, most likely it will link you to the original site Pininterest found it on. Some images will direct you to a blog, some will link to a Web site where you can purchase them, and some will connect to a tutorial (for example, it might explain how to make what you are seeing.)
Russell Dunkin, a wealth advisor at McKinley Carter Wealth Services, admitted he is still trying to figure it out. He is a self-proclaimed technology type that likes to check things out when he hears about them, as he did in this case through Facebook and Twitter.
"You can't just go on the site and register, although it is a pretty quick process. When I did it, later that day I got the link to join," said Dunkin. "When I first got on there, I used it to remember things like a visual bookmarking service. I can take pictures with my cell phone and save them as good ideas for later."
Can It Be Helpful To An Advisor's Practice?
Dunkin admitted he is still learning, but believes it is a good way to communicate to friends, colleagues and clients. "A lot of our business comes from referrals. To me, this is just a different way to get to know casual acquaintances, as you get to see likes, common interests and other things like that," said Dunkin.
He said clients need to get to know and like an advisor before working with him or her, and Pinterest is a great site to help speed up the process "exponentially." He is a 30-something advisor who is looking for emerging affluent clients who are part of a generation that gets to know people through social networks.
Justin Williams, an associate wealth advisor at Parkworth Wealth Management Inc., said his clients are using Pinterest. "A good use for Pinterest is to look at others' boards," said Williams.
Janet Josselyn, business operations and office manager at Parkworth Wealth Management, Inc. expanded, "It is very useful to me for managing our client 'touches' - birthdays, holiday greetings/gifts, new baby and anniversary congrats, etc. I'm always on the lookout for new and unusual gifts that are interesting, but that also let our clients know we are thinking of them and really care about what is going on in their lives."
Josselyn also believes Pinterest will allow her to gather ideas for events like the theme, decorating ideas, give-a-ways, food, venue, vendors, etc. "It makes it easy to present ideas to upper management and have them understand what you are trying to achieve in that particular event. Pictures are really worth a thousand words in this case, and Pinterest is better than printing out a bunch of paper pictures. I can even foresee sharing my idea boards with a venue coordinator so we are all on the same page," said Josselyn.
Can You Pin Work-related Stuff?
Dunkin said, "Great personal finance stories would be ok. As long as it is educational it is fine." He did caution, "You just don't want to only pin things on your site. Then people will just ignore it."
Cathy Curtis, owner of Curtis Financial Planning, (the advisor who was just highlighted in the blog, "Proof That Social Media Works"), said, "Images can be so powerful and engage a completely different side of your brain. It's a nice change from numbers and words. As a financial advisor, I like to switch back to the right side every now and then. You can learn so much about a person or company by looking at their boards. I do see the potential for promoting brand messages in a fun, subtle way."
Williams said, "Pinning cheap meals, low-cost family trips, do-it-yourself ideas or even coupons can help clients achieve their monthly financial goals that we work so closely with them on." Williams recommended that advisors be aware that there is an "interesting scuttlebutt" on whether there will be any copyright infringements issues for Pinterest.
Kate Hurley, another associate wealth advisor at Parkworth Wealth Management Inc., said, "Advisors can use Pinterest to connect with their clients. Firms may pin or repin money-saving tips or fun things to do in the area. Pinterest boards could be created for an advisor's target market and pin content they will find interesting and useful."
"Pinterest is a great way to connect with clients because it doesn't take as much time as writing a blog, article or adding content to a Web site. Pinning takes only a few seconds, and a lot of the content is generated on the category pages, so an advisor can decide to repin or create a new pin from another site. Pinterest is another touch point with clients and requires less time than other social media sites," said Hurley.
For Curtis, Pinterest is a perfect fit, as her ideal clients are women, the main users of this up-and-coming social network. She actually created a "Women and Money" Pinterest board with posted images that link back to her Web site and blog. "To me it is just another way to reach potential clients... And it is just an incredibly great way to get clients to know you and know what you do," said Curtis.
To Pin Or Not To Pin
One thing is clear, many businesses outside of the financial world are seeing lots of added traffic to their Web sites from Pinterest. Advisors that are early adopters using this site should be authentic, and experiment to learn how the online marketing tool can benefit their firms.
Note: As always, check with your compliance department for its specific guidelines on what your organization will allow you to do with social networks. It is strongly recommended you hire an archiving service to capture all social media communications.
Mike Byrnes founded Byrnes Consulting to provide consulting services to help advisors become even more successful. His expertise is in business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness, along with several other areas. Read more at www.byrnesconsulting.com.