ScENT (to) the world.

Pinterest Fever - Anyone?

A few months ago I was introduced to Pinterest.  Yet another dreaded social networking site but this time with a focus on images.  

I like photos - so I thought, "sweet".

Thing is the site is more than a little addictive.  You go on and see some of the most amazing locations in the world that you want to visit.  There are oodles of things that you would like to purchase and even more images that convey a lifestyle that you just want to emulate.

With regards to marketing though - the jury was out.  Will it work for promotion or not?  In one sense it is free so, "nothing ventured - nothing gained" was very much the old adage attached to me pursuing it.  On the other hand it is very time-consuming and the potential of converting likes, pins or comments into sales was something I wasn't sure about.

I was not however aware of the sheer effort one would have to go to in order to get noticed.  People pin in their thousands within just a few minutes so it is just all to easy to get lost in the midst of the photo flood that meets your world as you click on "feed".

Bring on an invitation to join pinerly - an app that follows how viral your images are on pinterest (ie. how many people show interest in your items).  

Further.  They give advice on things such as times of the day to post, the types of descriptions you should be writing, portrait vs landscape, writing on top of photos to grab attention and many other helpful tips.

I saw the need to photoshop - some think I haven't ever really tried.  And this is what I cam up with... 

Now it is by no means perfect - but it is me making a start in my journey of understanding the power of the image.

On shop sites there is a need for high quality, high definition and great colour/lighting to enable a possible purchaser to make an educated choice about the product they see in the image.

There are blog photos which tend to be more of a behind the scenes type of photograph.  The products as they sit in the studio, us taking the photos, or indeed how we make the soaps.

Then there are the promo photo.  Photos that attract attention.  Photos that demonstrate our core values with very few words attached to them.  Photos that convey a message - but realistically can't be used to sell the item as it fails to convey shape, colour or texture.

Time will tell,  I'm going to schedule my posts for peak times in the hope of gaining some attention to twitter, blog and shop.  In the meantime though anyone can pin the images as found in photobucket and facebook.  If you'd like to promote our work just click on the links and pin away.  I'd appreciate that!

And that's it from me.

Garreth.

Careful now- next up might be a review on Twitter, and then there is Stumble Upon, Pinspire, IFTTT, Delicious, Craftjuice and countless others.