Understanding Pinterest and #PinItForwardUK

For a while Pinterest has been gathering steam here in the UK. It’s among the top referrers to blog content and a great visual way to promote your posts, your photography, and content you like. Now, Pinterest is “coming to the UK”.

That might seem strange to say since of course loads of us have been using it before now and, uh, it’s the Internet so you could say it’s already “come to the UK” in the same way it’s already “come to Macedonia” or “come to the Seychelles”.

Then again, a whole raft of Pinterest folks came over earlier this month and had a launch party to spread the word, with plans of opening an office in London. We can’t help but be excited when social platforms wake up to the power of British influencers, and we are all for it.

We’re taking part in the #PinItForwardUK campaign, in which bloggers introduce their fellow pinners and highlight some of the cool stuff going on. What? You’re not following BritMums yet on Pinterest? Well, join and do it now!

Pinterest is part scrapbook, part mood board, part social platform like Twitter, but using pictures instead of words. It’s an ideal time to jump right in if you haven’t already — there’s a lot of experimentation on what types and styles of pinning work best.

The lovely and talented Ana Mum Diary introduced us (thanks, Amanda!) and shared her gorgeous Ana Loves Outdoor Living board.

In turn, we are delighted to #PinItForwardUK with Cathy from Nurturestore.co.uk who has loads of crafts and inspirational boards. Check them out!

Here is our favourite BritMums board

…and also my personal boards.

Here are some of the best tips from us and the Pinterest folks

* Don’t go on a Pinning binge. While it’s tempting and sometimes almost impossible to stop doing it, it floods your followers’ timelines. Better to sprinkle your pinning throughout the day, so different people see it.

* Make every board well-considered. Some high-profile pinners concentrate on a few carefully edited boards. Others prefer a wide and varied number. Whatever you decide, only do as many boards as you can keep current.

* Use the widget builder to embed boards onto your blog and highlight all the cool pinning you’re doing.

Check out the #PinItForwardUK hashtag to see some of the great UK pinners out there!

About Jennifer Howze

Jennifer Howze is the Creative Director and co-founder of BritMums. She blogs about family travel at Jenography.net, tweets at @JHowze and Instagrams at @JHowze. Previously, she wrote the Alpha Mummy blog at The Times and as a journalist has contributed to The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, CNN.com, Allure, SELF and Premiere, among others. She won The Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for a health article in Seventeen magazine.

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