Introduction to Pinterest and its International Education Applications

Host Country Pinterest Intro to Pinterest & its International Education Applications Home institution
(by NAFSA region) Class Standing Major/minor Female/male Referral source Market
Research Kim Karalekas Academic Programs International (API) Julie Ficarra University of South Florida University of Mississippi Blair McElroy University of New Orleans Mark Powell Contests Promoting Parameters Entry Form Selecting a Winner followed
rules quality
variety
creativity What is Pinterest? A virtual, free, online pinboard
Organize & share items found online
Used by individuals & companies to share with target audiences What is a board? A place to organize &
share your pins, using a theme What is a pin? An image, linked from the
web or uploaded Links created from original
source or added manually
Link will take user directly
to the site Descriptions provide image info
directly on Pinterest. What is a repin? Pinterest allows you to follow
boards or people of interest. You may
also have followers (similar to Twitter
"followers" or Facebook "likes") If you see something useful that
has been pinned by another, you can
"repin" to a board of your own. What is a like? A "like" does not appear on
your board like a "repin" "Likes" are kept in your "likes"
section for later reference or to show interest What is a bookmarklet? More than 1 person can
contribute to a board - a useful
tool for offices Intro. Best
Practice Weddings...cupcakes... promoting intl education? This might feel like a stretch, but there are ways that International Education offices & providers can and do leverage the power of Pinterest to inspire their constituencies. If students want to know where your office is, what programs you have to offer, how to apply for scholarships - they'll visit your website, they won't look for you on Pinterest. Keep it inspirational (not promotional)! Used primarily as a source
for inspiration

Visually based.

If you want to create a virtual
board to pin your content, products
& services, do it discreetly.

Indirect marketing is the way to
go if you want to attract a loyal
following. A student is more likely to
"like" and "share" a clever flag made of spaghetti than their school's mascot... Keep it fresh! Keep it social! Follow other users & give them permission to add
to specific pinboards - this is a great way to connect with partners/participants, etc. Orgs/offices should be following other
Pinterest users with similar interests, which will not only help them build a bigger community, but also give ideas & inspiration As with all social media, to attract new followers & keep Pinterest "pin it" button makes pinning an extremely simple process This becomes easier with more boards. GoAbroad has 38! them engaged, you must provide new content on a regular basis. Keep it hi-res and colorful! Pinterest is all about captivating imagery, so avoid dull or
uninteresting pins at all costs. You could even use color
as a board theme? Be wary of
copyright infringement You can avoid this
by ensuring that your pins link back to
a website! Make pins & pinboards searchable A great way to gain extra exposure for your pins is to use keywords in the descriptions so users can find them when searching the site. Again keep in mind what Pinterst is used for… students are more likely to stumble upon your pin searching “Mount Kilimanjaro” than “study abroad in Tanzania” Share & Diversify You likely already have Facebook and
Twitter sharing icons on your site then
you should add a Pinterest one as well. Diversify social engagements.
Meaning, don’t just post the same thing on your three social media sites – cool meme becomes less cool when you’ve seen it on FB, and Twitter and then again on Pinterest! Pros &
Cons Informal research on your
students/constituencies
tastes and interests. Pro: Pinterest users spend
~1 hr 17 mins browsing the site. Well ahead of Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ Pro: If you’re looking to appeal to a female audience, you’ve come to the right place. According to AppData, 97% of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women. Pro: Some sites have seen a huge traffic increase due to pins that were shared from their site. According to Shareaholic, Pinterest had over 260 million unique monthly visitors in January. If you position your org wisely on the network, it can create phenomenal traffic for your site. Pro: You get to control your experience based on who you follow. Few self-promoters get followed back on Pinterest for long, so the system is self-policing. Pro: Understand that everything you share could go viral. If it does, you probably won’t get credit for the image unless you cleverly watermark in a way that can’t be cropped. Con: All pins start out being linked to a site or uploaded from a computer. Somewhere along the way many links get lost as pins/when shared, so it’s not a fool-proof way to drive traffic to your site. Con: You will need to invest time and energy into creating virtual boards with infographics and aesthetically appealing photos. Con: Not active on Facebook and Twitter? Pinterest is not likely to drive your social media outreach… Con: In general Pinterest is most relevant to companies selling products – and in some ways creates more of a catalog than social experience. Con: Long-Term Objectives Will it go the way of other social media? - Acquisition or merger with other SM
- SlideShare/iPhoto

- Become more commercial

- Add e-commerce component More diversified users. - Brides-to-be & designers

- More male users Branded pages for commercial users. - Third party providers

- University programs

- Program branding Add different media - more interactive. - Video

- Editorial content

- Brochures/flyers Analytics - PinReach

- PinPuff
- Calculate your Pinfluence Customization - Top pins

- Promote

- Ratings of pins-evaluation
component How to create a
strategic Pinterest account
for use in intl education. How to use Pinterest as a promotional, informational & communication tool. How to engage & interact with audience on Pinterest. How to leverage Pinterest as a
market research tool. Setting
It Up What type of contest?
Pin it to win it When is the contest?
1.5 months before departure - Create boards to promote specific locations, measure popularity of locations
EX) a "Barcelona" board - Based on "repins" and "likes" we can see what is on the mind / of most interest to our followers

EX) "Places where I want to study" "My study abroad", etc. What do "followers" want?
How are they using Pinterest? Market research via Pinterest contests... Choose a theme?
- pre-departure Review Pinterest's terms & conditions before creating your own Set goals & objectives you'd like to achieve for your contest Clear & simple instructions