Well, I’ve called it that, being a mum myself, but’s let’s be honest, I think everyone needs Pinterest in their lives – I am a fan!
So before launching into my many, many loves and adorations of a Pinterest, I’ll back up a step and just check that you have heard of it in the first place. Pinterest is a visual discovery tool. Think of it as a bookmarking, list-making and mood board creating place, full of photos, facts and inspiration. I wrote a post about using Pinterest as a blogger a little while back, but I wouldn’t want you think it’s only helpful to bloggers, as no, no, no, it’s great for all!
Why is it useful? Oh, this is where it’s endless, as it is just so helpful. Here are a few areas for starters that it might come in handy, and I’ve linked to a few great Pinterest boards for you as examples to get you started, too…
– Food. Would you like a few fresh ideas for family mealtimes? Or do you have food allergies in your household and need specific recipes? Looking for slow-cooker meals, easy desserts, chocolate indulgences – it’s all here. You actually don’t need to buy a cook book ever again! A few food Pinners worth following – Emily Leary, BBC Food, Taming Twins and Jacqueline Meldrum specialises in Vegan and Vegetarian food.
– Fun activities for kids. There are just so many great ideas, for all ages. Check out RedTedArt, Rebecca English and You Clever Monkey to get you started. If the kids are bored, it’ll take you seconds to come up with something new for them here! There’s bound to be an idea here for pretty much any project, crafting, theme going, as well as anything that’s really popular with your children. The amount of Frozen boards that have cropped up lately is phenomenal! Frozen cakes, free printables, costumes, learning resources, games – it’s all there!
– Creativity for You. Whether it be knitting patterns, sewing tutorials, paper-crafting, crocheting, there’ll be loads to discover. Perhaps check out Craftsy, Tilly Walnes, CraftBlogUK as starting points.
– Home and Garden. Well this area’s just huge, isn’t it? Take a peek at Better Homes & Gardens, Ikea, Garden Therapy, LaurieAnna’s Vintage Home and Modern Home and go from there.
– Styling and Fashion. To keep up with the latest trends or look for inspiration for new looks. Obviously this is a personal choice, but you will find many fashion bloggers over on Pinterest, as well as most of the High St brands, for example Boden, Debenhams, Joules and Next.
The subjects and possibilities are limitless, as you can pin any web page and image onto your boards. Fancy trying Elf on the Shelf with the kids this year? Could do with some home organisation help? Looking for suggestions for a birthday party? Or maybe you just want to smile at a load of cute animals?!
Pinterest is where to go for ideas on all of the above and plenty more besides. There’s also a handy app for your mobile, so you can keep those lists on you wherever you are., and Pin in spare moments.
If you’re tempted to give it a go now, here’s are a few tips to help you on your way…
1. You can follow Pinners, which would be someone’s whole profile and every board that they have, or you can just select to follow certain boards that they have.
2. It’s worth following lots of boards initially, as then your home feed will stream plenty of ideas for you to Pin. As time goes on, you’ll get to know the Pinners that do give you great ideas and Pin things that you like, and for those that don’t, you can always unfollow them.
3. You can search for anything, like any search engine, and opt to search for either Pins or boards that fit what you’re looking for.
4. When you Pin something, Pinterest will often pop up with another Pinner that also Pinned that item. This is a great way to go and find like-minded people that you may also like to follow.
5. Along with your home feed, you can browse through categories, such as Popular, Gifts, Photography, Quotes, Design, Outdoors, Products, and so on. So again, a great place to be using to add to your own boards, as well as a good place to find people you’d want to follow.
It is like many other social media networks, in that you can comment on people’s Pins, like them, send them to others, send messages and find and follow people. It’s very easy to use, everything shows up in home feeds, and it takes seconds to pin and create new boards. You can have as many boards as you like, on whatever you like. Me? Well, I have quite a lot of boards, things such as For The Home, Kids Printables, Project Garden, Photography, Slow Cooker Meals, Fun Kids Stuff, Flowers, Family Meals and Snacks, Blogging Tips, Paris, Books, Letter-Writing- oh, so many! Go take a look!
What will you add first?
Visit The Reading Residence’s profile on Pinterest.
I love Pinterest! Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I browse through the Humor category, and giggle till I feel better, which never takes very long! Great post!
It’s just fab, isn’t it?!
I’ve only recently started using my account & I love it. Saves taking screenshots on my phone or forgetting where I saw something. Really want to start finding family recipes. Thanks for the tips on who to follow x
Oh, I’ve a family recipes board, too – so handy for that! x
I love pinterest too, my vice is cakes, I do a lot of searching for ideas and Pinterest is a great way of keeping everything in place. In fact I barely use my bookmarks at all now!
Nope, nor me – Pinterest all the way!
The thing that worries me about Pinterest (I’ve never really got fully immersed in it) is its ability to sap time. As if Facebook, Twitter and Instagram weren’t enough! I can however see that it would be very useful for recipes. They always work well as blog posts pinned in my experience.
Hmm, it can do that, that’s true! But, I think it’s more useful spending time there than on some of the other social channels, both for the info you’re gathering and as a blogger, it can be great for traffic. And yes, recipes work extremely well there (though there’ll never be birthday cake posts from us ..!)
I could not agree more! Pinterest is amazing, I am a complete and utter addict. In fact, it is Pinterest that made me want to start blogging. Lovely suggestions of people to follow. I will add the few I wasn’t following.
I love it! Where would we be without it?! x
I just followed all the pinners you suggested (well, those I wasn’t following already!). Looking forward to an exciting feed! I sometimes have to go on to ‘Most Popular’, probably because I don’t follow enough people (or maybe because I am a bit of an obsessive pinner, ha ha!).
Oh, yes, I go there, too, but then, I do like to Pin, too!!
Haha! Note to self – I didn’t need convincing 🙂
Nope, you’re on board!
OMG! I love pinterest – I have spent years tearing from magazines and searching for thing in those tears. Now its all organised and on my phone! I often do it late at night and the time goes too quickly… its so addictive! People are so clever!
Love this post – great for new pincers. And, thanks for a few new names to follow- and have followed you too!
As want to join your Elf on the Shelf linky party xx
I so love it on there! Ah yes, the Elf on the Shelf linky will be back soon!
#sharewithme
I’ve gone through fits and starts since I began using it, but I’ve esuddenly found myself on there more and more, it’s almost a stress reliever, if I need a break I go and look at lovely things! #ShareWithMe
Yes, it’s perfect for that!
What a perfect post as I just have been trying to wrap my head around PInterest and am in love and lost with it. I could pin to the cows come home and the sun turns blue not trying to learn to use it as a tool and try to get followers. Maybe I just pin boring things hahaha But it seems out of all the social medias the hardest to gain a following. I have finally organized it as best I can hopefully that will help. Great ideas and tips here too. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
Happy to help. It’s a great place to be, though it does take a while to get the hang of it if you’re trying to build it for your blog. Thanks for hosting x
Hello there, this is so interesting-I have used Pinterest for all kinds of things but am realising I can get a lot more out of it-I think I’ll be joining up imminently! x #sharewithme
Yes, do, it’s fab!
i love pinterest! It is the best procrastination tool on the planet haha. In all seriousness, it is my go – to place for ideas for the playgroup I run!
I love it there so much!
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