Pinterested in What Women Pin

The build out of my business projects was evolving very nicely, I thought, so 14 months after being Not Pinterested, I look a first step inside the pin board: +Chicago.

Last year I came up with a video project, specifically interviewing Chicagoans, including visitors, and asking them what they liked about the big city: from culture and cuisine, to sports and museums, whatever.  Circumstances made such a project very difficult, so I shelved it.

But in July, I thought I could post photos I had taken while up-and-about in downtown Chicago, and a blurb about them.  It was a simple way to have fun with what I had and to explore how Pinterest actually worked.  In effect, Pinterest in my first step toward a build out of my +Chicago project.

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Ashley Faulkes asks Is Pinterest just for Chicks?  Its members are still predominantly women, since I first caught wind of this growing social media. 

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Faulkes encourages men to join Pinterest, and suggests topics that this 20% of members might enjoy: from food and gadgets, to humor and travel.  I don't think these topics necessarily make Pinterest a big draw, since Google+ and Facebook already have plenty on such.  

I shared Faulkes' article, and posted this on Google+:

Women are an e-commerce force, so for business people, at least, it makes sense to know, and get a good "feel" for, what they're interested in. That's one reason I'm on Pinterest. 

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On Google+ I added:

87% of users on Pinterest are women, and users spend a whopping 89 minutes on average.

I have since launched my second Pinterest profile, this one as an integral part of my T'ai Chi Empower project.  

T'ai Chi Empower

As I conceived T'ai Chi Empower, I already had women as a primary audience, though not exclusive one in the least, so Pinterest was very much on my radar in the build out.  +Chicago gave me a better feel for the site and pins of interest to women.  I decided to frame my boards more openly around empowerment, instead of strictly T'ai Chi, having to do with physical, psychological and spiritual aspects.  

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Rebekah Radice offers a good rundown of the fundamentals - 8 Pinterest Tips and Tricks: A Cheat Sheet for Newbies.  The key thing is her first: Learn the language.  Because it's free and easy, you can open a profile and explore the site firsthand.  Read about it, research it, as I did with Pinterest over months.  But you learn best by simply getting into it.  

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD