You mean I can Pin about GC78? Sweet!
by Susan Kleinwechter, social media coordinator for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
What Pinterest is: CNET says, “If Tumblr and StumbleUpon had a baby, they would likely give birth to Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board with pins; users grab things from around the internet and pin them to boards. Boards, owned by a user, possibly with other contributors, are the organization tool, organized loosely around a topic or interest. The shareable content is called a pin; it is usually an image of some kind, with a description, links, and descriptive tags. In Pinterest the focus is on on quality images. It’s about (1)content (2)sharing and (3)sharing & commenting. Got that? Sharing is real big on pinterest.
Getting Started: Go to pinterest.com and create an account like you would for any other digital service. Activate the invitation following the instructions in the email you will receive. Set up an account, upload your image/avatar.
Tutorial: http://pinterest.com/about/help/ and http://www.gcflearnfree.org/socialmedia
At the start: After you create your account, create at least one board, maybe a board for convention.
Get ready to Pin: Install the Pinterest pin button (bookmarklet) in your browser (chrome, firefox, safari, IE) or go mobile and download the Pinterest app for iPhone and Android; links are here with other Pinterest goodies.
Connect with the diocese: search for “people” named “diofw” and follow the diocese at http://pinterest.com/diofw/. Follow the diocesan general convention board: https://www.pinterest.com/diofw/2015-episcopal-general-convention/. Once you follow the boards, an admin may invite you to become a contributor.
Become a contributor to our convention board: Our convention pinners need to follow the diocesan GC pinboard http://www.pinterest.com/diofw/episcopal-general-convention-2015/, and if you want to become contributors, let us know! Users added as contributors will receive an email notification. They can choose to remove themselves at any time.
Go Pin: You can find things to pin on most websites, or on Pinterest. In Pinterest, it’s easy – you search, and you re-pin, or you comment. You may find great resources on other sites, or in other social areas. You can search for content to pin. Are you a fan of
Good descriptions are essential content: Regarding pin descriptions, what you should ask yourself each time you write the description for a new pin is, “what would I search for if I was looking for this pin?” and “what do I say about this pin to convey the story I want to tell?” The more descriptive your pin is, the easier it will be for users to find, and for search engines to find, and the more valuable your pin is. Add URLs where ever you can. Also, it is very impotant to ADD TAGS (hashtags, keywords beginning with #)! You can add multiple hashtags at the end of your description. For example, you might use any or all of these tags for a pin about convention: #gc78 #episcopal #church #worship #event #deputy #deputies #bishop. Add as many as you want, but keep them relevant to the image.
Best practices: Pin from the original source, pin from permalinks, give credit and include a thoughtful pin description, using URLs where you can. If you pin from OUR blog or website, please remember to attach the URL to the pin and link the pin to relevant pages of our website.
@Mention: To mention another user in a pin description, use the form @username.
