Recently I was reminded we are all content curators. We bookmark pages, subscribe to blogs, share photos and articles on Facebook, and tweet information. We’re building our own online scrapbooks. Everyone, not just bloggers.

Perhaps the most obvious tool for this content curating is Pinterest. Oh how we love Pinterest! {My husband mocks me because I have so many boards.} According to Expanded Ramblings, 48.7 million people have Pinterest accounts. While this feels small in comparison to the 1.11 billion on Facebook, 100 million Instagrammers, and 500 million Twitter users, bloggers and businesses alike have found Pinterest is a top referral source. In other words, you need a Pinterest plan. 

Your Pinterest boards are a valuable tool for branding yourself, marketing your products, and curating the information your readers and customers can use.

Here are four ideas for improving your content curation using Pinterest.

Create themed boards.

The ability to create boards based on certain subjects allows followers to understand your brand’s personality and what’s important to your online store. Why Pinterest Is So Important for Online Stores 

Authors like Tricia Goyer use themed boards to reflect the topics of their books. Her Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors board relates to her current Amish fiction series. With pins about quilts, Amish communities, and simple living, this board definitely curates information the readers of her books will find interesting.

Highlight your popular products.

People like popular products. When they know that a product is selling well and everyone else is buying it, they want to get a hold of it before they miss out. This is one of the reasons why there’s the Amazon bestseller list and the option to look at the most popular products on online stores. How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Products

Popular jewelry designer, The Vintage Pearl, created a Mother’s Day product board. By highlighting products especially suited for moms, the board provided a great resource for individuals searching for a beautiful gift for mom.

Provide useful information for your readers or customers.

Think about boards that would speak to the obvious themes, subjects, areas of interest, and issues that are important to your clients and potential clients. Many of your boards will fit into this category since topics of interest are what you want to focus on to draw visitors to your boards. This can also include ideas that aren’t spot-on with your business but are related in some way. 8 Pinterest Boards Worth Creating for Your Business

Your readers and customers will appreciate having a place to find that useful tip or great resource. As a social media coach, I’ve created a board with relevant information about social media including suggestions for time management, ideas for social media updates, and information about using social media well and ethically.

Make images on your blog or website pinnable.

Make it as easy as possible for people to pin your stuff. Include images on every page and blog post throughout your website and include Pinterest in your social media share buttons (at the bottom of every blog post). Make sure your websote logo (or header image) is pin-able (many aren’t). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to pin an article but couldn’t because there wasn’t an image to pin! Pinterest: A Visual Marketing Tool for Writers and Bloggers

Our editor, Sandra Peoples, does a fabulous job of creating pinnable images for the posts on her editing site, Next Step Editing. If you check out my writing board, you’ll see many pins from Sandra’s posts because the information is excellent and easy to pin!

One other tip:  Keep up with the changes Pinterest is making. Check out Products Added to Pinterest to learn more about how you can improve your product, recipe, and movie pins. Our friend Kristin Schell shared this cool recipe pin yesterday. How awesome does this look?

Here are a few other excellent posts about Pinterest strategy.

• The Complete Guide to Getting Started on Pinterest on ProBlogger
• 6 Ways to Better Promote your Business on Pinterest from Social Media Today
• Do You Need a Pinterest Consultant?  from ProBlogger

What tip for using Pinterest to curate content would you add to our list?

Whether you love it or hate it, Twitter is definitely here to stay.  With over 200 million active users (and up to 500 million total accounts), learning to navigate this face-paced social media tool has become a near-necessity for most businesses, non-profits, and bloggers.  As with all social media, there are those who use it well and those who, well, don’t.  Here are few tips we have found recently to help you use Twitter effectively.

Twitter DOs

• Make sure your password is strong. Mashable offers a great post to remind us how important it is NOT to share your Twitter username or password with any other sites.
• Understand how to use Twitter to build your brand.  Focus, consistency, and resonance are the three keys emphasized in this article on Social Media Today.
• Know how to use Amazon Affiliate links on Twitter.  If you’re an Amazon Affiliate, you need to read this post from Blogging with Amy with simple tips for incorporating affiliate links into both Twitter and Facebook updates.
• Consider how Vine can be a positive addition to your Twitter strategy.  Social Media Examiner offers 16 ways businesses are using Vine.

Twitter DON’Ts

• Be a bad crisis tweeter.  Excellent guidelines for tweeting in a crisis from Heather at Social Media Today.
• Be a twit, twerp, twidiot, or otherwise annoying tweeter.  Love this post with 9 types of tweeters you definitely don’t want to be!

What is your best Twitter tip?

Since we’re on the topic, have you connected with Design by Insight on Twitter?  We share three or four articles on social media, blogging, self-publishing, and writing daily.  Join us there too!