This might not be the first article that you’ve seen about Pinterest being the new social media site for companies and churches who want to reach out to their customers and church members, but for those of you who haven’t heard about this new trend, here I go…
Pinterest is a website that has become very popular over the past year or so and has a huge female following. Companies have just started setting up their own accounts on the site in order to get their names out there. Pinterest has over 11 million unique visitors each month, according to TechCrunch.com, so you can understand why everyone else wants to get “on board”, too (pun intended).
It hurt me a little bit when I signed Shelby Systems up for its own account, just because I know that the majority of people use Pinterest for good craft ideas and recipes, and the presence of a company might not sit well with everyone. I was in college when Facebook started and back then, only college students could have an account on the site. It then opened up to also allow high school students, and with that came a lot of frustration. We all thought we were part of some exclusive college site and we didn’t like anyone else being a part of it. As we all know, it then opened up to everyone and Facebook is bigger than ever. They frequently make changes to the site, too, and you will often hear people complain about it… but nevertheless, it keeps growing and people adjust.
The point is, I could set up Shelby on Pinterest with a clear conscience because we aren’t a company set out to overwhelm everyone with information about software. Instead, we work on a day-to-day basis with churches around the world and we want to know what is relevant, important and interesting to them. Instead of advertising, it is a way for us to have fun and get to know our customers a little more.
I like the interview that Tim Schraeder from Park Community Church did with Jake Johnson from Mars Hill Church. In the article titled “Churches Reaching Out With Pinterest”, Johnson explains that Pinterest is a great way for Mars Hill to further connect with female members and to “talk about Jesus”. The church even has a pinning board that they call “Jesus” that sends a message to those following that says they are now “following Jesus”.
If you are on Pinterest and want a fun way to stay connected with us, please follow and we will try to follow you back!