Pinterest

The hottest new social media site, at least among people in my digital neck of the woods, has to be Pinterest, a self-described “online pinboard” that lets users “organize and share things you love.” When I first signed up, posts seemed to pool in the areas of crafting, home decor, fashion, and recipes. But now that I have settled in, I see it can be used for anything with any kind of visual impact. Users post images of actors, tattoos, city blocks, homemade food, inventions, inspirational quotes… the possibilities are endless. I started posting appealing tidbits related to my blog about green, ethical travel.

I even saw a request on a freelance job board for a copywriter to help a company promote its products on Pinterest. There’s plenty of unexplored territory for businesses on Pinterest, but I think nonprofit organizations might even have better luck. People don’t necessarily want to see their creative space cluttered with ads; they may be more open to supporting a cause, though—if it has some visual appeal. Some examples of pinboards nonprofits could create: cute endangered baby animals, the prettiest wildflowers of the Southwest, cool T-shirts to raise awareness about human trafficking, healthy recipes to make with your family, the winning ideas for a green design contest, the sculptures in a museum’s new exhibit, etc. It remains to be seen how this new tool will actually help businesses and nonprofits, but I love the unlimited potential it has.

TweetAdder

Another tool I’ve been using (for clients) is TweetAdder, a program that helps people and businesses save time using Twitter, while continuing to get their message out in a strategic way. The program automates tasks like publishing tweets, following and unfollowing other Twitter users, messaging new followers, sharing other users’ posts and links, and announcing new blog posts.

The major downside of TweetAdder is that the program must be constantly open, on a computer that is turned on and awake, for all automated tasks to run. It does take an initial investment in setup time, and I’m still working out the most efficient way to use it, but it can definitely make social media tasks easier for those who have a high volume of content to share and a large number of followers, and who already have their computers on all day anyway.

Over the weekend, my friends at Idealist.org successfully launched the new version of the site in English, Spanish, and French! The design, copy, and code are brand new, and there are now plenty of interactive features you can use to connect with people and organizations, save searches and listings, and post your own content.

I’m especially proud because I know how much work went into it. From development to copywriting to translation to design, it was a huge team effort that I’ll never forget being a part of. I obsessed over details like the use of capital letters in error messages, the order of links in the footer of the site, and the translated list of country names; and learned to do things like write specifications documents, create wireframes, and administer online translation systems.

If you’re on Idealist, connect with me here.