This is a guest post from our very smart friend Ponn Sabra of American Muslim Mom

At the advice of Janet, PinnableBusiness.com’s co-founder, I attended my first #pinchat on Twitter with their guest McDonald’s Corporation.

The #pinchat host and attendees were extremely welcoming (topic for another post), but their guest tweeter was filled with wonderful Pinterest Tips and Lessons.

#Pinchat is held on Wednesdays at 9pm EST. We use TweetChatto keep track and participate. The first #pinchat of June is with @Curalate – a monitoring and anayltics tools for Pinterest.

Top 7 Pinterest Tips from McDonald’s

1.) Set An Obtainable Pinterest Goal

McDonald Corp’s objects is simply To Share Fun and Unique Content in a Visually Appealing Way.

RT @McDonaldsCorp: Our main @Pinterest objective is 2 share fun & unique McD’s content in a visually appealing way>Classic Goal #pinchat — Ponn Sabra (@ponnsabra) May 17, 2012

Perfect example, Golden Arches History board, which is like “vintage art” reminding me how old young I am.

2.) Dare To Explore In Phase 1

They reiterated a few times, that this is just Phase 1 for them on Pinterest. They also made a cute joke, that they can’t track ROI (Return On Investment) with social media marketing, because we don’t know if seeing their fries on Pinterest caused anyone to drive-thru to buy some. So, keeping to Lesson #1: Setting Realistic Goals is important when venturing into a new social media network. I definitely think they’ve achieved their modest goal already, don’t you? Nonetheless, they want to be successful in their endeavors, so they shared fun ideas such as:

Stay tuned! We’ll be in London this summer & will pin content from the Olympics (of course in accordance with IOC regulations)! #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

They also said that international menus, “I remember when…” images are big hits, so they are excited to dig into their treasure trove of historical images and start pinning them.

3.) Tweet Every Pin

I found it very interesting that they Tweet all their pins. I do most of the time, but when I write a long-description I know the tweet will be cut off so I just don’t pin. I believe the lesson learned here is that “pictures DO speak louder than words, so when you use words, keep them to a tweet (140 characters or less).” Knowing they tweet each pin, and were open to a Twitter chat, I was curious to know what kind of integration they made with Facebook and Pinterest. Their response was:

@ponnsabra Our Corporate FB presence is small vs. Twitter, but we will often post a link to our pins. #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

I have no doubt that they’ll find creative ways to integrate Facebook, just like Lowe’s in Phase 2.

4.) Always Make Appropriate Links To Your Pins

I was very curious if they link out to various websites, or were they intending to just make nice, nostalgic stand-alone “collection” boards.

@ponnsabra Our pins link out to our Corp website & Flickr account & other McD properties. We are still novices at repins. #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

@ponnsabra We are linking out to each individual pin, not just the board. #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

I was very pleased with their methodology, because they are truly utilizing the social nature that their other websites don’t have the capability to do, like share, comment, like, repin, and bring you back to them. So, don’t forget to link out!

5.) Recycle and Integrate with Flickr Creatively

I really enjoyed the conversations about their creative use of their Flickr accounts, mostly because people claimed that Pinterest might kill them. However McDonalds shared that Pinterest started to breathe new life in their Flickr accounts. They host most of their images there for local events, sponsorships, etc. there, and will continue. http://www.flickr.com/photos/aboutmcdonalds http://www.flickr.com/photos/voiceofmcdonalds

RT @ponnsabra: @McDonaldsCorp Using Flickr gallery. Some say #pinterest would kill them. Great integration & recycling technique #pinchat — Janet Thaeler (@NewspaperGrl) May 17, 2012

Re: Optimizing on Flickr – they are right-sized for pinning & we *try* to give appropriate description for search #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

Warning or Tip:

@ponnsabra good point, if people pin from Flickr you lose the link back to the site. Instead send traffic to Flickr. #pinchat — Janet Thaeler (@NewspaperGrl) May 17, 2012

6.) Preference Lies With “Organic” or Amateur Images

Before the chat, my girls and I were noticing how beautiful their boards are…and wondered, how can we duplicate their efforts as entrepreneurs and small business owners. So, when we complimented them @McDonaldsCorp My wise @kidbloggersclub said, you’re at an advantage: You have gorgeous pictures! #pinchat

We were surprised by their reply:

@ponnsabra Oh, thank you!Many of our pins are professional shots taken for other purposes, but some are iPhone, Blackberry, etc. photos — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

So, we continued to ask if they were tracking the success of repins & likes for professional images versus amateur smartphone pictures. Their answer surprised us again!

@ponnsabra To be honest, we’ve seen no difference in the interest between pro & organic photos, though we prefer organic #pinchat — Lizzie (@Lizzie_McD) May 17, 2012

So, we think you should have a healthy mix of images on your boards. No need to not-pin simply because you’re not a professional photographer. Yet, spend enough time to make some pinnable-pretty-pictures for the things you want pinned.

7.) Keep The Conversation Alive

They are open to comments and suggestions for pin-boards and sharing their experiences to date. However, legally they cannot accept suggestions for the next-best Big Mac sandwich, since we’re a Fish-Filet-Family we find no need to offer them food-recommendations.
However, I’d love to see a “Billions Served” pinboard showing different arches around the world with low numbers in the millions…rather than billions. Now, maybe I’m showing my age, but I keep telling my girls, “I remember when it said Millions not Billions…” but with no dated images, I don’t know if my memory is just failing me.

@ponnsabra We’ll check the Twitter feed, but if we miss one, please tweet @Lizzie_McD will follow-up. Thanks again for joining! #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012Bonus: Keep Things Legal A bit of time was shared educating us on the difference between McD Corp, countries, charties, etc. For example

Because McD Corp is global, we do not hold SM contests because of different regulatory terms & conditions in 119 countries. #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

However, they encouraged tweeters to follow McD USA for contests and prizes:

Our U.S. team hold contests, so I encourage you to also follow McD USA @mcdonalds if you’d like to win things! #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

And, although Ronald McDonald House is their charity of choice, they are two separate entities. So, they encouraged tweeters to follow them on twitter and pinterest.

We hope you’ll also check out @RMHC on Pinterest: pinterest.com/rmhcA wonderful charity. #PinChat — McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 17, 2012

Looking forward to how you apply these lessons learned to your small business Pinterest board. Please share your experiences or concerns in the comments area below.