Using Pinterest to Promote a Cause #blogathon2

Using Pinterest to Promote a Cause You are Passionate About #blogathon2 – Social Media for Social Good

This is a mini challenge for the Biannual Blogathon Bash, a twice yearly blogging marathon but anyone is welcome to read and use the information. However if you are signed up for the blogathon or you sign up and participate before the end of the blogathon, completing this mini challenge improves your chances of winning a prize. The blogathon is June 22-25. If you are participating in the blogathon, please do not complete this challenge until the blogathon has started.

Everyone loves Pinterest. They love pinning amazing recipes, beautiful places to visit around the world, travel destinations on their someday list, gardens out of fairy tales, crafts inspirations, make up tips, and cute pictures of animals to name a few of the more popular Board Subjects. What most people miss for the most part is that Pinterest can be used to help spread awareness about a cause, event, or idea that you are passionate about. It is so easy to create a post about your cause using fantastic pictures, quotes, and information about the cause that people can then pin onto their boards to help spread the word.

The example I used below is for dogs and cats that are in need of homes. I am not saying that for the challenge that you have to spread the word about animals in need of homes in fact I am going to give you all a link to a second example about how you can spread the word about a cause that is near and dear to your heart that looks nothing like the one below.

Help these special dogs and cats find forever homes. Please pin the pictures or share this post to help get more eyes to look at these pets you never know who will see it and find the perfect addition to their home.

Mr. Magoo is an older dog who was picked up as a stray. We think he is about 10 years old. He has a microchip from 2002, but information on the owner is no longer available. Magoo is looking for a nice quiet home where he can live out his retirement years. If you are looking for an older companion, this little guy may be just the one for you. He is very friendly and just wants to be held and petted. Come spend some time with him at the shelter. You can learn more about Mr. Magoo by clicking on his profile http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22745373




Mischievous “Mittens” is just as cute as can be. This little lady is incredibly sweet and incredibly SPUNKY! She is fearless in a tiny package. Mittens came to us several weeks ago, at the tender age of 4 weeks. A lady found her in her front yard under some bushes, with a terrible wound to her left front paw. It seems curiosity almost killed the cat. Apparently, Miss Mittens put her little paw somewhere she shouldn’t have, and pulled back a nub — LITERALLY. Mittens is missing four toes on her left foot, but it doesn’t slow her down ONE BIT. She can still run, jump, climb and do all of the wonderful things kittens do! Mittens loves children and she likes dogs, too. She is active, playful and a bundle of fun. Once she’s tired, she’ll curl up in your lap for a nice, long nap. Mittens is going to make a great pet. You can learn more about Mittens by clicking on her profile http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23010893




William is a three- year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He weights 30 pounds. He was surrendered to Animal Control from a puppy mill. Despite what he was used for William is social, fun loving, and loves other dogs. He would make a great family pet. To adopt William please complete an online application at www.homeforgooddogs.org. You can learn more about William by clicking on his profile http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23174716




Madge is quite the looker! Her perky ears intuitively seek out any sound or activity that needs a response. She’s extremely sensitive to her environment and her caretaker. Madge has been over corrected in the past and has decided that she has the right to give her future owner privilege to dominate her so be careful, she needs to be persuaded and loved first. Rules are ok as long as they come after relationship. She has a beautiful blue grey marble coat with eyes to match. A rarer beauty you won’t find. She is a playful young girl full of life and love to give! You can learn more about Madge by clicking on her Profile http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22830861

How you can use your blog and Pinterest to spread the word about a cause or causes you are passionate about.



To put this post together I went to Petfinder.com and looked for dogs and cats in need of homes that I felt had a good chance of getting pinned and re-pinned. I like to use pets that have a decent amount of information about them so that I can share on my blog in case people want to learn more about a specific pet and then link back to their profile so that people can find out how to go about taking the next step if they would like. Petfinder.com is completely focused on adoption and they try their best to keep unscrupulous puppy producers who pose as rescues off the site so you can be pretty sure every animal listed is actually in need of a home. You can find everything from horses to ferrets looking for homes on the site so if that is something you care about you are welcome to create a post similar to this one. Petfinder encourages sharing of bios, pictures, and information about the adoptable pets as the more eyes that see each animal the better the chance they will get adopted (I actually get to meet the founder who will be a keynote speaker this weekend at BlogPaws.)

I download the pictures of the animals from the site and then upload to my blog. I do this for 2 reasons. If you have the pin it button the information you include in the title and alt tag of the picture is picked up and automatically gets put into the pin. This way people can use that information and those who see the pin will know that not only is it a cute dog or cat but one in need of a home and hopefully be more likely to help spread the word with a simple click.

Let’s say your cause is not something that necessarily lends itself to amazing pictures that other people would choose to pin or re-pinn. Consider using your paint application to create snippets of information to share. I have endometriosis it is a disease that effects 1 in 10 women in the US and the leading cause of infertility. It is difficult to diagnose often taking 2 or more years and has no cure. If you take information about the disease or cause that you think people should know and use nice looking font and then upload the jpg to your blog you can ask friends and readers to pin the quotes and share the information that way.

Let’s say your cause is Breast Cancer. Everyone knows that the Pink is the color of that cause and while you might choose to find a graphic to post on your blog of the monthly breast self exam most people know what breast cancer is. So instead of doing a heavy post full of facts and figures I went a different route and instead wanted to spread hope. You can can a look at my post from last October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month Dogs Go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness as another way you can fulfill this challenge.



What cause is near and dear to your heart that is in keeping with your blog Niche or can be tailored to make it more in keeping with your niche? I don’t want this to be a difficult post but I want you to share with your readers and use Social Media for Social Good. Create a post and then link up here. Once you have created your post and left the link please visit the posts by the other participating bloggers, learn about their cause, and help spread the word by pinning their posts.