Pinterest has become one of the official social media darlings. There are tons of articles floating out there on the number of users, how much traffic its driving, and success stories of how the big brands are using Pinterest for business with astounding success.
How nice for them…
Let’s face it, we’re not super-brands or multi-million dollar conglomerates, we’re entrepreneurs, small business owners… you know, everyday people. So how can we use Pinterest for business, without spending all day pinning and browsing through tons of images? Let us count the ways…
3 Basic To-Do’s For Easy Pinning
First, let’s make it easy to pin and make it easy for people to pin your stuff.
- Install the “Pin It” bookmarklet on your browser’s Favorites Bar to make pinning a cinch.
- Add the “Pin-It” button as a sharing option on your website pages and each blog post.
- Add Pinterest to your “Follow Me” button lists on your website
Get Your Website To Generate A Pinterest Buzz
- When uploading your own pins, edit the description and link to point to your website. You’ll be able to drive traffic back to your website.
- If you use any images or video on your website, people may be pinning from it. Here’s how you find out what’s been pinned and by whom: Go to http://pinterest.com/source/<domain>.com/ – replace <domain> with your domain name.
- Work on creating more visual content for your website/blog so you’ll have your own, original content to pin.
Personal Pinning meets Professional Pinning
Just to give you some ideas (in case you’re stuck), I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’ve used Pinterest for business in a number of ways, including:
• demonstrating my niche and areas of focus, as demonstrated by my board “Social Media Marketing Tips“
• promoting specific products, as in books, or in my case, events, via my board “Events“
• showcasing my personality, via boards “My Lifestyle” and “Motivation and Inspiration“
• engaging my existing following, so I have my personal Facebook account linked to my Pinterest account
• expanding my current social media following, so I like and repin content, and follow others on Pinterest
Notice, I’m not blatantly self promoting my brand. I’m not pinning with a “me me me” mentality. This is a serious no-no on any social media platform, including Pinterest. You’ll have to balance your own content with the content of others to keep in line with Pinterest etiquette.
With so much visual stimuli on Pinterest, you may be left wondering what you should be pinning to market your own business. Let’s tackle this next!
So You Want To Use Pinterest For Your Business?
Enter this cool infographic I found. It gives you more examples of how you can use Pinterest for business. Whether you’re a service provider or a product-based business, this infographic should get your creative juices flowing.
Pinterest Infographic, an Infographic by Linchpin Social Media
Don’t Ignore Your Competition
Now that you understand what to pin for your own business, take a look at what your clients and competitors are doing to get more ideas on what to pin. Look to provide solutions to your clients’ needs. Make sure your pins can compete with your competition, in terms of content, quality, and frequency. These are the minimum criteria to watch.
These are just a few options to explore as you use Pinterest to market your business. You’re only limited by your imagination. Remember, Pinterest is still “social media”, so keep it social and just have fun with it. That’s part of the magic of Pinterest, you can mix business with pleasure, all in pictures!
In the words of Pinterest, Happy Pinning!
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
http://pinterest.com/misskemya
How do you use Pinterest for business? Leave a comment, I’d love to know!
[…] it a great place for businesses too. Think of it as a place to share ideas in a visual way and be creative about how you can use Pinterest for profit from that […]
[…] blog for business and I use Pinterest for business, and this board supports my marketing efforts. I created this board for a number […]
Helpful tips! I have a following just need a strategy to make better use of marketing my product on my boards! Thanks for the info
You are a Pinterest power user Monica! Creating your boards strategically with full pin descriptions will do wonders for your brand and sales. Nice to see you here:-)
Pinterest is my favorite, both personally and business-wise! I like the ease with which you can follow and unfollow boards, and for the most part you don’t feel like you’re being sold. I’m a very visual person and Pinterest also sparks my creativity. Great tips, thanks!
Yes Jen, I totally agree. It’s such a great mix of visual stimulation that I often lose track of time when using it. Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for this post! It is visually stimulating, and has a lot of great tips to get started with Pinterest!
You’re welcome Nina, I’m glad you like it!
I love how you walked me through the steps so clearly, Kemya, and also included the infographic. Your post made Pinterest a lot less intimidating to a newbie! Thanks.
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Perfect Rose, that was my goal in writing the post. Pinterest is such a fun platform, and I wanted to give a few shortcut tips to speed up the learning curve. Thanks for commenting!
Thank you so much, Kemya. This article sent me running back to tweak my current Pinterest boards and even create some new ones! You have given me a new perspective on the use of Pinterest in accomplishing my goals.
That’s wonderful Sonja, I’m so glad to help! Pinterest is fun for personal use, but it can be a major traffic driver as well. Get creative with your strategy and have fun with it. Thank you for commenting!
[…] you’ve already the decision to get pinning, take a look at my post A Handful of Creative Ways to Use Pinterest for Business so you can form a pinning strategy to optimize your pins and produce measurable results. […]
Great post, Kemya! I haven’t used Pinterest much, but this lets me see that I’m on track.
Thanks Sheila, I’m so glad you’re on the right track! It’s fun and it has lots of potential if you stick with it.
This is good Kemya, lots of helpful nuggets here to get the most out of using Pinterest.
Thanks Tamyka! I figured, why not write a Pinterest primer, and help entrepreneurs develop their own pinning strategy. I hope it helps those who need it.