A Handful of Creative Ways to Use Pinterest For Business

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.

1. Install the “Pin It” bookmarklet on your browser’s Favorites Bar to make pinning a cinch.
2. Add the “Pin-It” button as a sharing option on your website pages and each blog post.
3. Add Pinterest to your “Follow Me” button lists on your website

Get Your Website To Generate A Pinterest Buzz

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!