The Under-Utilization of Pinterest for Business

Weddings, babies, recipes, dream homes. You, like many others, may associate Pinterest with a tool used by women in the process of “planning something”.  But what many people fail to realize, is that the concept of searching, saving, organizing and sharing information with others can easily and effectively be applied to your business.

Here’s how:

Promoting your business

Whether you are a B2B, B2C or a freelancer, there are several ways you can promote your products and services.

1. Think Like Your Customer. What are their needs? What are they searching for that would lead them to your product? How does your product fit into their everyday life?
2. Collect. Once you have the answers to number 1, begin collecting content such as articles, infographics and imagery that is relevant, useful and “buzz worthy”. Users are encouraged to see and save what their friends/followers are pinning, so be sure your content is worth talking about.
3. Organize. Begin creating categories or “boards” to house and organize the content.  For example, if you’re in the healthcare industry, create a “Healthy Recipes” board, or “Explaining the Affordable Healthcare Act” board and pin articles and tips from experts both in and outside of your company. Use keywords and the “category” tool within Pinterest to ensure that users can find your content.
4. Promote. Add the Pinterest icon to content within your website (it’s usually embedded in a “Share this” tool) and to the bottom of your email marketing. Share pins and boards with your customers, or direct them to the boards using other marketing materials.

Sharing information within your department

Information sharing (especially within major organizations) can be challenging when it’s through a “Did you see this?” email with links that get lost in the shuffle.

1. Connect Your Team. Create accounts for each team member (you may have to check your company’s social media policy and ensure that you have access). You can then invite each team member to pin to the boards that you create.
2. Create Boards. What type of information do you share with your team? Industry news? Trends?  If you work at an ad agency for example, you can create boards that will resonate with your clients or relevant within the industry (Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Project Management, Copywriting, etc)
3. Choose Carefully. Pinterest gives you the ability to make your pins and boards private, so that your competition can’t see what you’re pinning.  If you choose to do this, remember that your content will be hidden from everyone, not just the competition.
4. Get Notified. You can receive notifications when a team member pins to your board and they make it very easy for you to share relevant pins to others within your organization.

Using the search tool to “listen”

1. Keep up with your competition. Search to see if they are on Pinterest, and gauge the level of engagement from their followers.
2. Customers are probably already talking about you. Perform a search for your company – you never know if there are pins already out there.
3. Search for your industry. Find and follow other experts and boards. It’ll prevent you from reinventing the wheel.

Click here to check out Ad Club’s new Pinterest page.

Happy pinning!

What’s Pinterest?