Are you using Pinterest to cross-promote and grow your business?
If not, you’re missing an opportunity!
A unique, image-based networking platform, Pinterest is a tool designed with the creative marketer in mind.
Below are 7 ways to use Pinterest for business and support your additional online and social media marketing efforts.
7 Creative Ways To Use Pinterest for Business
1. Custom Product
Create a custom board that showcases a specific product. Pin various images, including a description that tells the story behind the product.
You will pin images from your blog, website, Facebook, Google+ page, or even landing or marketing page. Each pin will then create a link back to the original content, cross-promoting that particular channel.
Let’s say you sell coffee makers. We’re going to use this example due to my love of coffee and my almost compulsive need to find the “perfect” machine. So, humor me.
You have done your homework and know exactly who your target market is and what they’re looking for. You are now going to share that knowledge through Pinterest boards.
What are the unique features or accessories that make your product special? (e.g. pause and serve, integrated pods, built-in grinder or permanent filter)
Pin those images and make sure your board name identifies exactly what you are trying to convey. It might look something like this, “How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee.” Do you think a few people are searching based on that exact question? I would say yes!
2. Featured Pinners
This idea draws upon your followers as well as past and potential clients for content. If you suspect you already have a loyal following who would love to help spread the word about your product or service or you know that you have fans actively pinning content from your website, ask if they would like to pin to a group board.
A group board allows you to add members who can then begin pinning content directly to your board.
There are several benefits behind this strategy:
- You have a small “marketing team” pinning on your behalf
- Every time they or anyone pins to the shared board, followers of that pinner will see that content thereby extending your reach
- This content is created and customized for your audience
Contests or sweepstakes always present a great cross-promotion opportunity on Pinterest. Since Pinterest is a visual platform, pinning the creative produced for your giveaway along with a call to action allows you to promote your sweeps while boosting visibility of your various other social or online properties.
Whether you are running a contest on Facebook or a sweepstakes on your website, use Pinterest to drive traffic to that site. How? Besides pinning your contest graphic, consider pinning:
- Contest guidelines
- Little known facts about your giveaway
- Answers to FAQ about your prize (what does it do, who does it help and how will it make the consumers life better)
- A timeline of events if you have multiple giveaways during your sweepstakes
4. Market Research
Do you frequently analyze market data and provide valuable insight to consumers? Turn that data into eye-catching images, Infographics and data-driven creatives.
5. Videos
Are you creating how-to, educational or informational videos that are housed elsewhere on the web? Well, get pinning!
Showcase your videos by creating specialty Pinterest boards designed to provide an easy way to categorize and sort your videos so clients can easily locate what they are looking for.
Does a pet grooming company offer simple how-to videos that pet owners can use at home? Break those down into unique boards that are SEO optimized for optimal exposure. What does this mean? Take your time making your title as true to the “what” behind your videos. That is, what will the consumer find, get out of and benefit from your videos.
Again, as a pet grooming company, you might have boards called:
- Pet Training Videos
- Pet Potty Training Videos
- Pet Leash Training Videos
You catch my drift. Make it as easy as possible for anyone searching and stumbling upon your Pinterest page to know exactly what type of content you offer.
6. Coupons
Do you offer daily coupons promoting a special service or feature within your business? Pin it!
Create a board that includes past and present coupons. Why? It allows new followers to see what type of coupons you have offered in the past and gives them a clear sense of whether or not they want to keep up with future offers.
It also allows you to pin new coupons and share that link on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to drive traffic back to Pinterest. The goal is to create a board that becomes your “coupon hub.”
7. Local Content
If you are a local company frequently writing content designed for your city, neighborhood or community, give it a boost by pinning it to Pinterest.
Create a local board that shares training or workshops taking place in your office, presentations or events you will be holding in and around the city, events you are hosting or supporting within the community, local hotspots or favorite sights to see.
Excellent content is all around you. Giving it a second life on Pinterest creates fresh momentum by providing an “evergreen” hub to house it in.
Hi Rebecka,
I am a regular Pinterest fan and my pins are appreciated..but I heard people earn money also.
….how??? Is Pinterest only for leisure? I highlight my blog with downloads..really an awesome site!! How do I earn through Pinterest??
I just want to say that all the information you have given here is awesome…great and nice blog thanks, sharing..
Thank you very much for this one. And I hope this will be useful for many people.. and I am waiting for your next post keep on updating these kinds of knowledgeable things…
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Aside from Facebook being my favorite, Pinterest has proven to be one of the best social media tools in promoting any type off business online. Tested and proven to be an effective marketing tool that any business enterprise could have. Great post, by the way. Thanks a million for this! Cheers!
I used Pinterest a lot, it gives traffic and I really like to pin & repin.
Very interesting website & I love to see images.
Hi Rebekah,
Thanks for sharing, I have just started to learn more about Pinterest so this helps. I specifically wanted to know is there a way you go about getting followers i your niche or is it just spending the time to re pin and comment on blogs?
I just started some time ago but did not understand how it worked now I get the concept, understand how to use this platform for my business. Thanks.
I love Pinterest. I can spend hours here. And I have been pinning business stuff here too. I’ve found it helps drive traffic which is fab.
These are super tips. Thanks
I’m curious- do you have a separate “personal” Pinterest and then a business one, or just combine the two? I am a PPC Specialist/Digital Marketer and do you think I should minimize the amount of personal stuff I share on my business Pinterest account or like do both? advise pls? Thanks!
Hi Zara! I don’t have two separate Pinterest account. I just have a business profile and use that for all of my pins. It might be different if you had a local business or were a big brand, but for me, it’s how I manage all of my social media. Personal and professional combine into one.
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank
for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results.
If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
Hi Rebeka! How are you?
Thanks for your insights! Number 7 is my favorite!
I’ve been using Pinterest for a few months now and it’s becoming a greater place to drive traffic and build new relationships with other prospects and thought leaders for my blog!
I’m even trying a different approach to engage my audience: a “Have to say” album with customer-uploaded ideas.
Thanks,
Helena.
Hi Helena! I love that idea. It’s a terrific way to get your audience involved and highlight customer ideas. We all love to talk about ourselves, so getting customers to share their own ideas shouldn’t be difficult to to! 🙂
Hey Rebekah! So cool ideas to cross-promote my business. I just loved your way of smarter advertising!!
Thanks Sarah! There’s so many great ways to use Pinterest to market and promote your business!
I am reading all kinds of valuable articles today. I’ve been thinking about pinterest and how I need to get on the ball and reorganize my boards and start doing cross promoting. Thanks for the tips. I am now inspired to tackle this!
Hi Rebekah, Great examples of effective ways to use Pinterest to cross-promote your business. Pinterest drives a huge amount of traffic to my blog, though I enjoy the site and visit it often just for fun.
Now when I choose or create images for my blog posts I keep Pinterest in mind. I think about how the image will appear on Pinterest and whether people will be compelled to click through to the article based upon the pin.
I’m a member of a bunch of group Pinterest boards, though I wouldn’t want to monitor one on my own. I’ve seen a bunch of group boards with spam pins. All it takes is one rogue member and suddenly the board is a disaster. I was a member of a great group board on swimming pools that was closed after someone posts spammy weight loss pins on it.
But when you join a group board you get access to a very broad audience for your pins. I just pinned this article to a group board on Pinterest tips.
Thanks for sharing your insights with us, Rebekah!
This was very helpful! I actually went to pinterest and pinned my current giveaway on my facebook fanpage. Thanks so much. Blessings, Amy
Pinterest is a great support when it comes to promoting your business. Another supportive method is banner creation and publishing which can easily grab attention of your customers.
Pinterest was one of the mediums that people believed wouldn’t work for content rich blogs.
But lately I have been seeing that many of our blogs are driving a good amount of traffic via Pinterest.
The hover feature introduced by Pinterest has been easy to implement and a lot of people from the marketing arena are searching for good images via Pinterest.
So if you can use good, catchy images it is possible to drive a lot of traffic via them to your blog…
Pinterest changed their terms last year stating that pin to win contests are not allowed. Did this change again?
Hi Rebekah,
Did you update your blog? It looks awesome! Very attractive, love the boldness of it. You ideas are great! I haven’t used Pinterest much. I was hopping all over social media platforms and it got to be too much. I can see the value in it though. I really like your ideas – they bring more value to just posting an image ..
Great list of different ways to utilize Pinterest. It seems Pinterest is becoming a greater place to drive traffic and build new relationships with other. I have seen the coupon promotion become more popular recently in addition to seeing more videos. Thanks for the great ideas!
Pinterest is a great resources especially for niche topics where you can create visual appeal. Using it has made me more conscious of what blog images I use from the point of view of what might be shared.
I run a Christmas site and Pinterest was my main sharing tool because of the large range of images I could post on the blog as well as re-pin.
Hi Rebekah,
I’m not using Pinterest yet to cross promote my business; however, you have given us some great direction on how to do so here. I do put my blog posts there and I suppose that the least I can do is categorize them there. Creating how-to videos is also a task that I can easily implement.
Thanks a bunch!
Rebekah, Perfect timing for this post I just read a report on a survey which said businesses now value a “pin” over a “like”. Really informative coverage you have given here! I will be looking into to this more as I currently pin all my posts and do get traffic from there, but I’m sure using some of these tips will help me increase that 🙂
I like this list of ideas, Rebekah. They look quite doable! When I first heard of Pinterest, I couldn’t imagine what possible use it would have, or why people were raving about it. More and more I see the potential for profit, while at the same time giving followers a glimpse into what I like on a more personal level. I love browsing through others’ boards.
Willena
Wow Rebekah! Once again another masterpiece! Thank you for such an awesome write up with tips on how Pinterest can be used by creative people in a creative way.
To be honest, I have really not focused on Pinterest much. I have kept myself engaged with Twitter/Facebook and Google+ world so far although I plan to expand my reach into Pinterest a bit more this year and your post gives another push to my vision. Thank you for a timely post.
Regards,
Kumar
Great tips Rebekah. I love Pinterest and have been on board almost since the beginning. I use most of your tips, but I must admit I have not had a good experience with group boards because the few I’ve joined ended up becoming an unruly mess. I like the way you’ve presented it in a more controlled fashion so I may give this strategy another try. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Rebekah,
Great article. I started on Pinterest like a lot of people not really knowing the best way to set up my boards. I have learned so much from people like you and others working with Pinterest.
I will be going in and rearranging my boards and making them easier to find. Thanks for the ideas.
Have a great day. Monna
Hi Rebekah,
I’ve been away from Pinterest for so long that I didn’t realize these powerful changes that have manifested on this platform.
Gee….It makes me want to jump back in! But I know my limitations, and need to finish my product at this time. Have to keep my blinders on. But I must thank you for this post!
I do have lots of newbies asking me questions and although I’m not on this platform, now I have better knowledge to pass on to them.
Many thanks!
-Donna
Pinterest is a great platform for syndicating your material, for sure.
I know it’s really good for contests and coupons, like you described.
I never thought, though, of using it in conjunction with video trainings. I think that’s a great idea, especially if you target them tightly as you show us how to do here.
I’d really like to explore some of these marketing uses for Pinterest. Thanks for the good ideas.
Well, darling, you are not a PIN-QUEEN for no reason. Thanks for these wonderfully innovative PINNING strategies to position a brand front and center!
Now, can I create a PIN board for a Facebook contest that I am running for a client? 🙂 It is a bi-monthly contest with simple giveaways. We also want to run bigger contests with more expensive prizes!
Thanks dear
Kit
Great idea and use of Pinterest boards Kit! You just have to think creatively when it comes to Pinterest. There are so many unique ways you can market your business and your clients. The sky is the limit!
Some great ideas there, Rebekah. I have used Pinterest for a while, but had never even considered the possibilities you mention.
I shall look at Pinterest through new eyes now!
Thanks
Alan
There are so many amazing ways to leverage Pinterest Alan. It’s just up to you to decide what works best for your business.
Have fun!
Horrible Post Rebekah! ;>
Got a couple of new ideas off this post, and a reminder of a few others. I was actually just writing about almost the same topic on Monday. Great minds…
And coffee! Is that the machine you are using? You have to get yourself a Nespresso machine! My lattes rock! It was the greatest gift I ever got. Ever. (did I say ever)
have a good one
ashley
Hee hee Ashley! Just read your Pinterest post and the wealth of info you shared. Awesome stuff!
I have a Keurig, but actually use my Gaggia daily and LOVE it! Yes, I’m a coffee addict and no, I don’t have any desire to rectify that. 🙂