5 Creative Ways to Use Pinterest for Business

As the new #3 social network, Pinterest’s growth is meteoric and previously unheard of. Businesses can’t get there fast enough. But how should they promote their products and services without offending the calm, grazing culture of window-shoppers delighting in gorgeous, lush photographs. It’s a challenge. Here are 5 thoughts to get you off on the right foot.

1. Use Pinterest to Demonstrate Your Authority
Pinterest offers an ideal opportunity to demonstrate your authority in an area you know well. By breaking up the topic into specific “boards” you can show what is important to know and illustrate accordingly. It won’t be long before your point of view becomes obvious and your expertise respected.

2. Create A Photo Contest Of Customers USING Your Product/Service
Since Pinterest is all visual, it is an ideal platform for a photo contest. We’ve all heard that before. The best way to use a photo contest is to have customers (and/or clients) using your product, happily and creatively! This way you are promoting your product, for sure, but in a more subtle way. You are also sharing other ideas on how your product can be enjoyed, and in the best way possible, getting a 3rd party endorsement. All of which is Marketing 101. This way it’s fun. Don’t forget to offer a really good prize, though, that fits in with what your clients would truly appreciate.

3. Think Shopping List
So, if you are a party supply store, you might want to offer a board for every party theme you offer. Then, within that board, put up pictures of each thing that the host will need. For example: invitations, plates and cups, table decor, thematics, games, goodie bags, etc.
Don’t forget to upload your pictures in reverse order, as Pinterest doesn’t yet allow us to edit our boards. The photo of the invitations, therefore, should be the last upload, and the goodie bags (the “lovely parting gifts”) first.

4. Deploying The Gift Feature To Get Listed Twice
When you add the $ sign into the comments section of your pin, a snipe (or banner) appears across the top left hand corner with that price on the photo. So two things to keep in mind here: #1 don’t put any text on an image you’re going to snipe and #2 once you have put a price on something, that item shows up in the Gift Section, in addition to whichever board you pinned it on. Good, eh? You get double the exposure.

5. Research What Your Customers Care About
How well do you know your customer? If you know their names you can look at what they’re up to on Pinterest and see what they appear to care about. What they love and pin; what comments they make on their friends’ pins. This tells you important information about your tribe. It tells you their inner dreams (hopes, perhaps) and current passions. You are now better able to present your product or service in a way that either solves a problem or offers a delicious alternative to something already in play. If you search with a #, Pinterest will return every pin that has been identified with that phrase. This is usually a good place to start.