Is Pinterest right for your business?

Unless you’ve been off the grid for a while, you’ve heard of Pinterest.

But what’s it all about? And is it right for your business?

Launched in 2010, Pinterest and in three years has built a user base of over 70 million users. It’s a lifestyle brand that allows you to create online pin boards organized around any topic you choose.

If you’re not in a B2C or design-related business (i.e., graphic or interior design, etc.), you might wonder whether visual pin boards would be relevant to your business at all. But you’d be surprised at the many ways any business can use Pinterest to connect with customers and prospects. Here are a few examples:

1. Create infographics, charts and other graphic representations of interesting statistics or trends. These are a user-friendly (and visual) ways to showcase information that is relevant to your audience and business, and gives you a chance to share your expertise.

2. Create a “guest pinner” board. Allow visitors to add videos and photos that fit in with your niche. You may also want to consider running a contest for the most interesting, unique, and useful pins on a topic. Offer a great prize for the pin that gets the most likes and/or comments.

3. Pin videos, not just photos. You could pin segments from speaking engagements, interviews, news clips, YouTube videos, etc., that are relevant to your business and community.

4. Use strong images with all your blog posts, and pin the images with a link back to the post on your blog. This is a great way to drive traffic back to your site.

5. Create a board for presentations and pin your presentations and other conference materials so you can share them with attendees after your session is over. You can also direct people who weren’t able to attend to the board so they can access the presentations as well.

6. Provide a bio board with photos of your team members and let them use it as a forum to show off their expertise on a particular topic.  This can give your customers an inside peek into your company. You can also pin photos of your company’s participation in conferences, speaking engagements, events and even show how your products are produced (if that’s appropriate to your business).

#7. Create boards for your customers. Include photos and link to corresponding case studies or testimonials on your website. Just make sure you check with them before posting anything!

Are you using Pinterest for your business? Post your tips and ideas below in the comments!