What’s that you might be asking? Pin what? A name we just made up? Pinterest is the new buzz word in social media. The new darling on the block. And it’s easy to see why once you check it out. It’s addictive! It’s pretty! And hey, it’s actually a great platform to engage with your customers! Read on to find out why and how.
Pinterest is an online visual bulletin or pin board that allows users to gather or “pin” images on the Internet to categorized boards thus organizing them together on a themed page. The images retain the original URL of the web page from which the user pulled the “pin” creating a visual bookmark for future reference. Other users can “repin” or “like” your images to their boards then share them to Twitter or Facebook, which creates a viral link-sharing environment.
Companies have started using Pinterest as it has huge viral advatnages to promoting their brand and messages. Everyone from Zales Jewlers to Whole Foods to The Today Show is on Pinterest.
Now you might ask yourself, how on earth can my company use an image sharing website? It might be hard to see how you can use a site like this to your advantage. But – with a bit of creativity and research you’re bound to find a way to use the new platform.
Here are six creative ways your company can use Pinterest.
Hold a Contest
One creative way to utilize Pinterest is to hold a contest. Lands’ End recently held a contest they coined: “Pin It to Win It”. Participants were encouraged to browse the Lands’ End site, create pins of items they liked and the most creative and stylish entries won prizes. This kind of contest can engage your audience and also gets them to your site.
Conduct Market Research
Have plans to revamp services or products in 2012? Why not test out new products or even your upcoming ad campaign on Pinterest?
Other brands have started using Pinterest as a platform to conduct market research or test product launches. In a recent Mashable post, one creative suggestion was to use Pinterest as sort of a social online focus group to see first-hand reactions, on a platform not as inundated as Facebook.
Present Concepts in a New Way
Did you know Pinterest allows you to add contributors to your boards? Have a few team members put together a storyboard on Pinterest to present to a customer. Or co-Pin with a customer to create a board full of ideas for their needs.
This works especially well if you are an organization with members from different companies and businesses. You can creatively engage with each other across companies to compile something together for the organization you are all a part of. Or if you are an event planner, or meeting coordinator which require both parties to be in agreement on what the final product style or idea is, Pinterest can be used to present your ideas and plans in a creative way. Not only that, it allows you to creatively engage with customers and prospects can see too!
Put a Face to Your Brand
Personalizing your brands style or what your brand stands for can be a hard thing to do with plain ol’ web copy. Use Pinterest to showcase your style, what makes you different, what your brand stands for and use it as an opportunity to highlight your employees too. Putting a face to your brand is easily done with Pinterest.
Promote Your Image Content
We recently started a board of our favorite infographics at Trestle Point- check it out here:http://pinterest.com/trestlepoint/infographics/Any company can do something similar. Feature all of your image content in one place for easy access.
Sell More Products
Pinterest can grow your business both indirectly, by growing your visibility, and driving more traffic to your website, and directly, putting pitcures of products or events you are promoting and add a link to the site where they can register/purchase.
The possibilities can really be endless. Tell us what you use your pinterest board for and stop by and check out ours at: pinterest.com/trestlepoint