As I continue to follow Pinterest as a user and see others jumping on board, I’m excited to see some great business uses for the site. As with all social media communities, there are some great practices and some that are not-so-great and borderline irritating. Below I have outlined some simple Do’s and Don’ts of using Pinterest for business purposes:
DO…
*Do follow other people within your industry.
*Do follow other people who have similar interests as you.
*Do follow people from within your target audience.
*Do post infographics related to your business.
*Do have a mix of personal and professional pin boards on your profile.
*Do install the ‘Pin It’ button to your tool bar and integrate ‘pinning’ into your everyday life.
*Do post relevant YouTube Videos to related pin boards.
*Do repin other users pins, especially when they’re related to your industry.
DON’T…
*Don’t tag all your Pins to repost on Facebook and Twitter – you’ll annoy your other online communities. Only use this feature with purpose for really good posts or information you want to get out there.
*Don’t only create boards, pins and repin business information – throw your personality in there and like & pin personal things you like.
*Don’t pin or repin photos or videos that are inappropriate or too personal if you are going to use Pinterest for business purposes.
Examples of Pinterest Use for Business:
Dan Morris is a fellow social media and digital marketing consultant and had a great use of Pinterest that his parents actually used to sell their home. They posted their house with photos on Pinterest and then they shared it with a description on Facebook:
Jamey Tucker is a TV news reporter for WKRN in Nashville who syndicates tech news reports for local tv stations. He created a pinboard on Pinterest related to what he does calls “Tech Guy Favorites” and tweeted one of his favorites from that pin board to Twitter:
As I continue to monitor and generally be obsessed with Pinterest as a user, I will capture additional examples of Pinterest uses for business and share with you so you can apply it to your own business!
Follow Me on Pinterest at: http://pinterest.com/mailynne
