You may have heard people on the internet talking about pinning a photo to their board or adding a new pin. Are you sitting there thinking  ‘what on earth are you on about?’ If so, then you’re probably not using Pinterest, a relatively new and rapidly growing photo sharing social media. Pinterest is used to share photos and pictures (pins) of things people find interesting such as: recipes, crafts, jewellery, fashion, inspirational quotes, photography, advertising and more.

When I started using Pinterest just over a year ago, I had no idea that it could be used as a marketing solution.  I used it to see as many movie posters, art from favourite artists, images of supercars and funny pictures of cats as I could. Little did I know that a business could use it to sell and advertise what they offer. When I started working at Appletree, I learnt that one of our clients posts regularly to Pinterest. I was curious to see what they could be doing. The client is a window and conservatory installer and supplier, they have a huge gallery of examples of work and ideas which we post on a weekly schedule, find relevant pins to re-pin and people to follow. 

Once I started using their account as a business, I started to see the potential that Pinterest has for a business. I saw how not only could they pin pictures of work they have done, but how they could add adverts they have running, info-grams packed with information and images. Suddenly I was seeing how useful it could be for other businesses.

If you’re selling a product Pinterest is going to be much easier and useful to you. You can pin pictures of products, people using them, logos and your product in abstract places to catch people’s attention. But what if what you offer can’t be held in someone’s hand or hung on their wall? How could an image based social media work for you?

I’ve had a look around Pinterest to see what B2B companies are doing. What I have found is very interesting. One of the best ideas I have seen are ‘How To Guides’ all over Pinterest, tall images filled with facts, figures and images. A pin doesn’t have to be just a photo of a cat sitting in a bucket of water with a caption underneath; it could be a long info-graph showing the benefits of using Twitter or the figures behind energy efficient windows.

I think the best way to see what works with Pinterest is to join in and see what your competitors are doing. Remember, your competitor’s audience is your audience too. Find businesses like yours to follow, see what they’re pinning and join in. Comment on and Re-Pin Pins that you like, the more you comment the more your name gets out there.

If you use Pinterest and would like to tell me why you think it’s so good then comment or get in touch here.