Pinterest is a virtual scrapbook or pinboard that allows users to share and organize visual imagery. A user can pin anything from around the web and other users can re-pin their images.

Users organize their Pinterest pages by categorizing content on boards. For businesses, Pinterest can be a way to curate visual content like infographics, videos, company culture, and even blog posts. Pinterest can help promote creativity, but always make sure that your content is relevant to your audience. Pinterest pages can also be used as landing pages for email campaigns, events, or presentations. The boards provide a unique way of organizing content to be visually appealing to your prospects. Make sure you are including a good content mix in your Pinterest boards. Followers will want to see a combination of business and culture content.

 Advertising and Infographics Rule!

Today, marketers can get tons of great examples of award winning infographics and advertising campaigns on Pinterest. When pinning, pin the most visually interesting aspect of what you are sharing, like a special banner, slide, or cover page to get the most engagement and to make your brand look like it belongs.

 Get followed: SEO is Important

Pinterest’s search is mainly how people find you and your pins, and it is all about keywords. For instance, a picture of a cat with no description will not be found in a search for “cat”. However, simply adding a description will immediately get eyes on your pin. Load up relevant, popular keywords in the description of your pins and boards and you are guaranteed to get more views/likes/follows.

 Fresh Content Creates Waves

Just like any other social media platform, Pinterest rewards those who bring fresh content. So while it’s very easy to fill a board with re-pins, ultimately the fastest way to increase your followers is by pinning new and interesting items.

Great Opportunity for Additional Promotion

The pinning of handbags and skirts, directly or through fans, is a great way for retailers to socially market their goods, but companies that sell $20k consulting packages or $400k aircraft engines still don’t have Pinterest in their marketing plans. Should they? If they care about or spend money on any of the following, then the answer is definitely “yes”:

SEO

While there are many theories about how the big search engines score social media linking, connecting Pinterest can certainly help your efforts.

Content

Do you have some interesting content that has done well on other social channels? Why not pin it? Just as the Facebook audience is different from the Twitter audience, Pinterest allows you to appeal to a more visually focused crowd that may not be spending their slow hours on Facebook or Twitter.

Design

Are you a design forward company? Or do you typically develop design-forward campaigns? Pinterest is all about the visual, so leverage the fact that graphic designers are one of the most prolific groups of pinners, get your creative team to pin their work to inspire and be inspired!

Marketing

Just as designers pin and re-pin designs that inspire them, marketers pin and re-pin campaigns that inspire them. Start a company board to show your peers the beauty of your marketing and build your reputation among prospects and possible job candidates as a top tier marketing company. Next, start a board with pins of others’ marketing campaigns that inspire you.

How are you using Pinterest to market your business?