5 Ideas for Pinterest Boards That Can Help Build Your Brand

BY Karen Leland | December 18, 2012|

2 Comments

As a growing number of consumers jump on the Pinterest bandwagon, the opportunities to use the social-media site for business have grown exponentially.
What is Pinterest? The bulletin-board-style social image sharing website is a relatively new social-media phenomenon, created just two years ago and rapidly became one of the largest online social networks. The site allows its users to create and manage image collections, known as "boards," grouped by theme, and follow others with similar tastes and interests.
Pinterest recently launched business accounts, allowing users to define their accounts as businesses or brands, and the possibilities for using the site to promote your business, book or product are becoming significant.
If you're interested in getting started on Pinterest, but don't know where to begin, consider the following ideas for boards that can help build your brand.
1. Education. "How to" information does well on Pinterest. Look at the materials your company has that educate, teach or inform your customers or prospects. For example, do you have an ebook, white paper or video? You could pin the image of that content with a live link to download the paper or play the video on your website.
Related: 3 Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest's 'Secret Boards'
For example, Flourish Design Studio has a board titled "Wordpress Training" that features a series of pinned how-to videos on using WordPress, covering everything from how to create links to embedding video. What's worth noting is that these videos were not created by Flourish. They were created by a site called wp.tutsplus.com. Flourish has simply pinned them and given proper credit and a link to the content creator's website.
2. Feedback. Thinking about launching a new service or product? Try a virtual focus group by creating a Pinterest board that allows you to test what your target market thinks. Brand managers can post and pay attention to what is getting liked, repinned and commented on, then pivot as needed. Beyond seeking feedback on products and services, you could ask for opinions on a particular aspect of your business.
3. Events. If your business is hosting a training, meeting or upcoming event, create a board that introduces it to your audience. Some ways to promote the event without being overly spammy include pinning information about:

• The speakers
• Workshops and other educational sessions
• Sponsors
• Location and surrounding area
• Special events within the event

You can also include:

• Blog posts related to the topic of the event
• Special offers for early registration
• Event photos and attendee comments

Related: 5 Free Tools for More Powerful Pinterest Marketing
4. Makeovers. If your business lends itself to visually showcasing before-and-after images, this board is for you. Businesses that can take the best advantage of this include makeup artists, hairstylists, wardrobe consultants, interior designers, landscape architects, plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists and home or office organizers. Even coaches and consultants can use this board by creating pins that showcase impressive outcomes, such as an increase in sales or Web traffic that resulted from their intervention.
5. Company culture. Generate greater customer engagement by giving your clients an inside peek at your business through a board or boards that offer a feel for your company's style, ideas, projects and commitments. For example, Whole Foods has a board called Whole Planet Foundation, which features pins of projects from around the globe that reinforce the Whole Foods commitment to sustainability, organic farming and green in general, as well as inspirational sayings that reflect the company's whole-living message.
While these boards aren't likely to make you Pinterest superstar overnight, they can help get you started on a path to finding and engaging your potential customers with visuals that speak to their needs.
Related: New Tool Gauges Pinterest Mentions
Read more stories about: Social networking, Branding, Social Media Marketing, Pinterest, GrowthCon

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Karen Leland

Karen Leland is an author and president of Sterling Marketing Group, a marketing and brand-strategy firm based in San Rafael, Calif. Her forthcoming book, Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business, will be published by Entrepreneur Press in May 2013. Find Leland on Pinterest.  

Invest in You

Tonight I left one meeting to attend another...as usual.  But this one is special.  The Urban League's Young Professional General Body Meeting.  ((This is a time where young professionals can learn from seasoned professionals and from each other. ))

So I rushed in a bit after the meeting started and tiptoed to the back of the room where I saw an open seat.  I landed right in the midst of a conversation on finances and the concept of paying yourself first.

This is a principle that I love by.  And I live by it automatically. 

David Bach wrote a book entitled the Automatic Millionaire.  He emphasizes that you will automatic gain millions if you save and pay bills automatically.

Your brain doesn't have time to think of ....where should i spend this extra $20, if the $20 goes automatic into a savings account/ IRA.

Simple? Yes?


The conversation also resulted in the importance of investing and learning how to invest vs. just trusting someone else with your money.

My challenge to you.  Take the time to understand how and where money flows in and out of your account.  Read the book Think and Grow Rich.  And get connected to those taking action on their finances!

Invest in you!

Much love,
Coach Cass
Coach for Female Entrepreneurs
www.InspireMany.com
coach@inspiremany.com

Do You Find Yourself Falling For These 12 Familiar Myths?What myths of clutter do you resist–or believe?

Do You Find Yourself Falling For These 12 Familiar Myths?What myths of clutter do you resist–or believe?


Published on February 7, 2013 by Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project



One of my Secrets of Adulthood (and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists) is: Outer order contributes to inner calm. More, really, than it should. Why does making your bed make such a difference?



But as much as most of us want to keep our home, office, car, etc. in reasonable order, it’s tough. Here’s a list of some myths of de-cluttering that make it harder to maintain order.



1. “I need to get organized.” No! Don’t get organized is your first step.



2. “I need to be hyper-organized.” I fully appreciate the pleasure of having a place for everything, and perhaps counter-intuitively, I believe it’s easier to put things away in an exact place, rather than a general place (“the third shelf of the coat closet,” not “a closet.”) However, this impulse can become destructive. If you spend a lot of time alphabetizing your spices or creating eighty categories for your home files, consider whether you need to be quite so precisely organized. I find this particularly true with toys – I’ve spent hours sorting pretend food, Polly Pockets pieces, and tea sets, only to find everything a jumble the next day.



3. “I need some more inventive storage containers.” See #1. If you get rid of everything you don’t need, you may not need any fancy containers.



4. “I need to find the perfect recipient for everything I’m getting rid of.” It’s easier to get rid of things when you’re giving them to someone who can use them, but don’t let this kind intention become a source of clutter, itself. I have a friend who has multiple piles all over her house, each lovingly destined for a particular recipient. This is generous and thoughtful, but it contributes mightily to clutter. Try to find one or two good recipients (including a place like Goodwill), or if you really want to move your ex-stuff in multiple directions, create some kind of rigid system for moving it along.



5. “I can’t get rid of anything that I might possibly use one day.” How terrible would it be if you needed a shoe box and didn’t have one? Do you need a giant backlog of ketchup packets? How many mugs does one family use?



6. “I might get that gizmo fixed.” Face it. If you’ve had something for more than six months, and it’s still not repaired, it’s clutter.



7. “I might learn how to use that gizmo.” Again, face it. If you’ve had a gizmo on the shelf for a year, and you’ve never used it to make gelato or label a sugar jar, it’s clutter.



8. “I might lose a ton of weight and then I’d fit into these clothes again.” If you lose a bunch of weight, you’ll want to wear a new pair of jeans, not a pair you bought seven years ago.



9. “I need to keep this as a memento of a happy time.” I’m a huge believer in mementos; remembering happy times gives a big happiness boost in the present. But ask: do I need all these t-shirts to remind me of college, or just a few? Do I need to keep a desk to remind me of my grandfather, or can I use a photograph? Do I need fifty finger-painted pictures by my toddler, or is one enough to capture this time of life? Mementos work best when they’re carefully chosen – and when they don’t take up much room!



10. “I need to keep this, because the person who gave it to me might visit my house and be hurt when it’s not on display.” Is that person really likely to visit? Is that person really likely to remember the gift? Will the person really be upset by the lack of viewing of the gift?



11. “If I have any available space, I should fill it up with something.” No! One of my Secrets of Adulthood is: Somewhere, keep an empty shelf. I know where my empty shelf is, and I treasure it. This creates a bit of an issue with my husband, who likes to plunk something down on an empty shelf; he also likes to start using the new toothpaste before every bit of toothpaste has been squeezed from the old tube. He has his flaws.



12. “I might need this.” If you haven’t needed it so far, maybe you won’t need it in the future. And you can probably get it, if you do need it. A friend with acquisitive tendencies told me, “I remind myself that I can store things at the store. Those things will be at the store when and if I need them. I don’t need to keep that stuff in my house.”



How about you? What myths of clutter do you resist–or believe?

FREE 7 Day Spread the Love Challenge

Hey family!

I was watching Family Feud and they pointed out that February was the number 1 month for engagements.  Valentine's Day is coming up and this is the season of love!

I'm a mush.  I infuse love into my daily life to make it more exciting.

Knowing that my life is love filled, I wanted to make sure to spread the love to you too.

Hence the 7 Day Spread the Love Challenge.

A challenge created to bring more love into your life.  Yes single or taken you can use more love in your life.  Every day for 7 days.  Your focus will be to spread the love.  The more you give love, the more you will feel loved.  It's a "lovely" feeling.

Let me know how it goes family!

Welcome to the Challenge!

www.InspireMany.com/spreadthelove

-Coach Cass
coach@inspiremany.com
305-349-3648
Ask me about our coaching program