The thing which I love most about social media is that it keeps producing one game changer after the other. If you have been following social media circles off-late, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about Pinterest. In fact, Pinterest is not a recently launched social network; it has been around for about two years but its bagged limelight only in the last couple of months.

In this post, I tell you more about Pinterest and how you can use it for your business.

What is Pinterest?

Simply put, Pinterest is an image-based social network where users create virtual bulletin boards for a variety of topics ranging from cooking, places to visit, to great books they’ve read. It works on the concept that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pinterest uses Boards that are a collage of photos and short descriptions. Users can follow all of another user’s boards or they can just follow certain boards. In short, it’s a social network where you act based on what you see and NOT based on what you read.

Why to use Pinterest for Business?

While it’s no Facebook, Pinterest adoption has grown at a scorching pace in the last few months. In fact, it’s reportedly reached 10 million users faster than any other in history. As a business, it’s an opportunity which you should consider exploring.

How to use Pinterest for Business?

Having played around with Pinterest for a while, I believe it’s a great value add tool for business. Here are 7 ways in which you can leverage Pinterest for your business.

1. Disburse Product/ Service Info

The first and most obvious use of Pinterest is to promote your business products/ services. Simply pin your own products to share with other users in the appropriate categories and share them with a specific customer base.

2. Customer Engagement

Although it’s all about images, Pinterest is a social network at the core. It’s an ideal platform for businesses to build a community around their brand. When users re-pin your items, make sure to comment and thank them. Follow other users, and encourage others to reciprocate your actions. Based on what I’ve seen so far, Pinterest has the potential to become a highly effective customer feedback tool.

3. Link with other social networks

For businesses which already have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, I reckon Pinterest to be a great value addition. As a business, you should redirect customers to Pinterest from these other accounts. It provides customers with a new way to interact with their favorite brands, and improves your business’ social media presence.

4. Contests

I believe Pinterest is a great platform to hold contests to spread the word on your business’ products and services. Come with some innovative contest ideas, ask customers to re-pins, participate on specific boards or creating boards on their own.

5. Gifts

Add a price tag for the items you pin, and add your website link. Pinterest highlights such items in the “gifts” section on Pinterest. Make sure to use the Gifts section to gain more customer outreach for your products and services.

6. SEO

Pinterest is SEO friendly – when you pin your products, add your website link for SEO purposes. This way, you can get high quality backlinks whenever you or other users link to your products. Make sure you write concise descriptions and choose the right keywords to help improve your search-engine ranking.

7. Exclusivity

Lastly, you should realize that Pinterest is still a newcomer in the world of social media. Encourage customers to interact with you on Pinterest by offering exclusive content.

Have you used Pinterest for business yet? What’s your success mantra? Please have your say by leaving a comment.