Pinterest is far more than a digital scrapbooking site. It’s visual content marketing made easy – and it’s big business for a lot of different types of companies. If you haven’t had time to build a presence on Pinterest, now’s the time to get started. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on increased traffic, better brand recognition, and a killer way to promote the content you’ve worked so hard to create.
If you’ve been reading our series of blog posts about Pinterest, you already know how to set up your account fast and you’ve discovered some of the ways content marketers can use Pinterest. But now we’re going to focus specifically on B2B marketers, since your goals on Pinterest are unique. So here’s a list of 17 ways B2B marketers can use Pinterest, with examples to inspire you to get pinning.
1. Create a board of company infographics.
Let’s start with the obvious: Pinterest is perfect for infographics. You’ll find thousands of infographics already out there. If your company has even a few simple infographics you’ve made over the years, put up a board to showcase them. If you haven’t made any infographics yet, assemble a dozen of the best infographics about your industry and post them as a board.
The Pinterest board below is our infographics collection. It’s got a collection of Act-On’s infographics gathered together in one place.
2. Create a board featuring your products and/or services.
Provide tips on how to use your product, expert advice for getting started with your offerings, or industry information that shows people what to expect from your service. Dell’s board of Tech Tips for Consumers is a good example of this.
You don’t have to be too strict in keeping to your business or your industry. General tips like business productivity, office space savers, and even office etiquette are all fair game. In other words: Be flexible. Be entertaining. Be helpful.
3. Create a board of your blog posts.
This board from Silver Compass Digital is a lovely example.
Notice the images used for these pins. They’re the header images from the actual blog pages, like this:
Want to save yourself some work and get more social media shares? Make the header images for your blog posts this easy to share. The header image in the example above could be used in a tweet, shared on Google plus, or posted on Facebook.
Want to take this a step further? Enable rich pins on your Pinterest business account. Then set up rich pin “Article Pins” for your posts.
4. Create a board of your email newsletters.
Save your email newsletters as PDFs or images and embed them on a Pinterest board. Extra credit: Include a prompt to join your email list, like SmartBlogs did:
If you don’t have a way to feature your email newsletters on your site, this is a good shortcut. You can also include a link to the board on your email sign-up page so subscribers can see samples of what they’ll be getting.
5. Create a few boards for keywords you want to rank on.
Pinterest boards do actually rank on Google search. This is the result of a Google search for “search engine optimization infographics.” The first listing in the organic rankings is for a Pinterest board titled “SEO infographics.”
The key takeaway here: Put some thought into how you name your Pinterest boards. Think of the name of your Pinterest board like it was the title tag of a web page. It should include keywords but also entice human readers to click.
6. Create a board of your employees.
This is a great way to share your business culture and attract new recruits. Give each employee their own pin. Only have a few employees? Add other pins of employees in action.
Here’s a board of Act-On employees. We added a twist by including “then and now” photographs. (How else would you have known our editor Sherry Lamoreaux rode in rodeos in her youth? Now she wrangles words.)
7. Set up a board for your case studies.
Case studies are one of the most effective tools for attracting new customers. If your company has written any case studies, create a board dedicated to those publications. Don’t have any case studies of your own? You can still have a case studies board – just post other case studies that you admire.
Here’s an example of a case studies board from Hootsuite:
Marketing ninja trick: Pin content from companies you’d like to have as clients. This doesn’t have to be on just your Pinterest case studies board – it could be for any board. For example: If there’s an HR firm you’d like to have as a client, follow their boards on Pinterest. Follow them on other social media sites, too. Like and share their content. It might take a while, but they will notice.
8. Develop a board for your webinars and SlideShares.
Hosting a webinar is a gigantic amount of work. But done right, it’s worth it. Even after the event, you can offer a recorded version of the webinar. Everyone posts their webinars on their sites, but put yours on Pinterest, too. You’ll get more people to see your work.
This is nice for your audience, but it can also help you. Having all your webinars in one place for easy viewing makes for better brainstorming. The image above shows our Pinterest board of webinars and SlideShares.
9. Add a board for your white papers.
This is similar to the case studies board, but it’s still worth mentioning. Don’t hide your white papers on some back page on your website. Post them on Pinterest for everyone to see. They may not be the most visually interesting collateral you have, but Pinterest isn’t just for pictures anymore.
10. Include a board for your videos.
You can embed YouTube or Vimeo videos on Pinterest. So if you’ve got a few videos, why not get them out there for people to find? Videos are a lot of work, so don’t skip this excellent promotion opportunity.
11. Use a board to feature your customer of the month.
Social media is about people, and B2B social media marketing is also about people. So make go make a board about your favorite folks – your best customers and clients.
This is also a great way to get more attention to your Pinterest account, and to your company in general. Whenever you promote another person or company, there’s a good chance they’ll mention you in their social media updates. That exposes you to their audience. It’s a bit like free advertising, but with an endorsement.
This technique of audience sharing is one of the most powerful ways to expand your reach.
12. Collect a board of inspirational (or entertaining) quotes.
Quotes get shared a lot on Pinterest. If you want more repins, creating a few pins of favorite quotes is low-hanging fruit. Quotes also demonstrate your company culture and humanize your brand. This board from a law firm has several boards for quotes.
13. Share a board of events you’ve participated in.
Add a board to show your company out and about in the world. Anything from the Holiday Gala for the Humane Society to an international conference is fair game. Runs to Starbucks don’t count, unless you run into a celebrity while you’re there. The office 10K for charity? That counts. Be sure to take plenty of pictures at every company event, and ask employees across the organization to share theirs.
14. Put together a board of what it’s like to work at your company.
Even if you’re at a super-conservative firm, there are tasteful, professional ways to show your personality on social media. This is one of them.
“What it’s like to work here” boards are also excellent recruiting tools. They can also be helpful to business journalists who want to write about your firm.
15. Create a board of humorous things.
Face it, if it’s funny, it gets shared. This could be memes, or cartoons, or just funny pictures. A law office might create a board of lawyer jokes. A recruiter could post a board of images or other media about “interviews gone bad.” The accountants who assembled this board clearly have a sense of humor. If they can have a little fun, so can you.
16. Showcase a board of direct mail pieces.
This isn’t for every company, but if you do direct mail, it’s a board you should have. This board is from the US Data Corporation’s Pinterest account.
Print advertisements, billboards, and any other types of offline advertising can also merit their own board. It’s a great way to get twice the exposure without paying twice the price.
17. Don’t forget to include a board for portfolio items.
A portfolio board is a must-have if you’re in the creative industry. Marketing agencies, graphic artists, and copywriters should feature their best projects. Landscapers, interior designers and architects could have their versions of portfolio boards, too. A commercial real estate office could create a board for active listings.
So that makes 17 Pinterest boards you could create to promote your business to other businesses. That’s hardly every board a B2B marketer could create; I’m sure you’ve already thought of several more. What are your favorite B2B Pinterest boards? Let us know in the comments.
Title image photo credit: Twin Design / Shutterstock.com