Pinterest is one of my favorite (and most used) social media tools. It shouldn't surprise you that I can spend hours (OMG, really?!) scrolling through boards and adding pins to my feed. As someone who spent years organizing inspiration folders on her desktop and many hours before that clipping magazines, it's become invaluable to my creative process! I may or may not boast upwards of 10k images spread over carefully curated boards... It's a problem.
I'm obviously a visually driven person and I'm also someone who's building her brand. The need to catalog inspiration and represent myself in a graphic way lead me to use Pinterest for a bunch of different purposes. All of these techniques can be used to make your business/blog better too!
+ working with clients / collaborators
One of the most important ways that I use Pinterest is by creating project-specific boards that correlate with things I'm currently working on. The introduction of the secret board earlier this year totally changed the way I was pinning! For example, right now I have four active secret boards... 2 upcoming shoot concepts that require a ton of inspo (my editorial team can add images to it too!), 1 client styling board where we can both get a sense of each others' visions & 1 board full of sources for a future blog post. The thing I love most about using Pinterest as a planning tool is, instead of explaining my vision for something, I can show the people I'm working with.
+ sharing your work
Another great use for Pinterest is as a platform for getting exposure for your work. Whether you're a blogger, a retailer or a general maker, who couldn't benefit from a few more pairs of eyes on your creations!? Since pinners are prone to repin visually appealing images (portrait style does better vs. landscape, brighter & cleaner reigns supreme, etc.) keep your target audience in mind when shooting/creating graphics.
+ creating a cohesive brand
My favorite part of my Pinterest account is that it's a visual representation of Chelsea & The City. While it's fun to pin a little fitspo, add a few easy recipes for dinner with the fam and bookmark DIYs to try, if you're using Pinterest for your business or blog I suggest sticking to a general theme. I'm careful to only pin images that illustrate the lifestyle I envision for my brand and for my readers. If you're a designer or retailer, I suggest pinning work from other designers that inspire you, color stories you're attracted to and/or ideas you'd like to explore within your brand.
p.s. Whatever you do, remember that Pinterest is a fun, innovative tool that can expand your audience quickly! Check out your most frequently repinned photos to get an idea of what your followers would like to see more of.
Check out my Pinterest adventures here!
