Feed Your Creativity and Cultivate Your Brand Persona with Pinterest

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As a child, I was never successful at the bulletin board collage. Like many girls, I longed to transform a magazine cut-out of my favorite pop group du-jour into a beautiful display framed by printed quotes and colorful peace sign stickers. Sadly, many of my attempts to bring this to fruition ended in what looked like a kindergartener collage gone-wrong.  I simply lacked the artistic touch I needed to bring my teenage vision to life.

But now, Pinterest is giving me the opportunity to redeem my aesthetically-challenged youth, and then some. The site, which launched in 2010, is a virtual pinboard – a social curation service that lets users organize and “pin” things that they find interesting . People use pin boards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes and organize their favorite recipes, according to Pinterest. I know what you might be thinking – it sounds kind of girly – and it is, at least right now. In fact, 59 percent of Pinterest’s users are women between the ages of 25 and 44, according to Mashable. But if this isn’t your target demographic, stay tuned – Pinterest’s audience is continuing to grow and more men are starting to get on board. And during the week ending December 17, Pinterest had 11 million visits – that’s a 4,000 percent increase from just six months earlier.

The concept of Pinterest is not entirely new. In a way, it took what sites like Tumblr and Delicious had been doing and turned it into a more image-focused, structured set up. It doesn’t incorporate the blog-like stream used on Tumblr and Facebook, but is instead focused on visuals and short commentary in the most shareable way possible.

For me, Pinterest is an online version of my childhood bulletin board. But for brands, Pinterest is opening doors to new and creative ways to engage with social consumers. So if Pinterest is a network that lets users display their favorite online content in one place, how can your brand get some of its content “on the boards”? Here are three ways to start getting engaged and bring some serious personality to your brand:

• Add a “Pin It” button to your website. It’s the age of sharing and most content sites use plugins like Add This to offer visitors one-click sharing options for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Pinterest offers its own version of the sharing button, so if your website is image-heavy or has lots of visual content, consider adding the “Pin It” button to your existing sharing options.  This allows readers to automatically share content from your site on one of their Pinterest boards.
• Create a company page. There’s a slew of brands already using Pinterest to further their brand personality. Brands like Michael’s,Whole Foods, Chobani and Travel Channel are great examples of ways to promote a brand through Pinterest, without necessarily pushing their own products – something which Pinterest advises against. Instead, these Pinterest pages share images that capture a lifestyle while relating back to the brand. For example, Michael’s features boards dedicated to party planning, wall décor and DIY projects, while Whole Foods shares images of sweets, winter foods and inspiring kitchens. The key is curating content from sources beyond their own websites to show consumers a holistic view on a particular industry, expertise or topic. And while this may seem easy for traditional lifestyle brands to tackle, this approach leaves room for B2B brands and other industries to get creative, too – take a look at AMD’s Pinterest page or Drake University’s page for some inspiration.
• Engage with other users. Like all social networks, Pinterest works best when its users collaborate. Companies with a presence on Pinterest should make a point to follow other users and to “repin” or “like” posts that catch their eye. Users can also comment on pins, which gives brands ample opportunity to offer a tip on a DIY post or a suggestion for a recipe (keeping with the examples of Michael’s and Whole Foods). Even better, by getting engaged with other users, brands can gain insight into what consumers find intriguing or are passionate about. It literally gives you a glimpse into the minds of your customers, so consider how you might be able to use that information to improve and enhance your products or services.

If you haven’t been lucky enough to score an invite to what might be the hottest emerging social network of 2012 (so far, at least), be sure to drop us a line and we’ll get you set up.

Tell us: Are you using Pinterest? Have you interacted with any brands? Or, are you a brand just getting involved with the site? Do you just want an invite so you can test it out for yourself? Join the conversation on our Facebook page.

PS – Follow Text 100 on Pinterest for communications-related (p)inspirations!