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You are here: Home / Social media / How to Use Pinterest For Non-Visual Businesses

How to Use Pinterest For Non-Visual Businesses

December 22, 2013 by Jan Kearney

How to use Pinterest for non-visual business

I’m sure by now you’ve been sucked into Pinterest, drooling over images of fabulous food, admiring far out fashion or planning your next craft project.  What if you have a non-visual business, can you still use Pinterest?

The answer of course, is YES!

Contents

  • How to use Pinterest for non-visual businesses
  • Pinterest is about discovery
  •  How can you tap into stages 1-3 as a non-visual business?
  • Related Posts

How to use Pinterest for non-visual businesses

Pinterest isn’t reserved for the crafters, fashionistas and foodies.  A less than visual business can also take advantage of the power of Pinterest to start driving traffic to your website, increase your reach and online visibility.  From accountants to coaches, health care providers to insurance brokers to marketers to solicitors and beyond, this post is for you.

The first thing to remember about Pinterest – it isn’t all about you and blasting your message to the masses!

While it has been reported that Pinterest drives more conversions to sales online than any of the other social sites, it is not a “selling” platform.  Yes, you can pin your products, point people back to your services or opt-in forms and even to your front door using Pinterest maps – but that isn’t why people actually use Pinterest!

Pinterest is about discovery

From the Pinterest blog, users generally follow these 4 stages

1. Aspiration: the moment you get inspired to pursue a specific interest (say, taking up golf)

2. Anticipation: the phase where people look into the interest and start prepping to actually do it (like, researching golf clubs).

3. Participation: (this is the fun part!) when people actually participate in the interest they’ve decided to pursue (like, playing nine holes at a local course)

4. Reflection: where people reflect on the activity, maybe by taking a photo and framing it or sharing it on a social network

 How can you tap into stages 1-3 as a non-visual business?

1. Aspirations and goals

Think about your target audience, what are their goals and aspirations?  It can be aspirations related to your business but also think about their interests and hobbies too.

The publisher, Random House have Pinterest boards for almost anything related to books, including this board for Literary Tattoos

Inspire your Pinterest followers - literacy tatto board from Random House

Propose PR, a PR Agency for the wedding industry, curate vintage wedding inspiration photos on their Pinterest board A Vintage Affair

Propose PR Pinterest inspiration board A Vintage Affair

Inspirational quotes and sayings always do well.  Even large brands like RedBull use them often – they tend to get re-pinned!

inspirational quotes and sayings do well on Pinterest

effective people are not problem minded

This quote is part of a set of 50 available to purchase from PLR Productions

Inspirational quotes and sayings related to your industry are very easy to create.

Since it is estimated that 80% of pins are repins, it’s good to get some fresh images up there. All you need is an image you created or a suitably licenced royalty free/public domain image and an image editor.

If, like me, you don’t have a creative bone in your body you can always get others to create quotes for pinning.  The very pretty quote above is one of a set of 50 quotes (and the backgrounds to add your own quotes), which is available from PLR Productions.

2. Anticipation: the phase where people look into the interest and start prepping to actually do it

This is where you can go crazy on Pinterest and show off your knowledge and experience, even as a non-visual business!

  • videos explaining your products/services
  • customer testimonials and successes
  • behind the scenes boards
  • before and after shots
  • mission and values board
  • resources related to your industry
  • facts and stats about your industry
  • how to’s
  • tips

There’s an absolutely brilliant Hangout on Air between Denise Wakeman and Joan Stewart.  It is just over 40 minutes long, I would suggest grabbing a beverage of your choice, notebook and pen and watching all the way through.

Joan explains how her tips Pinterest board ranks at number 1 for the term “free publicity tips” and how she utilises that success.  Her tip pins are nothing fancy – in fact she creates them with Powerpoint!

Bonnie Gean has a great tutorial for making images of sticky notes (Post-it notes) using Gimp, a free graphics software.  Sticky notes would make a great background for your tips.

3. Participation – when people actually participate in the interest they’ve decided to pursue

Like any other social media platform, Pinterest is a two-way street.   It’s fab for getting your target market involved with what you do and encouraging the use of your products or services.

Mr Rooter is a plumbing company in North America ask for submissions to their Pinterest board “Where in the world is Mr Rooter?”  This would be a good Pinterest map board now too!  Pinterest board Where's Mr Rooter

Even Greater Manchester Police are pinning away – the MyGMP board shows how they are listening to their community with community reporters.

Pinterest for non-visual businesses - Greater Manchester Police

Pinterest sweepstakes and contests are an excellent way to encourage participation.

UK loan company, Pounds to Pocket ran this Pin it to win it Pinterest contest earlier in the year.

Pinterest contest for non-visual business

A contest can be cross-promoted to expand your audience and are a good way to encourage people to sign up for your email list.  Want more Pinterest contest ideas?  Cheryl Stinchcomb gives you 6 Pinterest contest ideas from “pin it to win it” to giveaways over on her blog.

Here’s a reminder…

How to Use Pinterest for Non-visual Businesses from Jan Kearney

Over to you…

Are you a “non-visual” business that uses Pinterest?  I’d love you to add to these ideas in the comments below.  Don’t forget to “pin” this post if it has inspired you to get pinning!

How to Use Pinterest For Non-Visual Businesses by Jan Kearney
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Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: images, Pinterest, pinterest marketing, Small Business Marketing, social media for small business

About Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest

Comments

  1. Francene Stanley says

    December 23, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    What a well-researched and informative article. Thank you for sharing. I’ve used Pinterest, but fail to see the relevance for me.

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 23, 2013 at 2:36 pm

      Hi Francene – Pinterest is now officially the 3rd most popular social network and an author can really take advantage of that to increase their reach and expand readership, especially the contests that can build up your mailing list.
      As a visual platform, it can be used to make your books “come alive” in images – whether that’s your own or submitted fan art.
      Like you, I dismissed Pinterest as not for me (I don’t do graphics to pin, I’m not visual, I prefer to read!) reviewing where my traffic came from this year – Pinterest surprised me. It surprised me more when I added rich pins.
      It’s not a platform for everyone, but worth a look to see if it can be incorporated into your marketing strategy.
      Thanks for popping in, and have a wonderful Christmas!

  2. Bonnie Gean says

    December 23, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    These are some awesome ideas, Jan! I’ve got to try some of them out!
    Thank you for the shout out, too! It’s always a pleasure to see our names in lights. 🙂

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 23, 2013 at 2:38 pm

      Hi Bonnie – I’d love to know how you get on, you are far more graphical than me!
      I think your post-it notes would make great tip boards too 🙂

  3. Galina St George says

    December 23, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    Hi Jan,

    I am learning so much about using Pinterest for business from your posts. I can see how I can use it for my offline business. Time to start creating those images and making myself seen to a wider public. Priceless tutorials!

    Best wishes,

    Galina

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 24, 2013 at 3:01 pm

      I’d love to know how you get on Galina – do keep us updated! Thanks for popping in and have a wonderful Christmas 🙂

  4. Ginny Carter says

    December 23, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    Fab examples and your series has prompted me to re – energise my Pinterest account! Well researched, thanks.

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm

      Re-energising mine too Ginny! Thanks for popping in, have a fab Christmas!

  5. Marilyn Thompson says

    December 23, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    Hi Jan, this series is so full of fabulous information that I’ll need to revisit when I have the time to focus more on boosting my Pinterest activity. Thanks!

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 24, 2013 at 6:44 pm

      Thanks for popping in Marilyn, have a great Christmas!

  6. Misty Spears says

    December 24, 2013 at 2:51 am

    This is sparking a cool idea in my head for some community interaction on a niche site of mine. Thank you! Great article!

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 24, 2013 at 6:45 pm

      I can’t wait to see what you come up with Misty! Have a fab Christmas!

  7. Debra Jason says

    December 24, 2013 at 4:11 am

    Great tips and wonderful examples to demonstrate each point.
    Thanks.
    Two tools I like to use for creating images with quotes are Pixlr.com and Picmonkey.com
    🙂
    D

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 24, 2013 at 6:49 pm

      I love Pixlr and Picmoney too Debra 🙂
      Thanks for popping and your lovely comment – have a wonderful Christmas!

      • Debra Jason says

        December 24, 2013 at 8:01 pm

        Happy holidays to you & yours too!
        🙂
        D

  8. Tamsin says

    December 24, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    You’ve got some great ideas there, Jan – and I’ll need them for my business niches …………… what are your suggestions for NOT getting sucked into the pics of Pinterest, though? That’s what keeps me away from it!!

  9. Jan Kearney says

    December 24, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    Ahh Tamsin, when I was looking for boards to use as examples I was sucked in and lost in Pinterest for hours! But when you’re pinning, once your boards are set up there’s no need to sit gazing at your feed. I pop in once a day and like/re-pin what I find useful or interesting – timer on so not getting carried away looking at recipies for quick oat, banana and chocolate breakfast things (honest)
    Thanks for popping in, enjoy your Christmas (and get pinning lol)

  10. Una says

    December 30, 2013 at 9:52 am

    Thanks Jan, I’ve not used Pinterest for a while and didn’t realise I could post videos. I’ve now set up a board for the “12 Days of Christmas” contest running until 5 Jan with the videos embedded!

    Cheers for the tip. 🙂

    • Jan Kearney says

      December 30, 2013 at 12:52 pm

      Hi Una – yes you can pin videos too 🙂 I entered your contst the other day – am I supposed to be receiving mails? I’ll go look up your vids!

      • Una Doyle says

        December 30, 2013 at 12:59 pm

        Jan, I’ve just checked the list of entrants and I can’t see you on there… Not if you’ve used your real name for it. Which entering a contest why wouldn’t you! LOL

        Strange, didn’t I see a tweet from you? Do you want to enter your details again at http://www.unadoyle.com/12days and I’ll check it again afterwards?

        Thanks and apologies for any inconvenience….

        • Jan Kearney says

          December 30, 2013 at 1:25 pm

          I did enter as me – I even tweeted and FB shared (a couple of friends signed up too lol) Oddly I was just cleaning up my email and a tweet was there https://twitter.com/JanKearney/status/415997299681021952
          I have re-entered, but popping over to my gmail your day 5 is there – no other days lol
          The joys of technology!

          • Una Doyle says

            December 30, 2013 at 2:01 pm

            Hi Jan, great you’re in! There’s a link in the Day 5 email for the email archive. Or you can head to the contest info site and check out the pages with prize announcements and contest videos here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Creative-Flow/529010263798482?sk=app_175360779255822&ref=ts

            I’ve notified support, so will see what happens from that and let you know 🙂

          • Jan Kearney says

            December 30, 2013 at 3:11 pm

            Cheers Una – will catch up with the comp later 🙂

  11. Sue Worthington says

    January 1, 2014 at 12:34 am

    Love reading interesting and well researched articles and this is sure one of them.

    Thank so much Jan for giving me Pinspiration!

    Sue
    x

Meet Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest or Discover More About My Local Business Online…

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