5 Boards Every Pinterest Business Page Needs

Before you create a Pinterest business page, it is essential that you think about who you are trying to reach and what boards will help you best communicate your business goals and brand to your audience.

Unfortunately, not enough is said about Pinterest boards or how important it is to develop a Pinterest content strategy before you start pinning.

The sad fact is that most people just don’t know how to use Pinterest for business and as a result jump in without a clear idea of what they want to get out of their Pinterest business page.

While I’m not denying the importance of pins for your Pinterest marketing, your boards are the first thing that visitors to your Pinterest page will see when they arrive, not your pins.

In fact, when it comes to branding your business and growing your followers on Pinterest, I would go as far as to say that the boards you build and how you name and populate them are the key factors in making your Pinterest business page fly or flop.

Done right, the correct mix of Pinterest boards can capture your followers’ attention, increase engagement and build credibility for you and your business.

Your Pinterest boards can help you create a lifestyle around your brand and transform your Pinterest marketing into a lead and sales generation machine.

Here are 5 boards every brand or business must have on Pinterest.

#1. Business-Related

The chances are that when a new follower comes across your Pinterest business page they won’t know who you are or what you do.

It’s therefore essential to have one or more business-focused boards to offer followers an inside peek at your business and give them a feel for your company’s culture, products, services, and vision.

Such boards work very much like an About Page on your website and should be the first board on your page or at least in the top row because of the way visitors view your Pinterest page.

You could call this Pinterest board “Your Business Name” and feature photos of your offices, staff and partners if appropriate.

If you are a personal brand then naming your board “My Story” is a powerful way to showcase your journey and engage potential customers.

#2. Inspiring Quotes

Image quotes are hugely popular on Pinterest and are one of the easiest ways to communicate your brand’s message.

Are you in the health and wellness industry? Are you a travel agency?

Do you blog about positive living, leadership or parenting topics?

Choose quotes that are positive, inspiring and on-message so that your followers get a sense of your brand values and what makes your business tick.

Everyone should include motivational quotes on their Pinterest business page but taking the time to create a board with relevant and specific quotes that match your business activity will get you better results and help you stand out amongst a sea of “me-too” brands on Pinterest.

#3. Blog Board

If you have a blog for your business (and if you don’t then you really should consider blogging to get more traffic to your website) then you must have a board that contains all your blog posts.

Remember, you will only get traffic from Pinterest if you post your own content and link it back to your website, product page or sales page, rather than repinning other people’s content all the time.

A report by RJ Metrics reveals that 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins, which demonstrates the incredible virality at work on Pinterest. Whilst repinning information is important for sociability and to provide value to your audience, it does beg the question – just whose content are these 80% of Pinterest users pinning?

Make sure you fall into the 20% of content creators on Pinterest by creating and pinning your original content at least 30% of the time, starting with your own blog posts.

Depending on the amount of content you have, you could create a single Blog board for all your blog posts or many different themed ones like on Jeff Bullas’ Pinterest page.

#4. Video Board

http://www.flickr.com/photos/venosdale/

The rise of the visual social media network is one of the major trends in recent years. Pinterest and Instagram are two of the biggest players worth mentioning but in 2013 we also witnessed the launch of Vine, Twitter’s micro-video service, and the continuing surge ofYouTube.

Video is one of the best ways to connect with your audience and give them an insight into you and your business. Adding a variety of multimedia to your Pinterest business page also makes it more interesting and improves the overall customer experience.

Although video is very popular on Pinterest and it is super easy to pin videos directly to Pinterest from sites like YouTube and Vimeo, video is still highly underutilized.

Even if you haven’t got started with your overall video marketing strategy, it’s worth creating a video board. Call it “Your Business Name TV” and post simple “talking heads” style videos of you speaking to camera, introducing your employees or discussing the benefits of your products.

You could also produce short instructional videos using Camtasia for PC or Screenflow for Mac, which will record your screen and your voice but not necessarily your face.

This is particularly useful for service-based businesses like accountants, business coaches or web developers because it allows you to demonstrate your area of expertise, build credibility and connect with prospects. Do it well and they may even go on to do business with you at a later stage.

#5. Trending Topics

Trending topics include popular categories on Pinterest such as fashion, beauty, travel, food and home decor but also cover seasons of the year, special events and holidays like Christmas, Easter or Valentine’s Day.

These topics dominate Pinterest and can be a great way to attract new followers to your Pinterest business page who wouldn’t normally find you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedgear/

Start paying attention to what is trending in the media or what is popular at the moment and fit your boards around these topics.

Think of ways to position your content so they fall into one of these themes even if they are only loosely related to your business activity.

For example, a health and wellness business could create a summer or winter board containing seasonal recipes, best workouts to get in shape at that time of the year or exotic places to visit in order to relax and rejuvenate.

Similarly, a realtor could promote places of interest or restaurants in a particular city or they could highlight the natural beauty of the local area throughout the year in order to attract potential buyers to their Pinterest business page.

Finally, keep analyzing what content is working well for your marketing on Pinterest and be prepared to prune your boards or change things if you’re not getting results.

It’s worth remembering that your audience on Pinterest does not want to be presented with a replica of your website or a catalogue of your products. They also do not want to be promoted to constantly.