So you’re looking for more ways to use Pinterest for your small business?
My last blog posts gave away some great ideas on how to use Pinterest in your small business without suffering the wrath of Big Brother coming to your cubicle and demanding you leave the newest social site. Now that we know Pinterest can be an asset at work, here are a few more ways to use the site to spark creativity at your job:
- Collect articles you find relevant or informative – If you’re still copying and pasting links to articles you found to be super informative… stop! There is a better way! Use Pinterest, of course. Even if the photo you pin has nothing to do with the article, that’s a-OK. Just make sure you write an informative description when you pin the image so you can go back and read the article when necessary. This board is just for you, so don’t worry about hashtags or keywords. As long as you know where to find your articles and which ones to reread, you’re doing it right.
- Save infographics and charts with easy-to-read statistics – Infographics are the bee’s knees. Really, they are. We can’t speak highly enough about them. So when you come across a really great infographic with facts and figures that you need to keep handy, what better place to store that information than together on an Infographics Pinterest board? I’ve got one, and it’s fantastic. It’s easily my most visited board, by both my followers and me. It also has the most repins out of all of my boards, so I know others will be interested in what infographics you find interesting.
- Create a color palette Pinterest board – Are you a designer? Do you work with colors? Then create a color palette board that compares and pairs different colors together. Then you can sort through your board and pick out really great color groups without having to manually create them in Photoshop or Illustrator. Take advantage of how organized Pinterest boards can be, and use them to keep you organized.
- Gather ad ideas – Ok, this one isn’t limited to just “ad ideas,” but you could create a board for branding do’s and don’ts, social media marketing ideas, integrated marketing campaigns, print ads, digital ads, billboards… you get the idea. Whatever your job title, there are examples already on the web, ready to inspire you for your next big account. Hint: small business bloggers are some of your best sources for inspiring campaigns and ideas. All you have to do is poke around some of those, and your boards will practically fill themselves up.
- Share your Pinterest boards with co-workers – If you work collaboratively with a group, or if you have a network of people you share everything with, then start a group board on Pinterest. You can share your work with each other, share the work of others, get inspired by people who know you best, or inspire those you know best. Group boards on Pinterest allow a group of people to post to the same board. You can tag people’s names in your pin descriptions or just give a description that tells the whole group why you pinned what you did. It’s a great way to build the team, especially when you work from different locations around the country or around the world.
“Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest…” complains Facebook and Twitter. “Why is Pinterest getting all the attention?”
Yes, Pinterest is one of the latest success stories to hit the social media scene, and if you’re like many people out there that think it’s just another site on which single women plan their imaginary weddings, well, you’re half wrong. Amongst the wedding gowns you’re probably never going to wear and food recipes you’ll probably never try, there are other pins floating around that just might justify using this social media site in the workplace. That’s right. You won’t have to swiftly close out of your Pinterest tab when the boss comes walking down your row of cubicles or pretend the site happened to appear whilst searching Google for something relevant to that report due in three days.
Pinterest can be a useful tool in inspiring your professional life, and I’m here to help walk you through it. Below, you will find several ways to use Pinterest for work so you can surf the social media site guilt-free at the office.
Create Work Inspiration Pinterest Boards
By now, we all know that a “board” is the way you organize your pins by theme or some commonality. Create a board titled “Work Inspiration” and pin to it things that inspire you to do great work. Are they quotes from the greats in your field? Are they really creative designs that you’d one day like to emulate? Are they websites that are so well organized that you can’t help but want to revisit them from time to time? Perfect, because by keeping these images of inspiring things all together, easily accessible and constantly in front of you, you will have that constant reminder of how to be better at your work. Plus you have a link to the full sites at your disposal, which is way better than copying and pasting links into an email draft folder (come on, you know you’ve done that before…).
Build Workplace Organization Pinterest Boards
If your desk looks anything like the floor of the closet in my bedroom, then you will definitely benefit from this next suggestion. Create a board filled with ways to organize your workspace. True, there are a select few people out there who truly work better in clutter, but the vast majority of us are much more productive when we have a clean, organized desk and surrounding space. Find clever ways to store files, hide your computer cords, arrange that junk drawer and more, and keep those ideas in an equally well-organized board on Pinterest.
Pin for Followers
Are you a designer? A freelancer? A marketer? Then chances are you already know the importance social media plays in scoring that next big account. Pinterest is no different. In essence, Pinterest is like a big portfolio that you can use to showcase your work to other pinners. When a pin starts circulating on Pinterest, there’s no telling how far it’ll go—meaning you will have links to your website (and real portfolio) and hits to your website from all over the place. That only helps with SEO and visibility. The more you pin great stuff, the more people will follow you, the more people you will get to see your portfolio. Is there such thing as a win-win-win? There is now.
Use Pinterest to Network
Network? On Pinterest? Yes! Pinterest is just like Facebook and Twitter in that you can follow pinners you like. As more and more businesses jump on Pinterest, start following, commenting on, liking and repinning their stuff. Chances are they will reciprocate, anxious for some interaction.
Pin Work Party Ideas
Ok, so this one might be a stretch, but technically it’s still a work-related task. If you and your colleagues are tired of just going to the local pub and grabbing drinks after work, create a board for new work party ideas. Party ideas are relentlessly populating the homepages of Pinterest; all you have to do is repin a couple and you’ll be an office hero.
Post By: Molly Meyer
Catersource, Catersource, Catersource…
After spending the better part of two months preparing for two days in Las Vegas, my body, mind and spirit are fully recovered from last week’s Catersource tradeshow.
Though I was only in Sin City for a total of sixty-five hours, not one of those hours were wasted on trivial matters like TV—actually, I did take a brief nap after day two and I admit the television was on.
It was my first time returning to the strip since I was a wee lassie of eight or nine years. The only thing I remember from back then is that we stayed at a big castle hotel (Excalibur), we went on a day trip to the Hoover Dam, and whilst my parents enjoyed the many splendors of the casino floor, I enjoyed the twenty-one and under section, complete with a giant claw machine that, when positioned just right, retrieved loads of candy and spit them down a shoot to my eagerly awaiting little paws. The machine yielded me just the right amount of Twizzlers to keep interest, but not enough to go home with rotted teeth. I was what’s referred to as a long-term investment in the casino industry. If this joint had anything to do with it, I would be back sometime in the next twelve to twenty years with bills instead of coins burning a hole in my pocket.
Well, the jokes on me, because one week ago, there I was, a measly fifteen years later walking up and down the strip like it was my first time seeing bright lights (I’m from Chicago, for crying out loud—the strip just does something to a person).
While this experience was a mixture of business and pleasure—hey, I dabbled in some grown up gambling, who wouldn’t, right?—and the business experience far outweighed my hot streak on the craps table.
While at the tradeshow, I got a delightful taste of what it’s like to interact with a variety of people in a business fashion. Though I’ve done my fair share of people meeting, never had it been in such a business-forward setting. I’ll tell you, people from around the world came to this. I met Australians and Canadians. Americans and Antiguans. And all under the context of selling our wonderful minds.
Under the guidance of catering guru Michael Roman, our booth swelled with interest. Looking to my left and right, I witnessed my colleagues in action, both informing and inquiring about website building, SEO maintenance, social media management and more. And hey, I did my fair share of interacting, too.
Actually, now would probably be a most opportune moment to share with the group that I did, in fact, win the badge scanning and client interaction contest amongst my fellow co-workers. Not that it was a competition or anything…. But it totally was. I’ve got to say, though, even if I had just spoken with five people, I would have still walked away from the experience with just that: experience.
Until next time, Vegas…
Post By: Molly Meyer
Welcome to The Brighter Edge
Welcome one and all. This is our blog, The Brighter Edge. It’s so nice of you to join us. However, before you go any further, it might be a good idea for you to read this disclaimer:
We have no political agenda, no hidden messages, and no fool proof investment plans.
We’re not here to write about a religious experience, a weight-loss secret or a restaurant critique, so if that’s why you’re here, you’ll be disappointed.
If you’re looking for another cram-our-intentions-down-your-throat kind of blog, well this ain’t it.
If you are, however, interested in the marketing world, heck, not even just the marketing world but the business world in general, then pull up a chair. Stretch out those fingertips, and start clicking and scrolling.
While we may not fall under all those categories listed earlier, we can’t promise you a totally sane, opinion-free read per se. We can, however, promise you an interesting, entertaining and, dare we say, educational read. This is simply a place for us to stretch our brains, practice our prose, and exercise our creativity, and we happen to think what we say is worth an audience. So, if you’re looking for some entertainment, then by all means, stay.
And now for our pitch:
Do yourself a favor, Planet Earth. Pull up a computer chair, type in the wacky Wi-Fi password you created with variations of your kids’ birthdays and that movie you haven’t seen since college (but still call your “favorite”), and grab yourself a cup of Joe, because we at nuphorIQ are opening our mouth (that last part was a metaphor. We don’t actually share a single mouth. Also, who types with an open mouth?).
Stay tuned for more entries. Until then, thanks for stopping by.
Post by: Molly Meyer