8 Pinterest Marketing Ideas

Whether you’re promoting awareness of a certain cause, want more traffic to your blog or are promoting your business, Pinterest offers a unique opportunity to get your message out there through the use of images.

Another great thing about Pinterest is that you don’t need have to have a lot of followers to be seen. Pinterest is a very open website and people are always searching for images and topics of interest, so it’s easy to get started right away.

Here are 8 ideas for marketing on Pinterest. Feel free to use them, adapt them and expand on them. There are so many possibilities.

#1 URL / Logo on Your Photos

Consider adding a little logo or URL to the images you place on your website. That way, when people pin your content or you pin your own, the source is immediately visible. Just make sure to keep it rather subtle. You don’t want to take away from the quality of your image as that may reduce the numbers of shares.

Here’s an example of pin someone made from retrojunk.com

#2 Suggest Gifts

One of the things you may have noticed searching around Pinterest is that they have a gifts category. You can pin a gift idea simply by putting a $ amount in the description of your pin. When you enter the dollar amount, it is automatically added to the image and it will be listed in the gift ideas too.

Then when you search for gifts in the price range, yours will appear at the top.

#3 Photo Contests

Have fun with Pinterest and try running a photo contest. For example, if you sell craft kits or some type of DIY project kits, invite your customers to post their results photos for entry into your contest. Display the photos in a special photo contest board.

Or if you’re promoting a cause, have people submit photos on what the cause means for them and display the photos.

#4 Sweepstakes

Many companies are creating “Pin it to Win It” sweepstakes giveaways.  In some cases, they, get people to repin an image with a specific description. In many of these contests, the winner receives the prize in the picture or you can come up with another prize if you’d like.

In others, companies are asking their customers to create a board of their favorite products and enter it for consideration in the contest. Here’s a pin board created by a LandsEnd.com contest winner:

If you’d like to learn more about how Lands’ End’s contest worked, here is a press release with the information: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lands-end-canvas-launches-pin-it-to-win-it-contest-on-pinterest-135591673.html

#5 Coupons

Create some attractive and hard-to-resist coupons that can be repinned and shared on Pinterest. You can create your own coupon and add a “Pin It” button to your coupon page. You can also look at sites like CouponNetwork.com who encourage the social sharing of coupons.

Here’s an example of a coupon available through Coupon Network:

Again, you can post your own coupons directly and encourage repinning. Have fun with your coupons by adding humor and more. Just make sure the images are relevant to your offer.

#6 QR Codes

If you have a collection or QR codes, create a board for them and add new ones when you have them. Just make sure to include a good description and categorize your board, so they’ll be easily found.

Or if you’re a blogger, who connects your followers with great information, collect QR codes from around the web that would interest them.

#7 Collaboration

Pinterest provides amazing opportunities for collaborating. You can invite people to contribute to your boards for a specific event or project. You can add contributors whenever you set up a new board or you can add them by editing your existing boards.

Why not showcase the development of your next product or slowly leak details about an important upcoming function? You’ll build buzz and hopefully get better results in the process.

#8 Holiday and Seasonal Marketing

Pinterest offers unique marketing opportunities throughout the year. As users prepare for Easter or Independence Day, they’re searching for recipes, crafts, entertaining ideas and more. Or if summer’s coming, they’re getting ready to go boating, camping and they start grilling more. Always keep seasonal needs in mind and create special boards for holidays, activities and more.

Here’s a Game Day Food Ideas example:

How can you incorporate something like this into your niche? What is your target market looking for?

Start Marketing…But Proceed with Care!

Now that you have a few ideas ready to run with, go for it. But before you run off, remember that just like with other social networks, your success will depend on your being a valuable contributor to the community. Focus on providing images that are useful, funny, inspiring, thought-provoking or aesthetically pleasing…rather than worrying about simply selling your products directly.