Crafting Your Brand’s Visual Identity Using Pinterest

Pinterest is not only a photo-sharing, digital-scrapbooking website, it’s a form of expression. By visiting someone’s Pinterest page and viewing their boards, you can easily see what they’re most passionate about.

A fashionista expresses herself through boards such as “Style Inspiration,” “Denim Do’s,” and “Prints & Patterns.” You know she’s a fitness fanatic when you see boards like “The Sweat Life,” “Fitness Inspiration & Motivation,” and “Clean Eating.”

Pinterest is a virtual space for expressing passions and defining a personal identity — and it’s no different for businesses. Retailers, small businesses and digital agencies, for example, can enhance their brands within the social media community by creating a solid Pinterest presence.

Because Pinterest is image-driven, consumers, clients and customers are drawn to the content shared by a business.

Pinterest for Business

AudienceBloom founder and CEO Jayson DeMers tells HuffingtonPost.com that Pinterest is just another social media avenue that can direct traffic to a website. Something as simple as an infographic can be liked, commented on, and re-pinned, which is basic digital marketing.

The more people who come into contact with that infographic on Pinterest, the more likely they are to visit the company’s website or blog. Think of Pinterest as a social marketing tool that pins visuals onto virtual boards as marketing campaigns.

DeMers explains that “pins of products as mundane as portable storage containers” can “go viral on social media channels.” To successfully promote pins, you have to strategically and effectively brand your boards.

Sephora​ & Consumer Brand Interaction

Business2Community.com recently spotlighted French cosmetics brand and retailer Sephora for using Pinterest Web Analytics to create optimized, dynamic pinboards and activity. As a result of gathering relevant data, Sephora’s “most popular Pinterest content includes beauty lists, color swatches and face charts.”

Thus Sephora creates boards that not only reflect the cosmetic brand, but meet consumer interests. Followers also want to see and interact with pins that accurately represent the Sephora brand. It’s a business-to-consumer relationship that extends beyond in-store connections and purchases.

Boards such as “It Lists” and “Beauty How-tos” engage Pinterest users and loyal customers within the digital universe.

iAcquire & Personality Branding

Digital marketing and SEO agency iAcquire also creatively brands itself through Pinterest. By viewing interesting pins from iAcquire, you can quickly gauge what type of company the digital agency is through its boards, such as “Social Media,” “Link Building” and “Marketing.”

Yahoo! Small Business also mentions that a business can showcase its personality through Pinterest, which is how iAcquire uses the social tool. For the Web design and Internet marketing agency, sharing content on Pinterest is fun and enjoyable.

The company echoes that strategy by posting fun and interesting pictures from its offices as well as inspiring and motivating pins for ambitious, hard-working individuals in the digital marketing field.

Branding Your Business

Whether you’re joining Pinterest for the first time or your pinboards need a make-over, go through an evaluation and solidify your brand for social media. Then determine how you want to represent your company through digital images and creative visuals.

Demers recommends the following tips for business pinning:

• Avoid Over-Pinning: Be selective about what products, services and content to share. Also, entice users so they’re compelled to click through to your site.
• Be Active: Regularly pin a variety of content to create credibility. Follow and interactwith your pinboards to create value for your audience.
• Personalize Pinboards: A heavy emphasis on marketing can turn away your audience. Be personable and interesting. DeMers suggests featuring a client or customer or even running a sweepstakes.

Image Credit: mkhmarketing