If you’re a lover of pictures, you’re familiar with Pinterest, right? Still not on Pinterest? Not sure what it is? It’s a virtual pinboard. Users who love hanging out on the internet can organize, and share, beautiful images found on the big, bad, worldwide web! People are using Pinterest to:

• plan their weddings
• share favorite recipes
• ask for input on a dress
• and many other things

However, it doesn’t just stop with “personal” use. Pinterest has stretched its legs into the business world.

Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest

Businesses of all sizes have ventured into the virtual pinboard waters, and have found amazing success marketing their brand, products, and services on Pinterest. Of course, as in everything in life, there are many businesses that haven’t had success. Fallen flat on their faces. If you know of one, I found the perfect book.

Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest is an amazing “how to” guide from Beth Hayden. It’s got some of the best advice I’ve come across for businesses and Pinterest. The book is CHOCK FULL of information, I couldn’t possibly go over everything in this review. I’m just going to hit some of the highest points, so you get a feel for what’s between the covers of the book.

Creating a profile

First thing to do: check out how to create a profile. She takes you through creating a profile for your business. Even if you’ve already done this, still check it out. You might be able to tweak a few things to make sure you’ve got everything you need to be at the top of your game. After that, it’s a book you don’t have to read from cover to cover. You can skip around, take information that most interests you, and start to incorporate into your marketing strategies on Pinterest. It’s not a boring, YAWN with statistics, and flat writing. She’s got a great writing style, and gets your mind going from the start of the book!

What I loved the most

Head to page 23 of the book, it’s the “What do you want to attract?” section. It’s probably one of the best parts of the book, because she goes over how to create an ideal client profile. What’s that mean? Well, the basics are:

• figure out the needs and wants of your IDEAL clients (you may already know the ideal client you want, doesn’t matter, read the chapter)
• once you figure out the needs and wants, make a list of the ways you, your business, your service, can “help” your ideal client
• know the above BEFORE you start to pin
• know how you want to help solve a problem
• definitely know what you want to share with your audience in order to help solve a problem for them

Where businesses go wrong

Too many companies start pinning without a real focus to the pinning. They just start going pinboard crazy, not realizing clients want to see more than pretty pictures. They want to solutions to issues they’re having. Especially when they see pins coming from your business!

Just like in any other area of marketing, you have to KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT. And then start pinning. Your job for your “people” is to find the most interesting things within this craziness known as Pinterest. And those “things” you find, must be of some kind of help to them, your “ideal client.”

Tips

Don’t just pin your own stuff! Start following your own clients, as well as other pinners out there. It’s give and take, don’t just splash things of your own up there. Include pins from others. Obviously, pins that mean something to your clients.

My other most favorite part?

Go right to page 161. She touches on all the ethics of Pinterest. It’s important to know the ins, and outs, of this site. No one wants to infringe on anyone’s copy write images. You want to be on the up-and-up, so this section is a MUST read for all people using Pinterest.

All social media is important to big, and small, businesses. When you use social media correctly, it can be extremely powerful. Beth Hayden knows it, embraces it, and masters it. She has shared amazing information in her book, and it’s something all small business owners need to check out. You will not be sorry!

You can get Beth Hayden’s book in good old, hard copy form.