Your personal brand is all about showing what you know and love. So why not use a virtual pin board to do so? This is where Pinterest — a website designed for users to post different things they have found online — comes in. It is a way other than written text to demonstrate your brand, and like most networks, it allows you to create a public profile, which can be found in search engines. This is the perfect opportunity to use images to display your personal brand.
Getting started with Pinterest lingo
Pin – An image added to Pinterest. These can be uploaded from your computer or cell phone. A pin always links back to where it has come from.
Re-pin – This is an image another user has posted, which you post on your board by clicking the “Re-pin” button. Whenever you do this, the user will get credit for it.
Like – Think Facebook for this, you can “like” a pin someone has posted. This will not add the pin to one of your boards, but rather to your “like” section.
Board – It is a collection of pins. Boards can be renamed, and have whatever theme you want. Some examples are: Recipe Ideas, Home Decorating, or Fashion. There is no limit to how many pins go on a board.
Following – Very similar to Twitter, it is who you want on your Pinterest feed. There is an option to “Follow-All” which means you will follow all of the boards a user creates automatically. You also have the option to follow individual boards a person has. You are allowed to unfollow as you please, and the person will not be notified.
Mention – You can tag other users by using @username in the description part of a pin.
How to reflect your personal brand
1. Use Pinterest to demonstrate your personality by creating boards based off of your interests.
2. Follow users with similar interests.
3. Engage in conversation by commenting on people’s pins and re-pinning their images.
4. Link your Pinterest account to your blog, or other social networking sites.
5. Stay up-to-date with your page.
Overall, Pinterest is another helpful tool for developing your personal brand by using images to actually display your interests. However, it is important to remain consistent across different social media platforms. Make sure Pinterest is accurately portraying you and your brand.
