Pinterest can suck you in like a black hole. You check in thinking you’ll just while away the time until dinner’s ready, and four hours later you’re still looking at pictures of crafty jewelry or Victorian nurseries. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and it’s eye candy! But if you’re on Pinterest anyway, might as well do something productive with it—at the very least you’ll feel less guilty!
Make a vision board
A vision board is a powerful tool for positive thinking. It contains inspiring images of the life you want, which will help you attract these experiences and lift your mood when you feel nothing is going right. Vision boards can also act as guide posts towards your goals, and stop any sort of negative or pessimistic thinking that will make you give up or settle for less. You can fill your Pinterest vision board with symbols (for example, if you want to start a business you can put logos of companies you admire, or photos of successful entrepreneurs), happy quotes, and anything that will help get you into that mental state where you are excited to go after what you want.
Finetune your personal style
Instead of being a victim of fashion trends, try to develop your own personal style. One way to do this is to create a Pinterest board with the looks you love. You can also pin any accessories, clothes or colors that appeal to you, thus clarifying what kind of styles appeal to you and breaking it down into key pieces or ideas on how to put them together.
Create your own recipe collection
Why spend a lot of money on hardbound cookbooks when there are so many Pinterest boards devoted to good food? You get links to the recipes on their websites (which, in turn, will help you find similar dishes) and most of all you have your very own ‘visual menu’ on your board to inspire you when you’re stuck in a meal plan rut.
Build your dream home
Even if you aren’t planning to renovate in the near future, collect ideas on room designs, furniture or fixtures that appeals to you, color schemes that complement your existing furniture, etc. It’s a fantastic way to create a mobile mood board that you can bring to the paint store or furniture shop when you’re finally ready to shop.
Find creative inspiration
Artists can feed their muse with beautiful images or share ideas with other artists, too. It’s especially good for crafters, photographers, painters, bakers and other ‘cake artists.’ Even events organizers and wedding planners will be amazed at the kind of ideas they will get from other pinners.
Upload your portfolio
If you’re a photographer, share your work on Pinterest. If you’re a crafter, then show off the jewelry or pottery that you make. If you’re a stylist or a makeup artist, show others the kind of work you’ve done. Just put a watermark on the image so that others can’t steal it or claim it as their own.
Build traffic to your blog or website
Pinterest links back to a site so use it as a way of building traffic and brand equity. It can work with synergy with your other marketing efforts and social media tools.