Five years ago Pinterest didn’t exist. It wasn’t a word, a thing, or even a thought. In the last few years, though, the visual social media site has become one of the most popular go-to platforms in the world of event planning.
With over 25 million users today, most of whom are female, Pinterest has become a hot spot for wedding and reception ideas. In fact, Pinterest estimates that there are tens of thousands of user-created wedding boards across the site, many of which are created by women who aren’t even engaged or planning a wedding.
Like millions of other users, I turned to Pinterest for ideas and inspiration when I started planning my own wedding this year. Throughout the process, I realized that there are many ways in which businesses can utilize Pinterest in the same way that brides-to-be do. Whether you’re planning a wedding or an office event, Pinterest can be a very useful planning tool.
One of Pinterest’s best qualities is that it is visual. By pinning a variety of pins onto a single board, I was able to visualize how details would look together. It was also helpful to have all of my ideas in one place where I could easily share them with family members and vendors, so that they too would have a visual of the look and feel of the event.
Likewise, Pinterest is a great resource for businesses to use in order to gather feedback on projects. Instead of having long meetings to brainstorm and discuss, why not use a visual approach? Pinterest boards are a great way for employees to actually see their ideas coming together.
Another useful aspect of Pinterest is that everyone can contribute. I come from a large family so it was no surprise that everyone wanted to offer their ideas and suggestions during the wedding planning process. Pinterest makes it easy to let others in on the plan. I invited my mother and sisters to pin to my wedding boards. This way, when they came across a cute decor idea, hairstyle, or bridesmaid dress they could pin it themselves.
In a business, getting the staff involved in major decisions is a great way to let them share their thoughts and opinions. Encourage employees to pin their own ideas and suggestions to a particular board.
Pinterest is a valuable resource when it comes to searching for wedding vendors. One of the best things about having so many brides on a particular social media site is that they’re able to share their caterers, DJs, wedding officiants, etc. Many pins are linked to these vendor’s websites, which allowed me to contact them directly.
The next time your business hosts an event, consider creating a board to showcase the event. You can pin pictures of the event’s key speakers and link them to your Web site or to those of the speakers. You can also give your sponsors a little extra exposure by creating a board filled with your sponsors’ products and services. Not only does this showcase the types of relationships your business has, but it provides a great resource for others businesses or interested clients.
Finally, remember, that Pinterest is a public space. I was cautious about pinning all of my wedding ideas on Pinterest, because I didn’t want wedding guests to see all of my ideas before the big day. Pinterest solves this problem by offering Secret Boards that are hidden from the general public. You’ll still have access to all the great features Pinterest offers, but you can keep your ideas on the down-low until the time is right.
Happy pinning!
