First and foremost, follow me or some of my writing and freelance boards at Pinterest to see how I put these ideas into action.
The new social media site, Pinterest, has some great uses for small businesses and freelancers. Freelancers can use Pinterest to garner traffic, organize work, and collaborate on projects. As I explained in my article Pinterest Secrets for Writers, Pinterest is a series of bulletin boards that you create, each with a theme. You then "pin" or collect visual images from the internet that you like, sorted into those themed boards. You can also "follow" others' Pinterest or single boards.
At this writing, Pinterest is an invite-only service, and you can ask for an invite at the front page. You can also ask a friend to invite you, which may be faster. If you want more details before you join, both About.com's Women in Business and writers, there are several ways that Pinterest can help you organize your writing ideas. But, other small businesses and freelancers can also get some leverage from Pinterest. Here are some ways that small business and freelancers can use Pinterest:
Pinterest for Small Business Branding
If you're working on developing a brand identity, consider using a board to colors, items, and logos that please your eye or reflect your business. This could work beautifully for collaborating with a logo designer (something that I personally had to do via email). And, for those freelancers who already have a brand identity in play, you could still gather your graphics together onto one board for convenience.
Pinterest for Freelance Office Space
One of the main distractions (for me) when it comes to Pinterest are other people's home décor boards. I love looking at beautiful spaces. Small businesses and freelancers can use Pinterest to collect items, furniture, tools and set ups to inspire their office space.
Pinterest for Project-based Small Businesses
When I had the tile re-done in my kitchen, I noticed that many of the contractors I was interested in were not online. The one I eventually chose did have a website, and he had some gorgeous photos of past work on his site. That's why I chose him. Landscapers, roofers, remodelers, graphic designers, decorators and similar small businesses should be using Pinterest to gather graphics of their best work.
Small Business Trends with Pinterest
The "popular" tab at the top of Pinterest's home page acts much like Twitter's "trending" section. See what's popular before your competitors! Check in weekly to see if any of the trends can be milked for your business.
Collaborate with Other Freelancers with Pinterest
As I mentioned above, when I worked with my designer on my freelance writer website (link it), I had to send photos and examples back and forth via email. Having a Pinterest to collaborate with her would have been much easier! Since Pinterest allows two users access to the same board, you can team up and get on the same page.
Website Traffic with Pinterest
Freelancers and small business benefit from traffic generation when the photos that they use on Pinterest link back to their own site! Consider making how-to videos, PDFS, JPEGS or other graphics, and pinning them up.
