How To Leverage Pinterest for a Personal Brand Portfolio - CareerEnlightenment.com

It’s Not Just The Images…It’s not just the images that count for branding purposes on Pinterest. The text you use on your profile and in your pins will also give you more visibility and give you an identity.Like LinkedIn’s ‘Headline’ section, the Pinterest ‘About Me’ section shouldn’t be a one-word title: instead, use keywords to describe who you are and what it is you do. Use Google’s keyword research tool to look up popular search terms that help describe your skills. This is important not only for people come to your Pinterest profile, but for people using the search feature.In doing a search on Pinterest, you can find pins, boards and personal profiles. To get people to come to your Pinterest profile, the terms you use in your ‘About Me’ section and in your pins should be ones related to your field of interest.  That way, when anyone searches for something related to your field of interest, they will be more likely to come across your content.Your Pintere st Brand Image Give your Pinterest profile a coherent feel relative to other social media profiles. Use your Facebook or Twitter profile photo, and share the content you post to Pinterest on those networks.Beware the Over-shareDepending on how connected to other social networks you want your Pinterest profile to be, you can choose to share content you post as well. Directly sharing all of the content you post across platforms can come across as spammy to others if you post frequently. So although you want to show your audience you are active across many networks, be wary of how often you post to networks and which content you are sharing between those networks.Sharing is CaringVary the type of content you share as well: although you can use Pinterest as a way to drive traffic to a personal website or your content hosted on another domain, you can always share content that you’re interested in. This will develop more of a community atmosphere around your Pinterest profile.Don’t F orget About LinksIf you’re making a specific effort to curate a personal brand across social networks, it’s always a good idea to provide links to those networks on each of your profiles. By connecting Pinterest to Facebook and Twitter, you automatically add links to those networks at the bottom of your profile. The only link you have to manually enter is a personal website or LinkedIn profile.ConclusionEven though adding another social network to your existing workload may seem overwhelming, Pinterest is worth it. When a network has the kind of growth that Pinterest has seen in the last few months, it’s the real deal: You want to be present from the start.Regardless of whether your personal brand involves a physical product like art or music, Pinterest provides an effective platform for exposure. Whether you’re posting content that you create or content that you find interesting, your personal brand is bound to gain traction. Plus, Pinterest can act as a supplement to your existing networks in developing a cohesive cross-platform personal brand. With more eyes on your online professional portfolio, there’s more potential to land a job, the ultimate ROI of the time spent using social media in the job hunt.