Using Pinterest in Your Career Services Business

Pinterest is the fastest website in history to hit more than 10 million unique monthly visitors. That's faster than Facebook, faster than Twitter and faster than Google. It went from 4.8 million unique in November 2011 to 11 million in January 2012, a mere three months.

Although Pinterest is growing rapidly -- and you may even have an account already that you are using to collect home decor ideas, or recipes -- most resume writers and career industry professionals don't understand how they can use it to get new clients.

(If you want to learn more about setting up a Pinterest account, you can access the free 27-page "Resume Writer's Guide to Pinterest" in the Free Level Resources section of BeAResumeWriter.com. You can apply for your free membership -- or sign in, if you're already a Free or Bronze Level member -- at www.bearesumewriter.com/join)

Bridget's Pinterest Profile: http://pinterest.com/rwdigest/

Over 80% of Pinterest users are women. Pinterest is a powerful tool for interacting with female buyers and decision-makers online. 

Here are some creative ways to use Pinterest in your resume writing business.

Become an Authority on Pinterest

Ideas for Jobseekers

Much like on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, one of the best ways to get attention is by providing high quality content.

As a resume writer, you can curate content that relates to the careers industry. I've got a couple – including the "Ideas for Jobseekers" board.

Create content-based boards that give other people ideas and help solve problems. You can create boards for things like interviewing (curate "dress for success" photos, for example) or for "Career Books You Should Read."

Keep doing this until people see you as an authority on Pinterest.

 Market Research

Use Pinterest as a market research tool.

What are prospective resume clients thinking? What do they want in their lives? What are their hopes and dreams?  Figuring out the answers to these questions has traditionally been quite tough. With Pinterest, however, you have a live feed of exactly what everyone in your target market is thinking about and cares about right now. 

Look at who is following your boards, and click through to their profiles. (On your personal profile page, you'll see your number of Followers and the number of people you follow -- "Following." Click on the one that says "Followers.") Check out boards with titles like "Things I Love."

  

Future Product Ideas

 Along with the idea of using Pinterest to conduct market research, you can use it to capture future product ideas. What kind of ideas is your company considering? One way to let your users participate in the decision making process is to just throw up all the possible ideas on a Pinterest board.

For example, if you're putting together a new special report on "Getting Started with Facebook In Your Job Search," you might commission a couple of inexpensive cover designs (I recommend using Fiverr.com) and then put up the choices and have your Pinterest followers "vote" on a design.

Throw the concepts up there and let your customers decide.

Affiliate Pinboard

Example of an Affiliate Board

An affiliate pinboard can help you give value to your customers by helping them find resources that are relevant for their needs while you earn affiliate income when they click-through from your Pinterest board.

Create a pinboard out of resources you can find in your industry. Slip a couple of your own in there as well. Customers will find your pin board and buy from both your recommendations and from your company. 

Showcase Your Work

Drive traffic to your blog

One of the best ways to use Pinterest in your resume writing business is to drive traffic to your website and your blog, and to show examples of your work and places you've been published. You can pin blog posts to your board, link to books you've been published in, and post fictionalized resumes.

Looking for an examples of resume writers who "get" Pinterest? Check out these profiles:

• Maureen McCann
• Rosalind Kimber
• Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter
• Charlotte Weeks
• Mark Dyson
• Tim Tyrell-Smith
• Daisy Wright
• Kristin Johnson
• Miriam Salpeter
• Adrienne Tom
• Dawn Rasmussen
• Jan Melnik
• Walter Akana
• Holly Bunn

These are some creative ways you can use Pinterest in your resume writing business. Pinterest is an extremely fast growing website that’s only going to get more and more relevant as time passes. Are you ready to get involved?

Like this post? Check out my post on "Pinterest Tip: How to Follow Other Pinterest Users."