It appears that Pinterest is looking for even more traffic. The social bookmarking network, which hit 10 million unique monthly visitors faster than any other site, just launched a new feature, which should boost traffic even further. However, this time the content generating the traffic is under wraps. Last week Pinterest founder (and Iowa native!) Ben Silberman and his team rolled out secret boards — a feature that creates new opportunities for users and brands alike.
While there are obvious benefits to users from a personal standpoint — such as sharing gift ideas, collaboratively planning surprise parties, pinning engagement ideas prior to getting a ring, and so on — the possibilities that this change has for brands may not be as obvious, but are definitely worth considering.
The Facts You Need to Know
Before creating secret boards, you need to know a few details. First and foremost, users are limited to only three secret boards. This rule is certainly intended to negate the possibility of all boards being secret, which would decrease the number of public pins users see and depress overall site traffic.
The good news is that this number does not include boards that users are invited to contribute to. When pins are pinned to a secret board, they will not show up in feeds, search results, or on a user’s profile. And if you decide that it’s time to let your secrets out, you can make any board public from the settings. However, once your board is public you can’t reset it to secret.
Ideas for Your Brand’s First Secret Board
Think your brand is ready? Here are a few suggestions to get your brainstorming started.
- Content for Blogs and Social Media — As a brand on social media, sharing content and research is key. When you find yourself lacking inspiration, having a board of articles, infographics, or images to reference may be your saving grace. This is also helpful if you have many contributors who discover new content. The grab-and-go convenience makes curation much easier.
- Collaboration with Others — Avoid the back-and-forth emails by using a secret board for working with your team. Whether it’s graphics for a book or topics to reference on a podcast, all contributors will have access to important information without searching through an email trail. The ability to host ad-hoc conversations via pin comments is also helpful.
- Company News — Keep team members in the loop and motivated with a board sharing news featuring your company or your clients. Not only is it a great place to keep information internally for reference but it’s also a useful tool for employees to use for sharing in a controlled setting.
- Event Planning — Before launching your next strategy session or company picnic, share ideas with collaborators on a secret Pinterest board. From food ideas to the company Christmas gift, your ideas are safe until the day of the event.
- Internal Company Board — Trying to choose the next corporate polo or the location for your all-company meeting? Pinterest secret boards allow all employees to get in on the conversation through adding pins or commenting on suggestions. Making this board available to all fosters engagement and empowers the sharing of ideas — all of which is great for morale.
As with all social media platforms, be sure to have a plan in place before jumping in. Questions to ask yourself for Pinterest secret boards could include — Who will be using this board? What content will be shared? And why is secrecy important?
Once you have these answered, you’re ready to dive in. Do you have other ideas on how secret boards can be used for brands? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
