Pinterest: How businesses can benefit from “secret boards”

In December 2012, Pinterest announced the addition of “secret boards” to its website. Through these secret boards, Pinterest users can limit the visibility of their boards to the public and to any collaborators the creators choose to invite.

Image Source: geekosystem.com

Secret boards and limiting visibility? Do they defeat the purpose of creating and sharing pins that should go “viral?” Do they pose any value to businesses?

While Pinterest’s secret boards are great for personal use, they can also be valuable to businesses and brands as they provide opportunities for them to think out of the box by using the secret boards as an inter-office collaboration tool. In addition, secret boards offer a secure place for visual brainstorming within the office.

Image Source: venturebeat.com

Below are some ideas on how to make the most out of the secret boards:

1. Planning a campaign before it gets public

Pinterest offers an excellent way to get new ideas and to collaborate with the community managers. With the secret boards, a user can create an entire marketing campaign while keeping the details under wraps until it is ready to be launched.

2. Sharing ideas with clients

Secret boards do not have to be completely “secret.” Pinterest allows its users to designate certain people who can view the secret board, allowing a business to interact and communicate with its clients. This provides an easy avenue to share ideas with the clients, while safeguarding the business’ creative properties.

3. Keeping tabs on a competition

Monitoring an online competition is important as it gives a glimpse of how they perform and how they can be a threat to a business. Secret boards are the perfect way to store and track information about competitors. It provides a discreet way of monitoring them.

Image Source: lonelybrand.com

John Bohan is an online marketing specialist. To know more about online marketing and social media, visit this blog.