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In a world dominated by Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest has proven itself to be an unlikely social media giant. More than 11.7 million unique visitors came to the site within its first two years on the net, and its popularity has only grown from there. And while it clearly provides a useful tool for everyday Internet users — virtual pinboards where you can organize interesting crafts, recipes and workout ideas that you find while surfing the web — it also has value for businesses. As an event planner, you certainly have to be creative and organized – two traits that clearly align with Pinterest’s. There’s much more that an account on this social media site can do for you, though. Check out the four tips below that will help you grow your event planning business with the help of your online pinboards. Find Your Inspiration As previously mentioned, you’ve got to be creative to be an event planner. There’s nothing wrong with using others’ party ideas to jog your own. For example, let’s say that your client is a bride who wants to have a country-chic wedding. It’s simple to type these two words into your Pinterest search bar and peruse what others have done with a similar theme. You can take it one step further and pin flowers, table settings, reception decor and bridesmaids’ dresses to separate boards that you can review with your client to get a better idea of her vision. Organize Your Thoughts Similar to the above tip, this one is very similar to the traditional use of Pinterest: you can use your boards to organize your event-planning ideas. Rather than create a PowerPoint or Word document with cut-and-paste photos from the Internet, you can use your Pinterest to keep all of your ideas in one place, while saving space on your hard drive. This will make you more efficient in the workplace, something that clients who foot the bill will certainly appreciate. Promote Your Event If you’re planning a for-profit event, Pinterest is a great way to build hype. One way to do so is to share your inspiration boards with followers on other social media sites so that they’ll have an idea of how snazzy your party is going to be. Or, you can use your boards to show off what you’ve done with a particular venue in the past so that potential event-goers will want to come and see what you come up with this time. Sell Yourself You can use your Pinterest boards to sell your skills, drive traffic to your website and, potentially, increase your number of clients. First of all, your main Pinterest page that shows all of your boards should include a bit of information about your business, as well as your contact information. You should also link the photos that you pin from your own events directly to your site so that when viewers click them they will be sent to your company’s site. This way, they’ll be able to easily learn about the brains behind the operation — and be able to contact you should they require your services. This tactic even works for businesses of other kinds. Take, for example, Havahart, a company dedicated to humane pest removal. Their Pinterest board includes photos of the way that their cages gently capture vermin – something that would certainly appeal to the animal lovers who spend time pinning pictures of cuddly puppies and kittens. If one of these animal lovers happened to see a photo of a raccoon or rabbit being transported to a new home in a Havahart cage, they’d probably be inclined to click through and find a potential solution should they have pest control issues of their own. In Conclusion It’s just as fun as it is to pin your own Internet finds as it is to discover and organize your inspiration, build your customer base and show off what you’ve accomplished on the job. If you’re an event planner, Pinterest could and should be part of your social media plan so that you can reap the benefits — and maybe even pin a delicious and easy recipe for dinner while you’re doing it. Adrienne is a social media marketer and marketing writer. She loves studying social campaigns to see what makes them tick. To see more of her work visit her blog, Design Roast.

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Four Ways Event Planners Can Use Pinterest to Grow Their Business