Pinterest is a powerful tool, and whether you know how to use it or not, you need to know what to use it for. I’ve been on Pinterest for years, and I’ve loved every minute of it! If you take a look at my page you’ll notice I have dozens of boards, all with different topics and uses. There are so many different ways you can use Pinterest – it’s a tool in many senses of the word.
But let’s face it: it can be intimidating. Pinterest is a big platform, and when you’re just getting started or trying to get back into it, it can be hard to know where to start. As someone who is quite familiar with it at this point, I figured I’d share a few ideas to get you started, whether you’re a freelancer, writer, artist or blogger.
1. Things You Want to Try
If you love to cook, have dietary restrictions, are trying to live more green, or be more frugal, there are some great resources out there to get you started. There are vegan recipes, and ways to make all-natural soap and cleansers. I’ve even seen pins about making your own paint, or how to bind a sketchbook. It doesn’t matter what kind of creative you are – there is something for you on Pinterest.
Some Ideas Include:
- Craft Ideas for Kids
- DIYs
- Easy Dinner Recipes
- Vegetarian Meal Ideas
- Home Decor Hacks
2. Style Guides
If you’re a designer, or maybe a fashion and beauty blogger, you might find it useful to have a curated board of relevant images. I’ve even seen some bloggers use Pinterest to create a style guide for their blog and really focus their brand. It can be a good tool both for marketing and for staying focused on your vision. Fashion, home decor, personal branding – there are tons of different things you can create a style guide for, and then it becomes a handy reference for everything you do!
Some Ideas Include
- Minimalist Jewellery
- Beautiful Canvas Bags
- Large Sweater Style
- Blog Branding
3. Inspiration Boards
If you’re a visual person, sometimes it can help to have a dedicated board to refer in times of creative distress. There are some amazing graphic design and typography boards out there, wonderfully curated and now you can start your own! What are you drawn to? What sort of styles and patterns do you like? What makes your creative brain go nuts? What makes you ask questions? Makes you want to know more? Makes you want to put a pen to paper, or paint to canvas? What stirs in you a desire to create? When you find those images that capture your interest like no other, keep them somewhere for those days when doing anything creative feels about as likely as pigs flying. You can even use them to help you get organized or to start a new project.
Some Ideas Include:
- Graphic Design Ideas
- Beautiful Typography
- Bullet Journal Inspiration
- Bedroom Decor
4. Mood Boards & Aesthetics
One of my absolute favourite writing tools is the mood board (or aesthetic if you’re a resident of Twitter/Tumblr). If you write fiction, you can have boards for specific stories or characters. It might be more challenging for non-fiction, but I would keep your goal in mind as well as your niche and go from there. I’ve separated this from inspiration boards because mood boards are more intentional and specific, where an inspiration board can be very broad and all-encompassing. You’re trying to evoke a certain mood, tone or mindset with a mood board, whereas an inspiration board is meant to evoke pretty much anything, as long as it results in some creative intent. Visual media is powerful, and sight is the most prevalent of all our senses. Use it to your advantage and start making some boards!
Some Ideas Include:
- Character Boards
- Setting Boards
- University Life
- Cosy Aesthetic
5. List Your Favourites
This is more the social aspect of this platform in that it is both a collection for you and a way of others getting to know you a little better and seeing what sort of things you enjoy. If you can make a list out of it, you can make a board out of it.
Some Ideas Include:
- Favourite Books
- Favourite Movies
- Favourite Recipes
- Favourite Journaling Tools
6. New Skill Tips and Tricks
No matter what skill you want to pick up, I’ve seen virtually everything represented on Pinterest. Whether it’s flat-lay photography, gluten-free cooking, minimalism or how to write a novel, there are tons of resources there for you to peruse. Being that Pinterest is so popular among bloggers, there is also a ton of links to excellent blog posts and infographics that you might find helpful! Whenever you want to learn something new, Pinterest is a great place to start, and you’re getting resources from influencers in that field. Win, win!
Some Ideas Include:
- Tips for Editing Your Novel
- Marketing for Artists
- Starting a Blog
- Selling on Etsy
- Travelling Tips
7. Useful Posts & Resources
More than helping you to learn a specific skill or program, there is a lot of other content about there that you might find helpful. Types of paint or paper. Nutrition. Whatever it is you want to know more about, I can guarantee there will be related posts on Pinterest. And a great way to keep all of your favourite resources in one place is to pin them! Now, what you pin will depend on what you do. For example, I am starting a science fiction series that (partly) takes place in Victorian England, and wouldn’t you know it there are tons of resources (old photographs, advertisements and the like) that I can collect on Pinterest. Now you have a handy little board full of resources that you can quickly and easily refer to or share.
Some Ideas Include:
- Favourite Printables
- Photographs from the 1900s
- Anatomy References
- Green Living
8. Archive of Your Posts
If you have a blog or an Instagram or even a Youtube Channel, you can pin that content to Pinterest, tag it appropriately and group them all together so it is easy for you to find, as well as anyone else who clicks through to your profile. The best thing is, every pin is also a link, so when other people see your pins they can check out your content or even share it themselves with a repin!
And it doesn’t matter what you create! It could be an archive of blog posts, or videos, your own artwork – if it has some sort of visual representation, then it can be pinned on Pinterest.
There you have it! 8 different ways to get you started on Pinterest! And this is just the more personally useful things, I haven’t even touched how Pinterest can be used for business and marketing. But let’s consider this Pinterest 101.
Feel free to pull some ideas straight from this post if you’re not sure where to start. If this fails to inspire you, take a look at some of your favourite creators online – artists on Instagram, bloggers, YouTubers whose content you enjoy, and see if they have a Pinterest profile you can check out. Follow some of them and see what sort of boards they create and see if anything resonates with you! Pinterest is a huge platform, with tons of content being added to it every day. There is so much potential there to create the boards that work for you, all you need to do is get started. You can make as few or as many as you want. What are you waiting for?
I want to hear from you!
Did these ideas help you discover your own unique approach for Pinterest? Are you, like me, a Pinterest junkie with too many boards to keep track of? What do you use Pinterest for? Let me know in the comments below!
ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE 
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