Ways Bloggers Can Use Pinterest Secret Boards
The secret is out by now. Pinterest just launched boards that you can keep private! Cool, right?
These private boards don't show up in searches (not that Pinterest search is worth a darn anyway), in any categories or in anyone's feed. They're truly secret. Hidden. Classified. Private. Under wraps. You can even collaborate on a private Pinterest board with other pinners.
But there's a BIG CATCH. Pinterest only plans to have the boards around for the holiday season. For now. Maybe they'll change their minds. But that's a big funsucker now isn't it? You can read through the comments on their blog post to see what they say about it. (In case you were wondering, private boards won't be deleted or made public if they don't continue them. You just won't be able to add new ones.)
I'll just head to la-la land and pretend that Pinterest will think private boards are SO FRICKIN AWESOME that they'll keep them around. I can't speculate but I can imagine there would be quite a bit of backlash if they took them away.
Ways to Use a Private Pinterest Board
So assuming they stick around, what sorts of ways can you use a private board as a blogger? Let's count the ways:
- Mood board: If you're working on a blog redesign or starting a new blog, create a mood board of imagery, fonts, colors and examples that inspire you.
- Curate articles for a blog post: Pin articles you want to reference or link to without giving your followers a peek.
- Collect blog post ideas: Save articles, research or images that give you blog post ideas.
- Collaborate with other bloggers on a project: Since you can add others to private boards, a group of bloggers can pin to a secret board to work together on a project.
- Launch a complete board all at once: If you're making a big announcement that you want to use Pinterest for, then you can pin things to a private board until you're ready to make the announcement. This also works if you do social media for a brand and want to unveil a full board versus hitting your followers with a bunch of pins at once.
How to Set Up a Board
It's super easy to set up a private board. Like so easy I probably shouldn't even be giving you directions. But I will anyway. *grin*
1. Go to Pinterest and click on your boards under your profile.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of your boards page and you'll see three blank beauties ready to be filled.
3. Get to building your board. You'll know a board is secret by the bright, red slider that says “ON.” Yeah, told you it was easy.
You can turn a private board public at any time to make room for a new private board.
Tell me! Do you think you'll use private boards for blogging? Are you hoping they'll stick around?
