As a virtual pin board of your favorite images and videos, Pinterest enables brands to share and highlight stories that inspire and encourage a loyal following.

Many think of Pinterest as a place to pin ideas for weddings and home décor but more are using the online platform to promote their businesses and causes everyday. Why? As a virtual diary, Pinterest is a powerful tool for collecting and displaying the things that matter most to your brand and your audience. Pinterest is an opportunity to communicate your value to the world through categories that resonate with your audience and highlight the most meaningful aspects of your business.

How? With Pinterest simply create pinboards of the subjects that are most important to your brand and pin photographs, infographics, videos, etc., all for the world to see. Each pin offers insight into your brand’s personality and reinforces your organization’s purpose and impact. Best of all, it allows others to collect and share.

So, what boards to create? What to pin?
What does your audience care about? Get personal. Get your creative team brainstorming. This is an opportunity to profile stories and highlight data in a much different way from your corporate website. Take a look through similar biomedical brands on Pinterest for ideas. Also think about the other publications your organization is already creating – like your newsletter. You probably have content waiting to be shared through this social platform. Once you’ve done some research and established vibrant categories…start pinning.

Here’s some biomedical brands on Pinterest who are building good momentum:

• Genentech: We Love Science, Patient Perspectives, Science is Personal
• The Mayo Clinic: Healthy Recipes, Fitness, Health, Tips for Parents, Cancer Care, Diabetes, In the News.
• Dana Farber Cancer Institute: Races, Faces of DF, Things that Make Us Smile, Portraits of Care, Our History, Things Worth Reading
• American Cancer Society: Life Lists, Statistical Infographics, Become a Volunteer, Stories of Hope, Events, Donate to Fight Cancer, Get Inspired, Screenings, Eating Healthy
• Boehringer Ingelhrim: A-Fib and Stroke Visualized, COPD Inspirations

Here are a few ways Pinterest can make a difference for your biomedical brand:

1) Promote Your Research Focus
Create pinboards based on your specific research areas. Compelling visuals go a long way towards helping donors, investors and patients understand the effectiveness of your research; how your organization is advancing science; and ultimately, how you are impacting our health. Incorporate visuals and graphics that draw in viewers. Compelling infographics can bring focus to important numbers and the potential impact of your work. Dynamic scientific illustrations can help donors understand complexities in your work. And videos told through a principal investigator can be powerful in connecting potential investors with your research first-hand. This personal touch gives viewers an opportunity to get to know, trust and value your work, scientists, and institutional brand.

2) Connect with Patients and Position You as a Leading Institution
From the examples above, you’ll see many in the biomedical field are using Pinterest as a way to share their expertise by helping educate patients about specific diseases and health issues. Custom infographics explain statistics, how the body works, warning signs, treatment procedures, etc.

3) Inspire Hope and Confidence
One of the best parts of social media is bringing individuals from all over the world together in communities that have shared interests, such as battling cancer or recovering from surgery. One of the most obvious representations is the American Cancer Society listed above but also Live Strong where boards like Cancer Inspiration exist for those seeking support. Baylor Health also has a robust collection and following – Living with Diabetes, Heart Health and even Healthy Tailgating are a few of their categories.

4) ROI: Repurpose Existing Content
Social media enables you to repurpose content – not only from your website and blog but also from your print publications and events too. Create a pin from an important infographic in your annual report or from your latest blog post, then include a short description and keywords that are linked back to your website.

5) Digital Collaboration & Donor Cultivation
Some say contemporary biomedical research is about breaking down silos and solving biomedical problems together. If so, Pinterest gives us the opportunity to share and collect information globally. And not just within the scientific community, but with patients and donors too. As more and more of us turn to social media everyday, Development Directors should give Pinterest some thought.

Final Quick Tips:

• As with any social channel be sure your branding is consistent
• Link your Pinterest profile to your other social networks
• Utilize hashtags and keywords in your pin descriptions
• Re-pin relevant posts to your boards to encourage followers and keep content fresh
• Link images to relevant areas of your website
• Pin your blog posts, newsletter articles, etc.
• Remember the personal touch
• Tell people about it!

Sure, Pinterest is new for biomedical brands but many are getting their toes wet and evolving their presence as they learn what’s important to followers – that’s what social media is all about.