With the rise in popularity of visual content, marketers are realizing that Pinterest is a great way to show off their brands’ personalities, engage their social media fans and followers, and even generate some leads along the way. But many marketers — particularly those who represent B2B companies, are still left wondering, what in the heck should I be pinning?

Well let me tell you, fellow marketers: You sure do have some options!

I scoured Pinterest looking for examples of truly engaging pinboards and realized there are quite a few companies out there doing some really creative things with their Pinterest accounts. So if you’re ready to get your feet wet with visual content, here are 28 creative pinboard ideas to power your Pinterest marketing. And what’s even better? Most — if not all — of these pinboard ideas can be transferable to your own Pinterest account, whether you’re company is B2B, B2C, or nonprofit. Time to get pinning!

1) Idea/Inspiration/Example Board

Inspire your fans and followers! Think about your target customers’ interests and hobbies, and create a board to give them examples and ideas to inspire them. For example, Grand Image, a source of fine art for the corporate, hospitality, and healthcare design markets, uses its “Color Inspirations” board to inspire its followers with colorful examples, and Drake University uses its “Study Inspiration” board to motivate its student audience.

 

 

 

 

2) Philanthropy Board

Show off your business’ philanthropic side with a philanthropy board! Pinning images of your employees giving back to the community will show followers that your company cares about the greater good, just as FedEx has done through its “FedEx Community Involvement” board pictured below.

 

 

3) Marketing Campaign Board

Use one of your boards to feature one of your latest marketing campaigns. DoubleTree hotels, for instance, uses one of its own to highlight images depicting its “Little Things Project Tour” campaign, which travels the country to bring the guests of its hotels little things that make a big difference when traveling. DoubleTree also uses its board to link to its Facebook page about the campaign to encourage engagement there, as well.

 

 

4) Video Board

Pinterest isn’t only for pinning pretty images. Users can pin videos, too! So if videos are a part of your marketing mix, create a board just for them as Gemvara and Econsultancy have done below.

 

 

 

 

5) Customer Success Board

Highlight your customers’ successes in one of your boards as Salesforce does in its Customer Success Stories” board, populated mainly by video pins.

 

 

6) Products/Services Board

We don’t recommend you litter your Pinterest presence with product-specific pins, but we think one or two boards dedicated to your products and/or services is just fine. AMD, for example, has a board dedicated to its technology, and we have one at HubSpot, too, featuring a peek at our marketing software.

 

 

 

7) Behind the Scenes Board

What happens behind the scenes that makes your company run like clockwork? Give your Pinterest followers the inside scoop with a board that highlights just what happens behind the scenes at your business. Peapod does this well with its “Where in the world is that Peapod Truck” pinboard, and General Electric makes machinery fascinating in its “From the Factory Floor” board.

 

 

 

 

8) Contest Board

Use your Pinterest presence to hold a contest and motivate your followers to action, like GE does with its “Freshpedition Sweepstakes” board. You can also highlight submissions to past contests, as the manufacturing company does in its “#GEInspiredMe” board.

 

 

 

 

9) Employee Board

Give Pinterest users the opportunity to get to know the awesome people behind your brand. Petplan Pet Insurance does this creatively in its “Meet the Team” board, in which it features most of its team members with a furry friend. Furthermore, Salesforce uses its board to highlight why its employees love working at Salesforce, and Peapod profiles its employees in its “Peapod Pros” board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10) Mission Board

Give your Pinterest followers a sense of your company’s mission and values, like the U.S. Army does in its “Army Values” board and Heart Shaped World does in its “Supporters & Causes” board.

 

 

 

 

11) User-Generated Board

Because you can allow other users to contribute their own pins to your hosted pinboards on a user by user basis, this opens up a great opportunity to involve fans and customers in your marketing. Let Pinterest users get in on the action with a user-generated pinboard. You can either gather images and compile them into a board yourself, as the Weather Channel has done through its “iWitness Photos” board, or give specific users permission to pin content to your boards themselves, as Drake University and ModCloth have done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12) Blog Board

Highlight your awesome blog content via a blog board. Just be sure each post you pin has a compelling visual within. Grand Image and HGTV both offer stellar examples of blog boards.

 

 

 

 

13) Content/Resources Board

Piggybacking on the blog board idea, create a board to showcase some other awesome content and resources, whether its content you’ve created or content you’ve aggregated from other sources. Petplan does this well with its “Healthy Reads” board, and HubSpot even has its own “Helpful Marketing Ebooks” board.

 

 

 

 

14) Testimonials Board

Are people saying nice things about you? Share it with Pinterest! Or take a spin on this idea, like the U.S. Army does through its “‘Thank a Soldier’ Notes” board, seen below.

 

 

15) Visual Industry Data/Statistics Board

Does your audience love data? Highlight interesting data and statistics for your industry in a visual way — through charts and graphs! Econsultancy has a cool “Stats and Charts” board, for instance.

 

 

16) Industry Infographics/Diagrams/Flowcharts Board

Similarly, if your audience is crazy for industry-related infographics, diagrams, or flowcharts, create a board just for them, whether you’ve created them yourself or collect them from the web. Mashable has a board just like this, as does Intel!

 

 

 

 

17) Meme Board

Creating memes to help power your social media presence in general (here’s how!)? Feature them on their own board, as we’ve done in HubSpot’s “Meme-tastic Marketing!” board.

 

 

18) Complementary Products Board

Okay, so maybe you have a board for your own products. But you’re super helpful, too … right? Create a board for complementary — not competing — products that your audience would find useful, like AMD does in its “Laptop Bags & Cases” board.

 

 

19) Inspirational Industry Quotes

Motivate your audience with inspirational quotes from industry thought leaders and experts. The Wall Street Journal adopts this idea in its “Quotes” board, for example.

 

 

20) Events/Conferences Board

Feature awesome conferences and events in your industry, or create a board to promote an event you’re hosting yourself, as we’ve done at HubSpot with our “Inbound Conference” board. You coming?

 

 

21) Brand Lifestyle Board

Create boards that appeal to the lifestyle your brand promotes. Chronicle Books does this well with its “Library Love” board, for instance.

 

 

22) Industry Tips Board

Offer some tips! You can either pin original tips you’ve visually optimized, or pin content like tip-focused blog posts you’ve written or aggregated from others. Take a look at how Petplan and CNET do it.

 

 

 

 

23) History Board

Appeal to the history buffs in your audience. Compile a board to highlight your history, whether its the history of your business — like in Intel’s “Our Heritage” board — or the history of your industry, as MarketingProfs features in its “History: Vintage Marketing” board.

 

 

 

 

24) Customer Interest Board

Create boards that play to the interests of your prospects and customers. Jewelry maker Gemvara knows that a lot of its customers come looking for engagement and wedding rings, so its “‘Fit The Dress’ Recipes” board is a great choice. Similarly, HubSpot customer AmeriFirst Mortgage has its “Lavish Landscapes” board for its future and current home-owning clients.

 

 

 

 

25) Industry Cartoons Board

Use a board to feature funny industry cartoons, as MarketingProfs does in its “SnarketingProfs” board. HubSpot has a board like this, too!

 

 

 

 

26) A Day at the Office Board

What’s office life like at your company? Give your followers an idea with a board that features the goings on at your office, like Petplan does in its “Just a Day at the Office…” board.

 

 

27) Newsjacking Boards

That’s right. You can use Pinterest as a platform for newsjacking, too! The U.S. Army does this nicely with its “U.S. Army Olympians” board, where it highlights U.S. army soldiers who have competed or coached in the Olympics — just in time for the 2012 London Olympics! Peapod did this, too, for the Super Bowl, using its “Super Bowl Party” board to feature snack food and recipe ideas for the big game.

 

 

 

 

28) Boards Organized By Location

Is your company a franchise? Maybe you just have multiple office locations around the country — or the world! Create a series of boards focused on each of your locations, as Ronald McDonald House Charities has done with its Pinterest account.