You finally have a Pinterest account and you’re exploring the site to see what it’s all about. It’s time to take the first step and start adding your own content. But, how do you get noticed?

With droves of people signing up for the service in recent months, standing out is becoming increasingly difficult. Brands and businesses are sharing top-notch photography. Beautiful imagery saturates the pins. Knowing how to make the most of your pins and pinboards will help you showcase the best of your content on Pinterest.

If, by chance, you haven’t jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon yet, you can check out this handy guide on how to create a Pinterest account. Then check out these examples for unique and creative ways to showcase your content.

1. Make An Announcement

Pinterest boards are displayed on your profile with a snapshot of the nine most recent images posted. Get creative with some boards and take a unified approach with the visuals to make an impact. In fact, you can rearrange the order of your pinboards any time in order to prioritize your most important topics.

Use the name of your pinboards to extend the message across your profile. For example, the couple pictured above used Pinterest to make a wedding announcement.

2. Use Photos, Videos, and Quotes to Tell a Story

Take a story telling approach to your pinboards and integrate video along with images and quotes. Graphical quotes posted as images are a popular form of expression on Pinterest. Using one unified board with photos, quotes, and video can help you tell more of a complete story with one pinboard.

The focus of Pinterest is largely on pinning great photos; it’s still not widely known that you can also pin videos. A dedicated video pinboard may be more inline with what your business or brand has to offer and it may stand out because so few people are doing it!

3. Use Visual Direct Marketing Ideas

Something that stands out from the sea of gorgeous photography will catch a pinner’s eye. Play with some visual marketing ideas to stand out.

Coupons can be creatively executed and really stand out among pins. If you’re a business that already distributes online coupons, this is a great extension of your business. If not, creating a few Pinterest-exclusive coupons or codes for your business may be an interesting way to test interest in this sort of direct marketing.

QR Codes are visually interesting and can be designed in a lot of different ways. Integrated imagery and logos can live within a QR code and really stand out. For more marketing ideas, check out these 10 creative ways to use Pinterest for marketing.

4. Leverage Pinterest’s Features

When you actually start pinning your own content, knowing the ins-and-outs of Pinterest’s functionality will be helpful in getting additional exposure for your pins. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the features the site has to offer in order to showcase your content as effectively as possible. For example:

• Just like Twitter, hashtags are an effective way to make a topic stand out.
• If you’re pinning a product, adding a price will also tag it in the Gift vertical.
• Authenticate your other social networks and post to Facebook and Twitter when it makes sense.

5. Make the Most Visual Impact

It goes without saying that visual impact is very important on a social network like Pinterest. But there are a few things you can consider when creating and pinning your content:

• If you want product shots to stand out, clear and clean shots on a white background make an impact.
• Solid photography is key.
• Well-designed infographics can work for just about any business. Pull together some interesting facts about your business or brand and display them as a graphic. Pinners love creatively executed pie charts!

How are you getting noticed on Pinterest? Please share your tips in the comments below. You can also check out Sprout Social on Pinterest.

[Image credits: HayleyM82, Jonathan Levy, umjanedoan, Fluid Forms, Brooks Elliott, Party Aficionado]