Pinterest helps people find creative ideas for their futures. That’s why so many businesses, especially retailers and big brands, have focused more of their marketing efforts on the platform.
Still unsure? In this Coaching Blog I will share with you how to make the most of Pinterest for your business.
1. Make your offerings visible on Pinterest
To make sure you’re discoverable to the biggest audience possible, include your brand’s name and website address on your Pinterest profile page as well as other social networks.
Pay attention to the captions you use. Whether you’re Pinning content from your site or repinning it from somewhere else, you need to explain why it is useful to your customers. Another way to make sure you’re discoverable is to ensure you mention and link to your website in the captions.
Also, try to include a call to action (CTA), as well as other links, in Pins that contain original content. The CTA can be associated with an ongoing campaign, or simply redirect users to your website.
2. Make your website Pinterest-friendly
Before you start Pinning original content, you want to make it easy for other Pinterest users to Pin articles and images from your website using a Pinterest browser extension. Add the Pin It button to your website for people to easily save ideas and products to Pinterest.
Besides the Pin It button, you can also add a Follow button in a prominent position on your webpage so your customers can easily find you. There are other widgets that you can also add to your site, including Pin, profile, and board features for easy access.
It is also a good idea to optimize your website to allow Rich Pins, or Pins that show “extra information right on the Pin itself”. Pinterest currently has six types of Rich Pins: app, movie, recipe, article, product, and place.
3. Create appealing content you can Pin
Like most social networks, you want your business’ Pinterest profile to be a mix of original and curated content—with an emphasis on articles and photos pinned from your site. Great Pins are great ideas. Make sure they’re helpful, compelling, and actionable, so that people discover, share, and save your ideas.
As you are already an expert on social media images, finding high-quality images shouldn’t be a problem. But being on Pinterest should give you extra incentive to create original, visually-appealing content. After all, an image is the first thing someone sees in a Pin.
A few tips for creative best practices:
- Feature compelling images that people will want to share
- Try text overlays to help people browse and discover faster
- Create detailed descriptions of your content
- Consider adding lists or how-tos in the text overlays
- Tasteful branding goes a long way on Pinterest
- Have a clear call to action
4. Know Pinterest’s image requirements
Pins need to get noticed in order to get clicked. Because most people use Pinterest on mobile and feeds are organized into columns, vertical Pins tend to perform best. Taller Pins also take up more space in people’s feeds. If you have optimized your site for the network, but Pinterest still doesn’t show your images, check your dimensions.
Vertical images can have an aspect ratio of 2:3 to 1:2.8 and must be at least 600px wide. Pinterest doesn’t recognize background images, images embedded in iFrames or within Flash websites. Having accurate dimensions will help your Pins get noticed better, hopefully leading to more clicks to your site.
5. Study Pinterest’s categories
Pinterest users can search the network for content in many different categories. Get to know the ones that apply to your business to determine where your content fits.
Some of the top pinned categories include home decor, food and drink, weddings, DIY, and crafts. Once you figure out the categories that apply to your business, remember to categorize any Pin board you create to make it easier for users to discover your content.
6. Pin useful content
Pinners love learning new ways of doing things, and you have a unique opportunity to share knowledge about your area of expertise. Share tutorials and how-to articles in order to teach users something new, or use your own expertise to offer advice.
Another type of content that often makes it to the top Pinned lists is infographics. Start by finding and repinning well-researched and well-designed infographics on the topics relevant to your field.
Eventually you’ll want to carve out some time in your content creation calendar to make some Pinnable infographics of your own. Not only do they display helpful and sharable content, but they are highly visual and often take up the space you need to get noticed.
7. Pin about your customers
Pinterest is a great tool for acknowledging your customers and you can do this by creating Boards that tell their stories.
These Pins can make up their own Board or be a part of your how-to category, for example. If your customers find unique ways to incorporate your brand’s products or services into their everyday life, what better way to celebrate them?
8. Pin as a team
Pinterest allows users to add contributors to Boards, so encourage your employees to add content they find interesting, or encourage them to curate their own Boards.
Not only are employees your brand’s best advocates, they often share similar interests with your brand. Include your employees in the discovery process, and @mention them in the captions of the Pins they selected.
Pinterest can also help your business promote company culture, celebrate employees, and attract new hires. If your company held a fundraiser or a fun team bonding event, why not create a Board to share it with the world? This is a great way to add some personality to your brand and build loyalty among customers.
9. Create themed Pinterest Boards
Is there a holiday or a big product release coming up? Maybe your business is rebranding and you need a creative way to tell your customers about it. Why not create a themed Board for the reveal?
Pinterest allows you to connect written, photo, and video resources in one place and present it in a sharable way. Remember that Pins created for themed boards should make sense on their own—someone wants to repin them to their Board with similar themes.
10. Pay attention to your Pinterest Analytics
As with any social network, it’s crucial to take regular temperature checks to refine your content strategy for that platform. Pinterest Analytics allows you to see what Pins and boards get the most likes, comments, and repins.
You can easily gather new data about your audience such as who they are, what they like, and what devices they use to Pin your content. Pinterest Analytics also shows how the Pin It button is performing on your website—and whether it’s directing referral traffic or not.
In conclusion,
I hope at least some of these tips have inspired you to do more with your Pinterest presence. If you don’t have a business account, sign up today!
