If you’re not using Pinterest to grow your website and your business – you are seriously missing out on a gold mine.
Most entrepreneurs have promoted their products on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for years, which is a smart thing to do, but a number of entrepreneurs and online marketers have now started using Pinterest to reach new customers.
Why? Well, let me give you some quick facts about Pinterest, and you’ll see why.
– As of now, Pinterest has a whopping 175 million active users
– 50 billion pins have so far been used by Pinterest users
– 2 million is the total number of Pinterest users who save shopping pins on their boards daily
– 81% of Pinterest users are female
– Time magazine referred to Pinterest as one of the top five social networking sites
Looking at these insane stats, I think it is safe to say that if you’re not using Pinterest to grow your website or your business, then you are seriously missing out on a gold mine. Especially retailers that cater to women.
So for all the newbies out there, what is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a free website where users can upload, save, categorize, and manage various images known as “pins” as well as other media content such as videos through collections known as “pinboards.”
Pinterest enables users to discover new ideas and find inspiration for anything and everything. Pins are actually ideas that can help you get creative, whether you’re launching a new product or promoting your existing ones – Pins are saved to Pinterest boards, making your ideas organized and easy to find.
A lot of people use Pinterest for a number of reasons, most people use it though to look for inspiration, particularly those people looking for ideas about new products to buy. Now before we look at how to use Pinterest for your business, let’s first look at how to set up a business account on Pinterest.
How to Create a Pinterest Business Account
– First, you need to go to Pinterest for Business and sign up. Complete all the details about your business.
– Now choose five or more ideas relating to your niche then read and accept the Pinterest Business Terms of Service and click “Create Account”.
– As soon as you sign up you’ll see something like this:
To give you a basic overview of the features of Pinterest, a “Pin” is an image or video that you can choose to save to Pinterest. If you have a businesses account then your image needs to contain a link for referral traffic because every pin links back to the original source. Pinterest users aka “Pinners” also sort their pins into collections called “boards” in order to keep things organized. So far there’s been a mind-boggling 100 billion pins to date and that’s pretty incredible stats!
– Next, you need to upload your most current photo or logo, choose your username that should be a direct representation of your business, add a bio that includes keywords that are optimized for search engines, add your location then add your website. Keep in mind that Pinterest is a visual social media platform so think visual.
To change your settings click at the top of Pinterest to open your menu, click settings to open your settings, scroll down to the Profile section, click change picture, then choose file, let it upload, then finally click save settings.
– Some basic terminologies you need to know besides boards and pins are “Secret Boards” which are also boards but the difference is that they’re secret so only you or anyone you’ve invited to pin with you are able to see your pins until you make the board public. There’s also the “group boards” which functions the same as normal boards but the only difference is that it has multiple pinners sharing content within the board. You’ve got the option to “repin” someone else’s content which simply means that you can share that specific pin with all of your followers similar to retweets. You’ve also got access to the “Pin It Button” which is a widget or plugin that can be added to your website or blog.
How To Set Up Pinterest Boards
Now that the technical stuff is out of the way – it’s time to start setting up your Pinterest Boards. I recommend around 5 boards, to begin with, so you get the basic idea of how Pinterest works. Think of boards as folders containing your photos, you’re basically sharing your photos with other people.
First, you have to name your board.
Keep in mind that the name of your board should be based on your chosen keyword so if you want your board to be search engine friendly then you need to choose a name that’ll represent your niche.
Your Pinterest Board Name needs to be attention-grabbing and highly clickable, it needs to contain your chosen keyword and specifically catered to your niche. Your main aim is to encourage pinners to browse through your boards and pin as much as they can so you need to also choose visually captivating images that can link and drive traffic to your website.
Try to make your board names more fun with a bit of attitude and personality – but at the same time really descriptive and direct to the point so that pinners can immediately grasp what your boards are all about.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a board and start with a few pins. Let’s say I want to create a board about movie trailers and link the pins to one of my websites, instead of naming the board movie trailers, I’d want to make the name sound more catchy so I’d name it “addicted to movie trailers.”
Next, you add the name of your board, in this case, it’s “Addicted to movie trailers.”
Once you’ve created a board it’s going to look like this, once you see this in your screen, you need to click on “create a pin” to start posting pins.
As soon as you click on create a pin you’ll end up with this two options – “The Web” and “Your Device.” If you want to drive traffic to your website then I recommend that you click on “The Web.”
Once you click on “The Web,” this prompt will come up. Basically, it’s asking you for a link to your website. So I go to my website, get the link to the article, then post it on this tab.
Click “Next” and you’ll be given a choice of a pin, either you choose from the photos Pinterest has extracted from your website otherwise you can choose to upload your own image.
As soon as you’ve chosen a photo to pin, you then need to provide a description of the photo – be as detailed as possible. Once that’s done you’ll be taken to the page below which means that you’ve just added your first pin. The photo will be clickable which means that it can potentially drive traffic to your website.
Add more photos and repeat the same process and before you know it you’ve created your first board and first set of pins.
How to get your pin to the top of Pinterest Search
There are three main factors that usually helps a pin reach the top of Pinterest and these three are a compelling photo, a highly optimized board name that supports the pinned content and a compelling blog post.
Now if you want to create a pin that can go viral then you need to look at these eight elements.
Compelling Description
Your pin description needs to be compelling enough if you want pinners to repin and click through to your photos. Take some time and work on your description before you hit that publish button.
Pin Size
A pin size is a big deal when it comes to creating a viral pin. According to danzarella.com, portrait and vertical images are the best to use on Pinterest. Award-winning social media marketer Dan Zarrella studied over 11,000 pins and discovered that taller images are actually more repinnable. I recommend trying the size 800 x 1,300 pixels because this size has worked well for me in the past but really, you need to try testing things out in Pinterest so you can find out which Pin size will do wonders for you. The minimum size is 600 x 900 pixels, make sure you don’t make your pins longer than 1500 pixels because they will get truncated.
Simple and Uncluttered Images
Granted that Pinterest is a visual social media platform, you still need to make sure that you don’t post photos that are way too busy to look at it literally hurts your eyes. I recommend using bright colors on a white or neutral background. Simple yet captivating photos tend to perform well on Pinterest. The colours red, pink, and purple tend to be repinned more, while green, blue, black, and yellow has the opposite effect,
Compelling images
According to Pinterest, informative pins are up to 30% more engaging than other pins and using some simple text on top of the image to quickly describe the pin helps make the pin more pinnable. Images with multiple colors apparently get repinned 3.25 times more than the ones with a single dominant color and medium lightness is repinned 20x more than very dark images. Don’t post images that are too light or too dark, stay natural.
FIle names
Since search engines can’t really see your images, you need to include file names that contain your targeted keywords. You’re most likely get much better search performance with “pacific_dresses.jpg” than you will with “JPEG23343.jpg.” If you do it this way, when someone pins your images from another blog or website using Pinterest’s browser button, the image alt-text by default is what is going to be used as the pin description.
Clear and legible Font
Obviously, you need to pick a font that people can read otherwise no one would click on your photos. Try to pick a photo that’s not too busy that it eats up your font, the neater the better.
Compelling images
According to Pinterest experts White Gloves, images without a human face receives 25% more repins. “Lifestyle images” drive 159% more likes and repins because it helps your audience actually visualize what they can do with your products and it shows your products being used in real life.
Optimize your Board Name
If people can’t locate your board then obviously they’re not going to find the content on your board. Therefore you need to use a board name that your target audience is searching for so that they can find your content.
Now if you want Pinterest to work wonders for your business here are twelve killer tips:
Follow your competition
What better way to find out what sort of Pinterest strategies you can implement in your own account than by following your competition and figuring out what’s working for them?
You can find out who your competition is by searching them on Pinterest or using good old Google. Once you’ve pinpointed out other businesses related to your niche then explore their Pinterest accounts.
What’s working for them?
What sort of photos is getting more engagement?
Do they have active followers on Pinterest?
You need to determine what’s working for your competition, implement those strategies on your own Pinterest account and if you can improve on it.
Turn your Pinterest Page into a Business Page
There’s no massive difference between a personal page and a business page; the only difference is that business pages have added analytics features so you can get more data to help you. You can insight like how many unique users your Pinterest account gets, or which of your content gets the most repins.
You also need to create boards that are a direct reflection of what your business is all about. Creating boards that reflect your business is great for branding purposes.
Add a Pinterest Hover Pin It Button to your photos
A Hover Pin It Button is an excellent call to action because it’ll drive referral traffic from Pinterest direct to your website.
This button actually appears over the images on your website whenever a Pinterest user’s mouse hovers over them. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your site because it makes it easier for Pinterest users to pin images from your website.
Pinterest provides detailed instructions on how to use it so you should be able to get it going in just a few minutes.
Interact with your followers
If you want to actively engage your followers, then don’t forget to engage with people that comment on your photos.
Customers love a brand that interacts with them so a quick response to a user’s comment is good public relations and will engage your followers.
Build rapport With Influencers
Building rapport with influencers is a must for every social media platform because these people have hundreds and thousands of followers that might also follow your brand.
Start following the influencers in your niche and interacting with them. Repin their content, like them and even make comments on them. If these influencers can see that your brand is reaching out and making an effort, then they might decide to collaborate with you.
Optimize your Pinterest account for SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should always be present on all your social media accounts, and the same goes with Pinterest.
Make sure your username is a direct reflection of your business for SEO purposes; your ‘about’ section should also contain keywords preferably long tail ones that are related to your niche. Make sure the file name and description of your pins are related to your niche, include relevant hashtags on your posts and of course, include links to your website.
Your business description is also a relevant piece of your Pinterest account so make sure you make it count.
Look at using Rich Pins
Pinterest has five types of rich pins that’ll enable you to add a pin that’s specifically related to your niche. These are the five:
•Movie pins which include reviews, cast members and ratings
•Place pins which include a map, an address and a phone number
•Article pins which include the link, the headline, the synopsis and the author
•Product pins which tell you where to buy and includes real-time pricing and product availability
•Recipe pins which include ingredients, serving information and even cooking times
Figure out which rich pin applies to your niche then apply for it, this should give your followers more specific information about the pins that interest them.
Invite users to a Group Board
A group board is a great way to engage with your customers and potential clients.
Create a group board then invite other Pinterest users to pin on your board. Of course, as the admin of the board, you have the power to control which pin stay and which pins go, but this is definitely a great way to gain potential new customers and followers.
Don’t be afraid to use old photos
Most people who follow brands businesses are usually keen on seeing their journey so why not dig up your old photos and do a throwback board?
Take your followers on a walk down memory lane by showing the progress on how you started to where you are now; success stories are always a hit with the masses.
Get smart when it comes to naming your Images
If you want Pinterest users to find your website photos, then you have to tweak your image names a little bit. Add keywords and hyphens, and that’ll make your image more search friendly.
For example, instead of a standard camera name like EOS SBCS0000.JPG – try “women’s-designer-shoes.jpg.” This should help make your photo easier to find online.
Use other forms of media
While we all know that Pinterest is a visually driven social media platform, there’s also the option of using other media to make your brand stand out.
Try posting videos from YouTube or slideshows from SlideShare – that should make your brand stand out more. You can also try audio from SoundCloud to make things a bit more interesting.
Don’t use too many hashtags
You need to choose hashtags that are relevant to your pin’s theme. If you’re using a hashtag that is more than one word – try capitalizing the first letter of each word to make it easier for Pinners to read your hashtag. For example, instead of #bluedress try typing #BlueDress.
Unlike Instagram where hashtags are a vital component to making your content go viral, in Pinterest, you don’t use more than 20 hashtags in your pin descriptions because it’ll look spammy and it’ll turn Pinners off. The less clutter there is in your pin description, the better.
Keep in mind just because you are using hashtags in your content, it doesn’t mean your content will automatically shoot up to the top of the Pinterest search engine because you’re still competing with other pins using the same keywords and hashtags. If those other pins are appropriately optimized with high repin numbers, those pins will always be ahead of your pins. You need to wait for at least a couple of months until you actually see a new pin’s value. SEO is a long-term game – it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.
In Conclusion
If you’re not using Pinterest to market your products or services, then you’re seriously missing out. because more than 87 percent of Pinterest users have bought a product because of the website.
Pinterest is one of the biggest website traffic drivers in the world and is actually 80% more viral and three times more effective at generating leads than Twitter. So if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to take your business to another level then what are you waiting for??