- Reading time: 4 mins
- Topics:
- Social Media
If your target audience is women and you’re not on Pinterest, you’re doing your brand a big disfavor. According to eMarketer, 85% of Pinterest’s 100 million active users are female. With its combination of social media platform and search engine abilities, and recent kick-off of “Promoted Pins,” Pinterest is poised to become a respected major player in the world of social media. So, why do people use Pinterest? To plan for the future. Do you want to be a part of your customers’ future plans?
Here are 5 tips to help you create a successful Pinterest presence for your business and help your clients plan for the future:
1. Grab your prospects’ attention. A big part of the Pinterest engagement challenge is getting users to take the first step. Being mindful of a few design elements will make viewers want to click on your pin out of all the others in their feeds. Select bold, harmonious, and well-balanced colors. Faces have been shown to draw the most attention in a crowd of images. The more attention-grabbing “mugs” appear in users’ streams, the better branding you’ll get as a result. Remember to optimize for search engines to ensure that your Pinterest content is easy to find. Use long-tail keywords in your profile, file names, and image descriptions, and include links back to your website or blog.
2. Become a source of information. Just like any other social media content, your pins should be relevant and useful to your audience. They should make it easy for Pinterest users to identify your field of expertise, and understand what you have to offer. Post presentation materials, report or eBook covers, infographics, charts, tutorials, or even FAQs on working with your business. Create “Rich Pins” to add extra details to your images – a great way to give viewers more relevant information about pins that interest them, from product pricing and reviews to creator bios and maps.
3. Pin and re-pin. According to the American Genius, 93% of Pinterest content is re-pinned from other users. Pinning from outside sources can help your business stand out and attract more followers. Pin content from multiple sources, and don’t be afraid to try different formats, like videos. Just remember to check copyrights, and always give proper source credit. Whenever you pin something new, add a description and include keywords for SEO so other users can find and re-pin your content.
4. Give and you shall receive. Successful engagement is about interaction. Like and re-pin other users’ images, leave thoughtful comments, and don’t forget to thank the people who do the same for you. Before you start pinning, though, do some research to uncover the most beneficial connections for your brand – and pay attention to who’s seeing, sharing, and commenting on your pins.
5. Be the Board. Use Pinterest Boards to organize your images by theme or function. You can create subject boards for holidays, special events, product lines, and a myriad of other areas. Customer and group boards can promote interaction by allowing other users to share stories, opinions, images and videos. To build your own brand, company and team boards help foster a more “human” relationship with your visitors by introducing your business philosophies, employees, history, or special events. Remember that your board titles will stay attached to everything you pin so be sure to give them brief but memorable names.
The bottom line is that Pinterest offers a unique space to tell your story – be it the value of your organization, the uses of your products or services, or the success of your efforts. By creatively utilizing Pinterest’s tools and re-imagining existing content, businesses can tap into a wealth of visual marketing opportunities.
