Pinterest, is an online pin board that’s extremely popular right now. It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. Since its launch in March 2010, it is one of the fastest growing social networks online, and is currently the third-largest and third most-visited social network behind Facebook and Twitter.
A lot of people are jumping on the Pinterest Bandwagon. But is it worth the effort for your business’s social media campaign?
This article will help you navigate your way around Pinterest, and give you the information so you can make the decision for your business.
Pinterest Basics
Setting up your Profile
- Use a headshot as your Photo not a Logo – We have discussed this last time on the twitter marketing guide. No one wants to follow a default icon and not a lot of people want to follow a business logo (unless you are a big brand in your industry). What people want to see is a person behind the profile. Always remember that social media is all about engagement, and people want to engage with other people, not just companies.
- Add Links To Social Networks – Click your Name on the top right side and check the dropdown menu and click on settings then turn on login with facebook and twitter. Include your business url as well. Link to facebook and find friends and link your twitter account to find followers.
- Descriptive Bio – Write a crafty and creative description that will amaze people. This is where you can blatantly promote your business brand. Don’t forget to add some keywords on your bio.
Basics Marketing on Pinterest
Pins – Any Pin on Pinterest will give you opportunities to drive traffic. Install the Pin Button and Pin some interesting images on your website that you believe will catch the attention of pinners with the same interest as your customers.
Tip:
- Use creative Pin titles
- Make it Visually Appealing
- Use Keywords when describing your Pins
- Install the Pinterest Bookmarklet
- Credit the Source for every pin
- Tag others
- Add a watermark or url for every product you pin
- Pin photos relating to your industry
Repins – When you repin another’s picture, they get notified via email. Hopefully they will follow the links thus giving you an opportunity to have them look through your pin boards and catch their attention to the point that they consider following the links to your website.
Comments – another great marketing opportunity that drives traffic is by commenting on pins in your industry. When you hover your cursor over a pinned picture you see the “comment” tab, the “repin” tab, and the “like” tab.
Create a thoughtful and compelling comment (with a possible call to action) that will catch the pinner’s attention. Comments stay with the picture, so whatever you say has the potential to catch peoples’ attention and drive traffic. In addition, Pinterest will notify the person who pinned the picture that a comment has been made and give them a link to respond to your comment, again giving you a chance to drive traffic.
Follow – Each person you follow is an opportunity to connect with someone new and drive traffic to your promoted sites and pages. Pinterest notifies every person you follow thus giving them an email to check out your account – yet another chance to drive traffic.
Pinterest Marketing Resources
If you are interested in including pinterest in your social media campaigns here are some resources I found useful.
Pinterest Marketing – Copyblogger listed 56 ways to market your business on pinterest. This article will come helpful for both beginners and advanced pinners.
Pinterest for Business – Social Media Examiner listed 26 tips for using pinterest for businesses. These are really useful – check them out.
Pinterest Blog Traffic – Social Media Examiner shows how to use pinterest to drive more traffic to a blog. It discusses how bloggers or businesses with blogs must use or create images that catch the attention of every pinner on your industry.
Pinterest Marketing Tips – Kristi Hines published this article on Kissmetrics about pinterest marketing tips for SEO, Traffic and Online Reputation Management. A very useful piece that shows a lot of data for pinterest marketers that you can use if you pursue pinterest marketing.
Link Building Personas for Pinterest – ThunderSEO published a very detailed post about using personas for Link Building on Pinterest.
The Marketers Guide to Pinterest – Neil Patel published a guide for marketers when using Pinterest. He also mentioned reason why marketers should be on Pinterest. Great stuff inside.
Tip: Track who has been pinning your website images by typing this into your browser: http://pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITE.com/
Pinterest Marketing Tools
1. Pinerly
This Pinterest tool serves as your insights dashboard that lets you keep track of the “repins” and “likes” that your content is getting. Pinerly is still in invite-only mode. Get ahead of the others by leaving your email on their website.
2. PinAlerts
This tool is almost like Google Alerts. Whenever someone pins from your website PinAlerts sends an email notification to you, making sure that you never miss an opportunity to thank the people who pin your images.
3. Pinstamatic
Pinstamatic allows you to add locations, music, quotes, Twitter profiles, and websites to your Pinterest board. If you’ve ever wanted to promote a Twitter account, event, or even a song on Pinterest, Pinstamatic will give you the tools to do so.
We hope you’ve learned a lot out of this article. Let us know if you have any more resources you think would help.
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