Trent TurpinThere is no doubt that social networking is an incredible way to grow a BEAST of a brand. Twitter and Facebook are both great networks to push content and original ideas, while LinkedIn is the number one tool for B2B communications. When you find that your business is more creative and visually oriented, however, where do you turn? With over 70 million users and a 54% increase in memberships in 2014, Pinterest is the visually oriented social network your business has been looking for!
Pinterest allows users to create and share original content (Pins), as well as save the content of others, to virtual collections called “boards”. Think of it as a site to organize your internet bookmarks, as well as share, see, and save the bookmarks of others. Unless stored in your own private board, when the content is uploaded and categorized, it will show up on the homepage of other users that have followed your board and are also interested in similar things. The half-life of these Pinterest posts are nearly 1,600x longer than that of Facebook, which means more people will see these posts and, depending on who is repinning it, each post prospectively can last and be shared for months to come.
Convinced yet? Great! Now let’s fast forward ten minutes (cue: montage of spinning clock and you signing up for a Pinterest business page). You’re all signed up for a Pinterest page, you’ve verified your website AND you verified your Rich Pins. Now it’s time to run the magic of Pinterest.
Create Your Boards
A Pinterest board is basically a folder in which you store your shared and saved images. Boards should vary in a way that showcases a brand’s tastes and personality. Because individual users can choose to follow individual boards, there is no need for each board to apply to everyone. However, because boards are one way in which users can search for their interests, it is important to create a name with keywords and phrases people will search. When doing so, feel free to be creative. Make sure to keep the name under 20 characters to prevent it from being cut off, and fill out a description for each individual board to increase searchability.
When first starting out, we suggest creating anywhere between 5-10 boards and filling each board with at least 5 pins. We suggest 5 pins for each because before clicking on and opening a board, a users will see the most recent 5 pins being displayed on the board as a preview of what’s inside. Having at least 5 pins for each board will ensure that your board appears filled out and updated.
If you do not yet feel a board is ready, no worries. You can keep a board “secret” until you feel it is filled out enough to go public.
Pin for the Win
When it comes to a company Pinterest page, the standard for pinning is about one pin per board per day. Pinning once a day will ensure that your boards are relevant and your followers are receiving fresh content on their homepage. And don’t just pin your own original content, either. One of the best ways to engage with users and tell a more colorful story is by repinning other user’s content. When you repin relevant content to your boards, your users will appreciate the fresh pins and the bloggers will appreciate the shout out!
When you do create original pins, make sure they link back to somewhere relevant to your followers and helpful to you. Relevant linking is the best way to ensure an increase in website traffic, happy followers, and the ultimate number of repins. Always use high quality photos for your posts. Pinterest is a visual medium, which means the quality of the image you’re posting is incredibly important. Additionally, be specific in both the name of your pin and the description. If you’re creating a pin about a pair of leather rain boots, write “Leather Rain Boots,” instead of just “Boots” in order to increase searchability. What makes a Pin description good? According to Pinterest’s best practices it is:
Recipes: Describe the main ingredients of the dish and how to cook it
Fashion: Include what kind of clothing, the designer or season to wear it
Travel: Tell people the location and the kinds of things you can do there
DIY: Describe what it is, how you make it and what materials people need
Photography: Name the photographer, year, subject or publication
Design: Mention the designer, medium, publication, etc.”
Finally, making it easy to repin directly from your website is a great way to get your content pinned without being the first one to put it on Pinterest. The best way to do this is to add a Pin It button or widget to your site.
Engagement
Being such a visual medium, Pinterest is way more of a platform to share and save content than it is to talk and chat with others. Though, being a social network it still has its ways. One of the best ways to engage with other Pinterest users is to simply “Like” their pin. To “Like” a pin, hover over it with your mouse and click the heart that appears. The user will be notified shortly after and you can revisit the pin you “Liked” later on by going to your “Like” page. In addition, you can comment on Pins, send Pins via e-mail, and even tag users in comments and descriptions by using the “@” symbol.
One more great way to engage with others is by creating a group board. When you create a group board, you have the ability to invite others who share similar taste and personality to contribute to the board as well. By doing this, you’re opening up your company to a larger social network and giving others a chance to become a part of your lovely community.
While Pinterest is a superb network for visually oriented companies, whether you’re a visually oriented company or not, Pinterest may be the next social media network your business needs to conquer. With over 70 millions users and plenty of room for growth, adding photos to your content and pinning it on Pinterest can open up your business to a world of customers it previously had no connection to.
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