With 200 million monthly users, Pinterest may not be a social media giant like Instagram or Facebook, but it’s an important social platform. It is said that more than half of all U.S. millennials use Pinterest. But it’s not just young people saving their ideas on the network: 68 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 25 and 54 use Pinterest, too. And while it’s true that the network does have more female users than male, 40 percent of new users are men.
With such a huge group of potential customers, it is in your best interest to understand Pinterest and see if it is useful for your own business.
We here at CulturallyOurs have been on the platform since October 2018. In fact, the day CulturallyOurs launched, is the day we opened up a Pinterest account and starting using the platform.
#01 Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media platform
Pinterest gets lumped in with other social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram. However, Pinterest is far from a social platform — it’s a visual search engine. This point is important for a specific reason: to get good results (and organic traffic) from search engines, you need to use something called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
SEO is a term used to describe the strategies you should use to get organic traffic from a search engine. It essentially means that you should optimize your content for search engines, otherwise those search engines won’t even know it exists. Luckily, there are some easy-peasy ways to implement SEO for Pinterest, such as…
Well, Pinterest works in almost the exact same way. When users go to Pinterest’s search bar and type in a search term, they are essentially using keywords. When they hit ‘search’, then the search results that display will link to websites that Pinterest thinks are the most relevant or helpful. This is a great way to get your content seen by potential customers.
#02 Pinterest also uses SEO
One of the most important SEO strategies for Pinterest (just like most search engines) is using keywords. Anytime you go to Google search engine to look up something, you are essentially typing keywords into the search field. So to make your article, content, image or even video searchable make sure you use keywords in your pin descriptions, board descriptions, and board titles. But don’t just stuff your descriptions with them.
For your pin’s description, write something conversational and descriptive. Write a few sentences as if you were explaining what it is about to a friend or a colleague. After you write the description make sure you add a few key words about what the PIN is about.
#03 Create content that adds value beyond the aesthetic
Just like for any search engine, people are looking for information content that helps them in some way. Helping them decide what to cook for dinner, where to go for a weekend, how to make something or even learn a certain topic. People are looking for information beyond just a pretty picture. Once you start thinking along those lines, you can focus on creating content that is informational.
Social media platforms are inherently more personal and inspirational. This means that you should create free content that speaks to what you do, what your business is all about and how you can add value to others. You can create blogposts, how to articles and even videos. This free content should be informational and help solve a problem or answer a common question that your target audience tends to have. That way you can establish yourself as an expert in your niche and build trust.
#04 Like anything else, be consistent and PIN regularly and frequently
Pinterest values consistent behavior. The more consistent you are, the most valuable your content is perceived and Pinterest will show your Pins more often to your audience. The good thing with Pinterest is that you can schedule PIN using other 3rdparty apps like Tailwind. Just make sure that whatever scheduling app you use is a Pinterest approved partner.
Aim for pinning 20-30 pieces of content every day. A good strategy is to make use of other’s Pins as well as your own. So follow the 80-20 rule and pin a combination of your own articles as well as interesting and relevant pins from others.
#05 Add lead magnets on your website so that your visitors from Pinterest sign up for your email list
Like all marketing and promotional activates for your business, Pinterest should also serve a purpose. Is it to build awareness for your brand? Is it to build traffic on your website? Do you want people to buy something from you? Whatever your goal is have a strategy to your Pinterest.
A lot of people want to build traffic on their site. So, when they Pin content it points back to their website and then translates to either a freebie that they have to sign up for.
#06 Post quality Pins
Pinterest’s feed is set up makes it easier to see images that are vertical while you’re scrolling through on any device. You can pin horizontal images, but they appear much smaller. The ideal PIN dimensions are 800 x 1200px. If you are not tech savvy or don’t have advanced editing tools like Photoshop or Lightroom, you can use Canva to create your Pins.
If you are not a professional photographer and don’t have access to professional photos, don’t let that stop you from having a beautiful Pinterest account. There are lot of options to get free stock photos to use for your Pins. Just make sure they fit your brand aesthetics and messaging. You can also create text only PINs that call out informational content on your site or your account. So don’t let a lack of images stop you from using Pinterest.
Pinterest really is the perfect place to showcase your brand, business and products to an engaged marketplace with plenty of spending power.
Here is a link to CulturallyOurs’s Pinterest Account where we share our content and content from other businesses that relate to promoting culture and diversity from around the world.
How about you? Have you used Pinterest for your business?
0 Comments