Pinterest is a social network that allows users to share images and videos with others. It’s a great social media platform for marketing because it allows you to reach a large audience with your content. But how can you use it to implement a real Pinterest marketing strategy?
That’s what we aim to figure out here today. We’ll discuss some Pinterest basics then dive into how to properly setup your Pinterest profile and kickstart an effective Pinterest strategy.
What is Pinterest?
The site provides social networking opportunities for people looking for inspirational information, helpful advice or entertainment. Users may post their selected content on a group board that have a common theme for other users to learn about new content that relates specifically to their interests.
How does it work on Pinterest? Once enrolled, you may begin posting content on social media. You can add content on your social media site by launching a website, or putting in the content you see from other sites and adding content you can find on the internet.
Anatomy of Pinterest
Pinterest is the most widely-searched online site on Facebook. It searches over 2 billion times a day. Essentially this can be called a visual search engine. This allows you to search, explore, and save pins.
This pin has an image or graphic that links directly to the original source. Examples would be recipes on a site or a website describing how to bake a chocolate cake. Or a DIY tutorial on how to make soap. The site allows users to publish original content directly from a website and save the content from the website directly. This resulted in theme-specific galleries called Pinterest boards.
Feed
A Pinterest presence consists of a feed, which is identical to Facebook or Twitter feeds in concept. The app displays all a person’s pin activity as well as the paid/sponsored pin activity it sees based on your pins and favorites. For specific content, users may look at specific words, browse the feeds, or simply browse the feeds that are autogenerated.
The account can be accessed from either an Individual or Pinterest Business account. Both are free but serve separate functions. The Pinterest business account provides you with a variety of features that will help increase website traffic on a particular website.
Boards
The user can also share their pin to a Pinterest board (like an album, scrapbook, etc.). Most users combine pins centered around a common theme or concept. For example, there are boards that can be used for wedding planning or to provide holiday information.
Pinterest boards are a great way to let prospective customers explore your portfolio and discover all about your products. It is not uncommon in a board to include featured pins, as well.
Pins
Often users save pictures, images, and videos to their accounts. Those links are all linked back to the original source so there are links, too. Pins allow the user to view your products and go back to your website to make a purchase, should they so choose. Pin creation and saving are possible using a variety of types that are further explained below.
What is a Pinterest Marketing Strategy?
Pinterest marketing can help you to improve the effectiveness of your social media marketing strategy in gaining more of an audience. Pinterest Business says it is a platform to promote businesses that help increase sales.
Pinterest currently has more than 457 million users each month, providing ample opportunity for digital Pinterest advertising as well.
How Effective is Pinterest for Marketing?
Let’s now shift our focus to how effective Pinterest marketing is and why you might want to out it into practice.
It’s Become a Place to Shop
Pinterest has seen a 6x growth in sales using the format of shopping Pinterest ads during the fourth quarter of 2020. It’s clear that users aren’t only viewing Pins, they’re also clicking through to view the linked content as well.
Those looking to shop on Pinterest often visit Pinterest twice more frequently each month compared to other sites. Free shopping tools and paid Pinterest marketing are all possible options for reaching out to customers. Product pins can connect to your Shopify catalog, too. Once uploaded, you can add a Shop section, and people can quickly see and purchase your items.
It Has a Growing International User Base
Pinterest has more than 408 million registered visitors in total. Despite being not nearly as massive as other social media platforms, its popularity is still growing. In 2021, Pinterest saw a growth of 5.4% and will continue to grow as it adds new customers.
Pinterest has the potential of being a marketing powerhouse. Users buy products they see on Pinterest more frequently and it may be partly the result of the users actively searching the Pinterest site directly for items, projects, or ideas they’re interested in.
Ideal for Product Discovery
Many people are using Pins to find new products. 85% of weekly pinners say new products were discovered by searching on Pinterest.
If you have an online store, try posting all of your items via Pinterest. Users will come across your product photos and save them to their boards. Over time, new people will discover your products and begin the purchasing cycle and promote product awareness more easily.
There’s a Place for Every Brand
87% of search results for images on Pinterest aren’t branded. Users don’t need to search for a certain brand name to navigate the site or to come across your products. They seek inspiration instead of finding new things.
Brands have the option to target buyers at their very early stages to get their goods to the best buyers. There aren’t hard selling opportunities on Pinterest.
Set Up Your Pinterest Profile for Success
How can I create my own Pinterest account? Your profile provides the base for all the rest of your marketing and you’re able to save time when you have the product right away.
You should create a business account for this store rather than creating an individual account as you get access to Pinterest’s analytics and rich pins. Pinterest can help with the creation of an online business account, too.
Convert a Personal Account to a Business One
Once your personal profile is complete you can convert that into a business profile. You can return to your individual account anytime. Let me explain how I can start an account on Pinterest.
Create a New Business Account
If you don’t already have a Pinterest business account, you’ll need to create one. You can do this by going to www.pinterest.com and selecting “Sign up” in the top right-hand corner.
Next, select “Create a business account” and fill out your basic information, including your business name, email address, and password.
Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be taken to your business profile. Here, you can add more information about your business, including a short description and your website URL. You can also upload a profile picture and cover photo.
Now that your business account is set up, you’re ready to start marketing on Pinterest!
Create a Linked Business Account
If you already have a personal Pinterest account, you can convert it into a business account. To do this, go to www.pinterest.com/business and select “Convert now.”
You’ll be asked to enter your business name, website, and description, then agree to the terms and conditions. Once you hit “Continue,” your personal account will be converted into a business account.
If you have a Pinterest app on your phone, you’ll need to delete it and re-download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store. Once you’ve done this, sign in with your business email and password.
Now that your business account is set up, you’re ready to start marketing on Pinterest!
Create a “Pin It for Later” Link
When you publish your own blog post on Twitter and Facebook, it will let the audience see your post later.
The readers can then pin your blog post to a special Pinterest board containing more than one topic to help their readers find new content quickly. This means readers may add your pin to the board or visit your site to learn more about you.
Try Different Pin Formats
One of the great things about Pinterest is that there are a variety of different pin formats that you can use to promote your business. These include:
- Standard pins: These are the most basic type of pins and can be used for anything from promoting a blog post to displaying product information. To create a standard pin, all you need is an image and some descriptive text.
- Video pins: Video pins are a great way to showcase your products or services in action. To create a video pin, all you need is a URL from YouTube, Vimeo, or another video-sharing site.
- Rich pins: Rich pins include extra information about your products or services, such as pricing, availability, and where to buy. Rich pins are only available for certain types of businesses, including retailers, restaurants, and movie theaters.
Carefully Plan Your Boards
You can use your brand board as an opportunity to get people looking for information or a specific thing about your company, products, or services. The Oreo board has pins that give inspiration for the upcoming holiday season — such as its Spooky Sweet Halloween Treats board.
Aveeno also provides products containing its own product lines including Aveeno Body and Suncare boards. Be specific and make sure you have a clear thought process behind the “why” of your boards.
Pin Engaging, Captivating Content
Pinterest has visual content that is effective for businesses, so create aesthetically engaging visual content to share with your audience. Is there something special about pins? Lastly, be consistent! Consistent daily pinning is effective.
Regular posting of content helps ensure it is seen by many more users. And tools like HootSuite allow a user to schedule Pins, too.
Write Better Descriptions – Keyword-Rich, Detailed Descriptions
One of the most important things to remember when creating pins is that you need to write keyword-rich, detailed descriptions. These descriptions should be around 100 characters long and include relevant keywords for your business.
For example, if you’re a florist, you might want to include keywords like “flower delivery,” “wedding flowers,” or “flower arrangements.”
Not only do keywords help your pins show up in search results, but they also help you attract the right audience to your pins. When potential customers see that your pins are relevant to their interests, they’re more likely to click on them.
Keyword-Rich Boards for Your Blog Posts
In addition to writing keyword-rich descriptions for your pins, you should also create keyword-rich boards for your blog posts. For example, if you have a blog post about wedding flowers, you might want to create a board called “Wedding Flowers” and include keywords like “bridal bouquets,” “flower arrangements,” and “wedding centerpieces.”
Not only will this help you attract the right audience to your pins, but it will also help you get more traffic to your website. When people see that you have boards full of relevant content, they’re more likely to follow you and check out your website.
Use Multiple Images Within a Pin
Another great way to make your pins more engaging is to use multiple images within a single pin. This is a great way to show off different products or services, or to give potential customers a sneak peek at what you have to offer.
To do this, simply create a collage of images using a free online tool like Canva or PicMonkey. Once you have your collage, upload it to Pinterest and add a brief description. Be sure to include relevant keywords so that people can find your pin when they’re searching for something related.
Create Pins with Text in Them
Almost any pin you will come across on Pinterest is accompanied by overlay text. For creating text overlays, it’s again easy using Photoshop or Gimp or a web-based tool such as Canva.
The most popular images are text-based: infographics, graphic blogs, and book covers.
Pin More Often and Space Out Your Pins
One of the best ways to ensure that your pins are seen by potential customers is to pin them more often. The more pins you have, the more likely people are to see them. However, you don’t want to go overboard and start flooding people’s feeds with your content.
Instead, try to space out your pins so that they’re spread out over the course of a day or week. This way, people will see your pins more often, but you won’t be overwhelming them with too much content at once.
Create the Right-Sized Images
When you’re creating images for your pins, it’s important to make sure that they’re the right size. If your images are too small, they won’t be seen by as many people. But if they’re too large, they’ll take up too much space on people’s feeds and may not get clicked on as often.
The ideal size for Pinterest images is 736×1102 pixels. This size will ensure that your pins are big enough to be seen, but not so big that they take up too much space.
Track Metrics
Pinterest marketing strategies are based on data. The data collected from Pinterest can be tracked, compared, and evaluated for the purposes of determining how content has been perceived and what content has been viewed as the most interesting.
Apply for Rich Pins for Your Website or Blog
Rich pins are a great way to make your pins more engaging and informative. They allow you to add extra information to your pins, like the price of a product or the ingredients in a recipe.
If you have a website or blog, you can apply for rich pins by going to the Pinterest developer website and following the instructions. Once you’ve been approved, you’ll need to add some code to your website so that Pinterest can read your rich pins.
If you don’t have a website or blog, you can still use rich pins by creating them manually. To do this, simply create an image for your pin and include the extra information in the description.
Enhance Your Pinterest Marketing Efforts with Further Education
If you’re hoping to learn about online marketing, the Entrepreneurial Mindset course offered for free by Ryan Grambart is an excellent starting point.
You’ll Discover new areas of potential profit for your business – just as his eCommerce courses have done for countless others. However, if you want a deeper understanding of how best to connect with your target audience using Pinterest, his Pinterest Marketing Secrets course provides valuable insights.
Setup Pinterest for Marketing and See a Difference Immediately
So there you have it – everything you need to know in order to start using Pinterest for marketing. It can be a great way to drive traffic to your website, increase brand awareness, and boost sales. Just make sure that you take the time to set up your boards and pins correctly, and use attractive images that will capture people’s attention.
Are you ready to get started?