Social Media Marketing: Pinterest

Is Pinterest Right For You?

So Pinterest, while revolutionary in terms of design, has not made as significant a dent in the social media world. Before we go into how to use Pinterest, we need to go into if you should.

For most companies, the best way to be on Pinterest is organically. Create memorable, branded material in your blog posts such as infographics. These can, and will, get pinned.

Most infographics in Google Image Search are located on Pinterest boards. If you feel like you need to get into Pinterest and you’re not in one of the areas below, creating infographics and strategically categorizing them (and yourself) can give you a little bit of extra marketing.

Are You Marketing to Women?

 82% of all Pinterest users are female. This means that if you are marketing primarily towards men, you do not belong on Pinterest. It is a waste of your company’s time and money.

Is Your Company Health and Fitness Related?

64% of Pinterest users use it to discover things about health and fitness. If you are related to health and fitness, even if you’re marketing primarily towards men, a Pinterest account may benefit you.

Are You an Online Retailer?

87% of pinners have purchased something because of Pinterest, and 47% of all online shoppers have bought something they found on Pinterest. If you’re selling something, especially something marketed towards women, a Pinterest account would highly benefit you.  Clothing and beauty retailers are a prime candidate for Pinterest.

If the answers to all of the questions above is “no,” you probably don’t need to worry about Pinterest marketing for your site

As you can see, Pinterest is a niche marketing strategy due to the niche users. This means that you need to be careful of if you’re using the social media at all. 

Pinterest Tips

Include price tags. If you’re selling something, make sure that people know how much it is in your original pin.

Promote your Pinterest account on your other social media. This increases visibility, because people don’t tend to specifically search for brands on Pinterest.

Pin your blog posts. Choose an image from your blog, and use it as a pin/link to your original blog. This allows pinners to see more of your content.

Put everything in the proper categories. If everything is categorized properly, pinners are more likely to see it. People do category search on the site, plus Pinterest suggests both pins and boards. If a pinner likes something similar to what you’re pinning, your pins could show up on their feed organically.

Pin regularly and steadily. As with other social media, bursts of posts aren’t terribly helpful, while constant flow of posts are.

Short, witty board names. People see those, make them creative and interesting.

Like and repin other people’s content to engage with them. Make boards to showcase other people’s content such as blog posts or related tutorials.

Use pin descriptions well. People don’t tend to change these much when pinning, and make sure your brand name is included.

Make sure that your blog has the option to pin things. Also make sure that your status as a pinner is advertised on your website with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other social media.

If applicable, show behind the scenes pictures of your team and your process.

While Pinterest is a much more specialized marketing tool, if used well it can become a powerful force for your business!