Using Pinterest Marketing is probably one of the most enjoyable and informative of all social media platforms. This vibrant and inspiring, social media platform with it’s easy to read layout and topics on almost every possible subject, gives you snippets of information without the headache of reading through the useless to find what you are looking for. Working just like a pinboard, users can create boards for any and every topic they desire.

WARNING: PINTEREST CAN BE ADDICTIVE.

Whilst it can be very addictive, the option to pin potential distractions to another board, to read later is a great feature and with the added bonus of knowing it will still be there later, without too much searching, can help avoid that top procrastination excuse ‘I may not be able to find it later’.

When creating a Pinterest Marketing strategy, there are a few things to consider before diving in:

  1. What do you want from Pinterest? What are you expectations? What are you goals?
  2. Do your research: Search your business/content type. What areas will you be focusing on? Out of those areas, what is working on Pinterest? If there is little information covering your field, what similar fields are there? What works there? What works well in other areas? Try researching the most popular topics and note what is working amongst these. What, out of these fields could you incorporate into your field?
  3. Have patience: There are a very lucky few that experience instant success on any of the platforms and even those that appear to have done so, have, in reality been working on their business for some time. The great feature about pinterest for business is that whilst other social media platforms tend to focus on new content, your pins are there forever and will pop up over and over again in relevant searches, even years later.
  4. Get the word out you are on Pinterest. Use you other social media, blog and website to let others know you are on Pinterest
  5. SEO: When adding pins, wherever text is available make sure it is search engine optimised. Provide links to your website and one really important but often un-considered tip is to make sure the name you have on your image is key word optimised. Often people create great content but then their image is named using a reference number, that only means something to them. Make your image name relevant to those users you want to attract.
  6. Do you have a pin button on your website? Make sure you have a button that will allow visitors to pin from your site to their pinterest account. Chances are if they like something enough to Pin it, they’ll have a whole new set of followers who will too.
  7. Is your website mobile friendly? Pinterest flows really well when searching on your mobile and whilst it is so easy to re-pin to read later on a bigger screen, if your website works well on a mobile too, the chances of them reading through, there and then are vastly improved. You risk losing pins if when they click in to read a little more, your website makes it difficult.
  8. How often will you be creating content? Pinterest needs to be fed regularly. Pinterest users often look at the number of pins you post before deciding whether to follow you or not. Once you begin to get followers they will want to see new content appearing on their home page.
  9. Images: Pinterest is all about your images and visual appeal. Look at the most popular pins, what do they have in common? How do they look? What emotions do they create in you when you look at them? How can you make your images more appealing to the masses? Do the images you use on your website or blog fit well with Pinterest? Remember when people visit your website from pinterest and want to pin from there, they are given a choice of images to use. If your images don’t look right when they go to create a pin, chances are they will choose to leave instead. Keep in mind that when creating our boards, pinterest users want them to be visually appealing. If, however the image you would like to be pinned does not fit to the pinterest scale and would look out of place on your website or blog, there is a fantastic plug in, well worth the small investment and it’s called ‘Social Warfare’. With social warfare you can assign an image to pin that isn’t on your website and even enter a pre-made description. This is option simplifies pinning your work for pinners, taking out the work they need to do.

If you are not seeing the results you want for your pinterest marketing, it may be time to look at your account with new eyes. Go back to your pinterest account and pretend you are seeing it for the first time.

Profile image: Does your profile image fit in the circle? The recommended image size is a 200px X 200px square image. If you joined pinterest a few years ago and haven’t updated your profile image since chances are when Pinterest made changes from a square image to circle in 2014 your profile image no longer fits.

About statement: This is really important for telling people what you are about. Is it key word optimised? Pinterest is a search tool and you need to use the phrase that people tend to search for when looking for your business. You have 160 characters to use for your about statement, play around with it and make it fit the clients you want to attract.

Boards: There are a number of things you will need to look at to keep your boards working for you and your followers.

  1. Organise your boards, the boards you most want to promote should be in your first four shown.
  2. When we first create a board, the image is usually taken from the first pin you make. Is it really the cover you want for your board. You can easily change your board cover by hovering over the board and clicking ‘edit’.
  3. Another thing to look at with boards is to consider if your board title still fits or do you need to update this?
  4. Update your board description, put in a call to action, invite pinners to visit your website or blog.
  5. Ditch the duds. Pinners getting overwhelmed by the number of boards you have? Spring clean your boards, get rid of those that no longer fit.
  6. De-clutter your pins: If your board has a lot of pins in a range of topics you may need to consider organising your pins to new, fresher and more specific boards. As an example, you may have a board for social media, with hundreds of pins covering every platform. Is it time to create separate boards for the most popular platforms? Open up your boards, and in the top right hand corner you will find an option to move your pins or copy them to another board.

As a final tip for Pinterest marketing and other social media; take some time out to use it for fun. Explore it for something you really enjoy or want to try. If you feel the guilt creeping in then you can remind yourself that in order to know how any social media platform can work for your business, you need to explore it as a personal user too. Be mindful that how you use social media on a personal level is often the same way your target audience will be using it too.