14 Ways To Use Pinterest To Market and Grow Your Business
By Shelby Ballou
Pinterest, the popular social bookmarking site that allows members to visually share information, has over 100 million active users. Because of this, Pinterest is essential to your digital marketing strategy. To be successful on Pinterest, you need to determine who your target audience is. Then, you need to actively engage that audience. Here are 14 tips to help you grow your business with Pinterest.
1. Share your products. On your website, be sure to include a “Pin it” option on blog posts and photos. This way, visitors can share your products on Pinterest with a single click.
2. Create themed boards. Create lifestyle boards, such as “Holiday Gift Ideas” or “Travel Necessities”, to promote product collections. Keep your target audience in mind when you create these boards.
3. Don’t make your boards all about you. Be careful not to only pin your brand’s products. Instead, create a space that your ideal customer would want to browse and follow.
4. Include a link to your website. Adding your website link to your Pinterest homepage makes it easy for potential customers to find you on the web.
5. Use high-quality pictures. Pinterest is visual. If your photographs aren’t professional, people won’t like or share your pins. Make sure your photos aren’t blurry and dark. Focus on making them crisp, clear, and colorful.
6. Don’t forget about the copy. Simple, descriptive copy adds value to an image. Don’t worry too much about making the description perfect. Casual, creative, and concise is usually your best bet.
7. SEO matters. Pinterest SEO includes keyword targets for each board, incorporating that keyword into the board’s description two to three times, and incorporating keywords into each pin’s description at least once.
8. Use rich pins. Rich pins include information about the product or service on the pin itself, such as pricing, availability, and where to buy it. This eliminates the need for consumers to do additional research.
9. Encourage spontaneous purchases with buyable pins. Buyable pins, with a blue price and blue buy button, allow users to purchase products directly from pins. Buyable pins are currently only available in the United States via the iPhone and iPad Pinterest apps, but they should soon be available across all of North America.
10. Post regularly. Post a few pins each day. This keeps followers engaged, and it keeps your boards and pins close to the top of any feed.
11. Include photos of products being used. Include both pictures of products only and pictures of the products in use. This way, you can display different and creative ways to use your products.
12. Engage with followers. Show your customers that you care about them by re-pinning and liking their pins, following their accounts, and responding when they ask questions about your products.
13. Connect with influencers. If your brand is fairly new, find an influencer by googling “Top 100 most influential pinners on Pinterest”. Take note of their categories, and target influencers who would be a good fit for your brand. Then, see if you can work out a deal.
14. Study your Pinterest analytics. Pinterest’s built-in analytics tool will tell you which of your pins and boards are the most popular. Then, you can use that knowledge to pin on more popular boards more often to give your account a boost.
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