Pinterest is a visual search engine, an ideal platform for businesses in industries such as beauty, fashion, food, home design, and travel. Pinterest has more than 335 million active users each month, and the Pew Research Center found that 28% of adult social media users are on the platform. While a majority of Pinterest users are women, there are a lot of United States-based dads on the platform, too. Here’s how to promote your business using Pinterest.
Build an Account That People Want to Follow
When deciding whether or not to follow you on Pinterest, people look at the number of accounts you follow and the number of people following you. Have a fewer following count than your follower count; otherwise, it looks like you spam-follow people to get followers in return.
When deciding which accounts and boards to follow, stick to popular ones that attract your target audience. Users also look at how many boards and pins you have, so make sure to stay active and regularly keep your content up-to-date.
Follow Business Account Best Practices
Promoting your company through a Pinterest business account instead of a personal one is the recommended move, since the former account type provides helpful features, such as the ability to include rich media in Pins and access to advanced analytics. You’ll have to adhere to certain legal terms when you do, however. For example, you can’t do anything that can be considered spam. If you run sweepstakes, you can’t ask followers to re-pin your content as an entry. You also can’t bombard followers with requests to comment on your Pins or re-pin your content.
Create Rich Pins
Rich Pins provide extra context by showing information that regular Pins usually don’t include. For example, a product Rich Pin will show up-to-date availability and pricing. Recipe Rich Pins will auto-update if you make a change on your website.
Research SEO Keywords
Pinterest content has to be searchable. Research SEO-optimized keywords, as you would for your website content. Find keywords related to your Pins, then add them to the titles, descriptions, and image file names.
Post Images in the Right Size
Pins are vertical instead of horizontal, and they all have the same width. Pinterest suggests sticking to a 2:3 aspect ratio. Here are a few size options:
Try to keep the length relatively short unless you have a multi-step DIY project that needs a longer image. Consider the user: They don’t want to scroll past other content they may like just to see your entire Pin.
Vary Your Content
Keep followers interested by creating different-themed boards. Lululemon does this well by creating boards based on the season or sport, plus gift guides by gender.
Some boards can feature your products, but create others that inspire or motivate. Pinterest users want to see that you post a variety of content so they won’t get bombarded with promotional Pins in their feed. Also, post your own content and re-pin those from people you follow.
Create a Community Board
People who manage open boards accept Pins from collaborators. Collaborating on those boards helps you build a community through your Pinterest account while tapping into your followers’ networks. For example, you can partner with other local businesses in your town or ask customers to add Pins to a mood board for outfit ideas.
Pin Seasonal Content
Design your content calendar around annual events, holidays, and seasons. You can also refer to the social media holiday calendar to jump on board certain themes that coordinate with your brand. Specific boards that connect with a time-sensitive event aren’t evergreen, of course, but they are highly relevant in the moment and create a sense of urgency.
Add a Call to Action
You can’t beg your followers to comment or re-pin your content, but you can add a light CTA in the description. For example, if you own a travel company, and you post an image of a trendy hotel, you can write a CTA like “Add this to your Travel Bucket List board!”
Engage with Followers
You respond to Facebook posts and Tweets, right? You have to do the same on Pinterest, even though the platform doesn’t attract as much feedback as other sites. Engage with your followers by responding to comments and answering questions. Also, leave comments on their content.
Take Advantage of Business Analytics
When you have a verified Pinterest business account, you can access advanced analytics and tracking. When you make it a point to go over your analytics regularly, you’ll discover the following:
- The boards and Pins that your followers like most
- The content people save from your website
- Audience demographics, like gender, interests, and location
- Devices people use to pin your content
Enhance Your Website
Images on your website should have a “Pin It” button when they’re hovered over. If you have a WordPress website, this is easy to add with a plugin, like Pin It. Website visitors can then pin your content to their boards, and they’ll also have a way to find you on Pinterest and become a follower.
Add Pins to Your Newsletter
Grow your Pinterest followers by adding your most popular pins to your newsletter. For example, you can include an “Our Top Pins This Week” section at the bottom of each newsletter. Make sure that the links actually direct people to the pin or your account, though.
Final Thoughts About Marketing with Pinterest
Pinterest users are on the platform to get inspired, find products they love, and envision their ideal lifestyle. Since Pinterest is free (and fun) to use, and the advertising options can work with any budget, it’s definitely worth your time.
By Lindsay Pietroluongo
