- Create a Pin for Every Blog Post
If you’re blogging, you can increase the number of people who view a given post by sharing it on Pinterest. The key here is having a strong image that will attract people to click to your site or repin it. Use the description field to describe what people will get out of the blog post to further entice them to read it and share.
- Incorporate a Pin on Your Product Pages
If you sell products, make sure to use the Pin It button on each product image on your website to increase the likelihood that people will share it on Pinterest. And again, make sure your images are visually appealing and professional.
- Pay Attention to Your Timing
Specific categories on Pinterest tend to do better on certain days of the week, so see when people are most likely to care about your category. Also, test out different timing for your shares. It’s been shown that 2 to 4 pm, as well as 8 pm to 1 am are prime times to attract eyeballs and repins, but see what resonates with your own followers.
- Aggregate Great Content
Your Pinterest account shouldn’t center on your brand alone. You can — and should — also share other content that’s relevant and of interest to your followers. Create specific boards that cover a narrow topic and include your own comments in the description when repinning or sharing content. For example, if you sell beauty products, you could have a board called “Nail Art” and display examples of fabulous manicures from around the web. This won’t drive traffic to your site, but it does establish you as the go-to Pinner for your field.
- Ask for Repins
Simply asking users to repin, comment, or click in your description can increase engagement by 80%! Just stick to one call to action, otherwise you confuse people. Decide what has the biggest value for you for each pin: a click to your site, a repin to reach more people, or a comment to engage in conversation. The more repins an image has, the more it’s likely to attract, so keep that in mind.
- Be a Good Friend
Pinterest is a social network. That means you’ve got to give a little to get something in return. To that end, repin other users’ pins, comment on them, and tag them to engage in relationship-building. The idea is that you’ll pique their interest and they’ll come see what you’re doing on your own boards and support your efforts there.
- Keep Your Content Relevant
Pinterest is known for many as a black hole and time suck. You might start out searching for pins that relate to your business, but end up looking at cupcake recipes! If you do find yourself drawn to pins that have nothing to do with your business, consider setting up a second Pinterest account for personal use. You want all your boards and pins to relate to your business to keep in line with your brand’s messaging.
- Consider Buyable Pins
One of the coolest new features on Pinterest is Buyable Pins, which allow users to buy a product with the click of a button on a pin of a product. This has significant opportunity to increase revenue since users don’t have to leave Pinterest to make purchases. They no longer need to go to your site and hunt for the product they want to buy.
- Establish Goals
Simply pinning images and links on Pinterest isn’t going to make you feel like your marketing is a success. It’s important to set objectives for what you want to accomplish. Would you like to attract 50 new followers a week? Increase clicks to your site by 30%? By what time frame? Define very specifically what you’re hoping to achieve so that you can, down the road, assess whether you’ve reached your goals.
- Pay Attention to Metrics
How can you know if your efforts on Pinterest are doing your business any good? Now that you’ve set your goals, look at the relevant metrics. If you’re looking to increase followers or pins, start tracking those numbers and look for an increase over the time period you chose. If you want to increase traffic to your website, look at your Google Analytics to see how many visitors came to your site from Pinterest.
If you haven’t reached your goals in the time frame you established, you can do one of two things: you can lower your sights a bit and keep trying, or you can step up your efforts. If, for example, you wanted to attract 50 new followers a week but are only active on Pinterest one day a week, you’d want to increase your activity there and follow more people in the hopes that they would follow you in return.
Pinterest is a great addition to what you’re already doing to market your business. Keep your efforts consistent and vary up the types of images and links you pin, and you’ll build your following on this site.