In this second installment, we’ll cover how to take your Pinterest profile to the next level with some simple habits and steps.
Once you have gotten the foundation down by setting up your account as a business (not personal) profile, established themes around which to pin, and personalized your Pinterest presence, you’re ready to refine your strategy even further to begin generating real business leads and deals from your efforts.
Pin Often
Like with most digital platforms, frequency is key. Be sure to pin 2-5 times a week to keep your boards fresh and viewers engaged.
Include Prices
If you have a product to sell directly, don’t be coy! Include the price tag. Pinterest pins with prices get 36 percent more likes than those without.
Primp your Pins
Pinterest is primarily a visual platform. To make your presence and time spent here worthwhile, you’ll need to bring your own serious visual game. That means pinning your own content in a way that’s visually captivating, current, and clearly communicates its content.
But let’s face it: most of us are not graphic designers–and even those of us who are can’t afford to constantly design Pinterest tiles (known as “badges”) from scratch every time we want to pin.
For all of us under that umbrella, there’s a wonderful solution called “Canva.” Also useful for many other quick-and-easy graphic design needs you may have, one of Canva’s best selling points is that it is free to use with a basic account. Canva offers a “Pinterest” pre-set with lots of colorful, enticing designs perfect for pinning. This handy video tutorial by QP Media will also give you a quick orientation on how to get the most out of this tool.
Integrate and Cross-promote
Why not utilize your other social media and digital communications to drive people to your Pinterest profile? Here are some ways:
- Include a pin in your email newsletter with your most relevant, interesting, or recent pin. You can include an image of the actual pin, and invite readers to view and pin it themselves.
- Post on social media — such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter — to engage viewers around a recent pin. For instance, with a post like “Our new menu items are the best yet! Pin your faves,” provide a link to your pin and images of the items mentioned.
- Add the free Pinterest app to your Facebook account for easier cross-promotion.
Pin with Strategy
One of the most important points for successfully harnessing Pinterest for marketing and business growth is to be sure that your pinning is part of a pathway to drive viewers to your website, provide content, and capture emails for longer-term engagement and, eventually, sales.
Unless you have a route for a viewer to follow that will lead them to your site or blog, and an opportunity to either join your email list or engage in a direct sale, your Pinterest account will not actually yield you much beyond some new digital relationships, and perhaps some brand familiarity.
If you haven’t yet, now would be a good time to check out our blogs about inbound marketing to help you create a robust system of value-added content and engagement opportunities in other aspects of your marketing.
By employing these tips to strategically integrate Pinterest into a robust inbound marketing system, pin frequently, and increase your pins’ attractiveness through good design and price inclusion, you’ll be able to leverage this platform’s huge capacity for powerfully marketing your brand.
Happy pinning!
