Did you know that Pinterest is the fastest growing social media network since 2014? Despite offering inexpensive and easy tools to strengthen a business’s digital presence, companies are quick to shy away from using Pinterest because they are unaware of its untapped potential and benefits. This social networking site allows users to organize, share and store pictures that they find meaningful, as well as share this content with like-minded individuals. In a sense, it is an online scrapbook.
Working in the digital marketing and social media space, we at Premiere Creative have our reasons why your business should use Pinterest. According to statistics:
- More than 100 million regular users log into Pinterest daily
- 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins
- A pin’s half-life is 1,680 times longer than a Facebook post
- 85% of users are female
- 60% of all Pinterest users are in the United States
- Businesses see the most success when they post 5 times per day
While these statistics may prove to be interesting for your own personal account, you may find yourself asking: “How will Pinterest help my business?” The best way to answer that question is to examine why people frequently use Facebook or Twitter. People regularly visit social media sites because it allows for a free exchange of thoughts, feelings and opinions. If you scroll through your news feed, you may find your friends sharing comical memes and videos, or even compelling articles about the most bizarre topics. To answer your question, Pinterest can help your business connect with like-minded individuals that correlate with your ideal customer.
Reaching Customers on Pinterest
To reach your ideal customers on Pinterest, you have to correctly optimize your brand’s account in order to attract new customers. Many brands have been able to successfully leverage this social media platform. L.L.Bean, for instance, is the number one followed brand on Pinterest, having over 5.5 million followers, because they use 20-25% of their brand’s content or products and the rest is a variety of other interesting content. Combining your brand’s content with trending topics or images will keep your followers interested and will increase your following.
Here are some ways that you can optimize your page and strengthen your presence on Pinterest.
Choose an Image
Pinterest is very visual, and you cannot rely on inexpensive stock images. You need to ask yourself: “With millions of photos on Pinterest, how can I make MINE stand out?” Selecting an image that represents your business is extremely important. Use images for your website to cross market and add a link at the bottom of the pin to link your website with Pinterest. The dimensions of the image are also very important because images with smaller dimensions are the most interacted with. This is because they require a user to click on them to view the full size image for a clearer visual.
Use Rich Pins
Customers prefer to interact with a pin that includes in-depth information rather than a pin with very little or irrelevant information. Rich pins add additional information to your content. There are 6 different types of rich pins:
- Place Pins – address, phone number and map
- Article Pins – headline, author, story description and link
- Product Pins – real-time pricing, availability and where to buy
- Recipe Pins – ingredients, cooking times and serving information
- Movie Pins – ratings, cast members and reviews
- App Pins – directly sharing and downloading apps
There can always be more than one of these rich pins added to a pin. In fact, the more information added the better.
Optimize Pinterest for SEO
The first step in optimizing Pinterest for SEO is to create an easily searchable company username. Make sure that you choose a username that is concise and easy to remember. Next, the “About” section on your company’s page is necessary for customers to read up on your company to learn more about it. Be sure to include relevant information, as well as a link back to your website.
Afterwards, you should differentiate each board through their titles and images. To further differentiate each board, for each pin add a unique description with hashtags related to your business. Remember to include relevant SEO keywords in all of your descriptions. Pinterest gives you 500 characters to use for descriptions, but only use 200-300 to receive more repins.
Finally make sure every file name is unique, and that you include alt text to all your images in order to increase your visibility on Google’s SERPs.
Invite Others to a Group Board
Creating a group board with clients and potential customers is a great way to attract different people together; as a result, you can expect increased engagement that will receive more repins, which will drastically increase your number of followers. Be sure to use a title containing relevant keywords in your group board. Do so will allow you to promote the pins in this board, which will hopefully drive up website clicks and sales. You can even promote your pins yourself through Pinterest Ads Manager. In addition to promoting a pin, it’s important to pin regularly; for optimized reach, 5-10 pins a day gets the best results from customers.
Across The Board
The truth is that Pinterest can be a useful marketing tool for any large and small businesses, especially if your company thrives on visual content. Investing in Pinterest pays off long-term because Pinterest greatly influences customer purchases. In fact, 75% of online users have purchased an item through Pinterest. Pinterest is great for your band’s awareness so if you’re not already signed up, create an account today. Like they say on Pinterest: Go “Pin It to Win It!”
For more on utilizing Pinterest for Business or setting up an account, contact the experts at Premiere Creative or give us a call at (973) 346-8100! Thinking about expanding your Pinterest strategy to include Paid Advertising? Then this GUIDE is a MUST-READ!