Social media influencer, Kim Garst, gave a fabulous training for our Social Buzz U chock full of Pinterest tips for business. Here are some of the highlights she shared:
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social network that allows you to organize and share almost anything you find on the web. Since it is imaged based sharing, you create virtual bulletin boards (or pin boards) by topic. Then you pin images from pages online that contain information related to your bulletin board topics. Topics or themes can include everything to personal interest areas like weddings, decorating ideas, exercise, fitness tips, recipes, to business interests.
Tip: Browse others pin boards created by others to find pins for your boards.
Pinterest Statistic 2012
Pinterest had over 10 million visitors in January of 2012. Driving more traffic than YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+ combined. Using Pinterest gives your business more exposure.
How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Products and Services
Start with these tasks to use Pinterest for your online business development:
- Add the Pinterest buttons to your website/blog (Find it under About/Pin It Button for HTML for your website or blog)
- Install Pin It button to your browser
- Add the Pinterest app to your iPhone or iPad
How To Add Pinterest to Your Facebook Fan Page
Woobox has one of the simplest applications to use to add Pinterest to your fan page.
It will bring all of your Pinterest boards up in an app tab on your fan page for your fans to follow, repin, like or comment. This app will also let you require someone to Like your page in order to see your Pin Boards (aka Fan Gate or reveal tab).
For a video on how to install the woobox Pinterest app on your fan page, click here.
Branding Your Pinterest Profile
Be sure to fill in your Pinterest profile completely. Use your business name (or yourself if you are your brand) as your Pinterest user name. Then your Pinterest URL includes your Business/Brand name.
Be sure to put your website URL in the description.
Include keywords in your bio and description because has some SEO value so use key words in description.
Link your Pinterest account to your Facebook and Twitter accounts from within Pinterest.
Using Pinterest for Business
Pin what is related to your business. For example:
- Photos and videos (YouTube)
- Infographics
- Charts
- Visual content
- Text on photos – pixlr, picasa, picmonkey are a few sites to add text onto photos
- Create theme based boards. Be sure to use keywords in titles of the boards and in their descriptions.
Use images between 600-800pixels wide (ideal size for Pinterest). Don’t use images less than 300 pixels wide. No length limit.
For every blog post you create, include a related picture and then pin it to the appropriate board. You may include calls to action on the graphics and in the Pinterest description.
More Statistics on Pinterest Results
- There is an 80% greater engagement rate on graphics with a call to action.
- Pins with tutorial/guide/DIY see 42% higher engagement
- Pins relating to trending topics 94% engagement rate.
- Pay attention to the Popular tab on Pinterest and empower people to share your content
These statistics came from Pinerly.com blog post April 8, 2012
When to Pin
Best time to pin is during the day 2-4 pm EST and at night 8 pm – 1 am EST.
Pinning for Business
When creating pin boards and pinning items for business consider the following:
- Link to your website page or blog post in your pin description and links.
- Make sure your blog post graphic depicts the content. You can even place the title of the blog post in your graphic. That makes sure your graphic encourages people to go to your web page. You will get traffic to your blog using Pinterest.
- Include a hashtag of your keywords in your pin description. Don’t over hashtag your pins
- Acknowledge others (@pinterestusername) in your pin description to broaden your reach.
- Instead of pinning, like pins of those that may not fit your industry or niche – shows in their activity feed.
- Comment on other pins.
- Follow other boards
Run a Pinterest Contest
Kim often runs “Pin It To Win It” contests on Mondays. She posts an image with contest name and/or prize. You can do contests to win things like: Your book, ½ hour consults, other products, or anything you have that would be great to turn around to give you exposure by giving it away.
Then you Tweet about the fact you’re giving this away for pinning on Pinterest.
Run your contest for 1-2 days so people don’t forget about.
I found more ideas on contests on Pinterest on this pin board.
Kim Garst’s training is thorough and full of tons more great information. To access the entire Pinterest training, visit Social Buzz U or join Social Buzz Club as a Basic or Premium Member.
Remember to add Pinterest actions to your Social Media calendar and include Pinterest for business in your overall social media strategy.
