By now you’ve probably heard of Pinterest, the third most visited social media network, right behind Facebook and Twitter. For some entrepreneurs, Pinterest is driving more traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn, combined.
While Pinterest is similar to other social media networks in terms of “following” others and getting followers, Pinterest works a bit differently when it comes to actually connecting with other users. The main way to connect is to add images or videos (or “pin” them) to your boards – if someone likes an image that you pinned, they can follow your boards or they can comment, re-pin or like that particular image.
As a matter of fact, right now 80% of pins on Pinterest are re-pinned images from other users. What this means is that Pinterest can continue to drive traffic and clients to your site long after your originally pin an image or video.
If you are not yet taking advantage of Pinterest’s power to drive more traffic and generate new leads and clients for your business, now is the time. Here are five things you can do right now to start seeing results from Pinterest:
1. Add a “Pin It” button to your blog posts and a “Follow me on Pinterest” button to every page of your website
Adding the PinIt button to your blog posts allows your visitors to easily pin that blog post image to their Pinterest boards and having a “Follow me on Pinterest” button allows your visitors to follow all of your boards on Pinterest at once. You can see an example of both the PinIt button and the “Follow me on Pinterest” buttons at http://launchgrowjoy.com/easy-accounting-outright-com (the PinIt button is to the left of the blog post title and the “Follow me on Pinterest” button is next to the Twitter and Facebook icons on every page of my site.
2. Create boards with your ideal customer in mind
It might be tempting to create boards around YOUR interests on Pinterest, but if you are using Pinterest to connect with your potential customers you should create boards around THEIR interests. For example, if you are a realtor, set up boards around all your different properties, cool places to see in your town, best spots for families with kids or home staging ideas. The more useful your ideal customer will find your boards, the more likely they are to follow you on Pinterest.
3. Pin all your blog posts, products and services regularly
When you write a new blog post or launch a new product or service, don’t forget to pin it on Pinterest, just like you would tweet it on Twitter or share it on Facebook. For example, if you own a hair salon and wrote a blog post about an upcoming fashion show your stylists will be participating in, create a board titled “Upcoming Events” and pin that particular blog post to your board. Or if you just launched your new line of handmade jewelry, create a board titled “Latest Jewelry Collection” and pin your jewelry to it. While you need to find the balance between pinning other people’s content and yours, if you adhere to the 80/20 rule (80% of the time pin or re-pin other people’s content and 20% of the time pin or re-pin your own) you won’t seem overly promotional.
4. Use “pin-worthy” images on your blog
This might be easier to accomplish if you have an physical product line like clothing, jewelry or home décor (because you already have images of your products), but don’t let this stop if you from using Pinterest if you provide services or info products. One type of image that is likely to go viral on Pinterest is a quote. Whether it’s a funny quote, an inspirational quote or a customer testimonial, you can easily create a quote using a tool like www.pinstamatic.com or www.pinwords.com, write a relevant blog post to go with it and pin it on Pinterest. When others share it and click on it, you’ll start seeing lots of new traffic to your website.
5. Use relevant keywords in your board names, board descriptions and pin descriptions
A lot of Pinterst users search the site to discover new products, services and other things that they are interested in. When you create your boards and write your board and pin descriptions, use relevant and specific keywords to make sure that others can find your pins. For example, if you sell organic goat milk soap and create a boar to highlight your products, name it “organic goat milk soap,” not just “soap.” You can also use the hashtag sign, #, and add it next to relevant keywords, like #soap or #organicsoap. The more specific you can be with your names and descriptions, the more likely your pins will be discovered by other users.
Keep these five tips in mind and remember that Pinterest is a social media network whose goal is to connect others through specific interests. Aim to find the right balance between pinning your own products or services and other small business owners’ products, and you’ll start seeing results from Pinterest in no time!
