Pinterest is an increasingly popular platform for selling products. It can be a great tool for businesses looking to boost their sales and increase brand awareness especially if your content has high quality images. The platform simply lends itself well to certain types of material that are visually appealing.
And it is different from other platforms. On Instagram, posts are gone in a short time, as is on TikTok and Facebook. Nothing lasts forever there, but a pin I posted on Pinterest is still active, receiving viewers and sending traffic to me years later.
With more than 445 million active users last year, businesses of all sizes and types are finding Pinterest an effective platform to increase website traffic. It’s visual search capabilities, targeted advertising opportunities and sponsored pins make it easy for everyone to participate in their content marketing strategy.
As with any business decisions, it is about building trust with prospective customers. In order to grow trust, you first need to build relationships. This is an essential rule of all social media marketing. Here are some ideas to help build trust and create those pins that will wow visitors.
Create a Business Account
To get started, you need to create a business account, rather than a personal one. If you run a small company, you may even wish to convert your current personal account to a business one. Then confirm your account in order to gain more trust from users.
You’ll also gain access to Pinterest analytics and have your logo added to all your pins for brand recognition purposes. These small tweaks go a long way toward instilling trust and legitimizing your business in the eyes of consumers.
You also want to create a profile that contains keywords and lets people know who you are. It may take some tweaking to get it just right. You want your profile picture to represent your brand and links to other social media platforms. You also want to respond to comments, and perhaps comments on OPP (Other Peoples Pins).
Provide Accurate Descriptions
When adding descriptions to your pins, it is important to be accurate. Use simple and relevant titles, with phrasing that tells the reader exactly what they will find when they click through to your content. Exaggeration does nothing more than to destroy trust.
This same principle applies to choosing titles. By using straight-forward, relevant words, you’ll be providing accurate information to your users while increasing your brand’s SEO.
Pinterest Users Share Content
The fact that Pinterest activity is ruled primarily by users sharing the interesting things they find, brands actually have to invest little time in order to see some benefit.
Of course, the more active and involved you are in maintaining your boards and sharing pins, the higher your return will be. However, the actual time and energy you need to spend on your Pinterest marketing is far less than that of other platforms that require constant monitoring and frequent addition of new material.
Sharing is Caring
As with most social media platforms, you want to give more that you expect in return. What this means on Pinterest is to pin material and content from other people, like pins and even comment on pins. Pinterest is a community unlike many other platforms.
How to Find and Join Pinterest Group Boards
You can capitalize on the concept of community through group boards. Find boards related to your content and request to join. These boards offer a way to connect with others, as well as to be seen by more users than you would otherwise.
You can find worthwhile group boards in your niche just by checking out the Pinterest boards of your favorite pinners. Find accounts of those in your niche or related topic, then see what kinds of group boards they belong to. You can also find Pinterest group boards by category by visiting a site called PinGroupie.
Creating Pins that Make an Impact
Make Your Images Stand Out
You probably know that visually attractive images are part of a successful Pinterest marketing strategy. You’ll want to give people a reason to take a second look at your content and to click on it. So be sure to take great product photos , use high quality images and focus on creating attractive pins.
You also should know that pins that are long in dimension tend to get more repins than others. Shoot for a size of 730px x 1102px or larger. Infographics work well in this format. I use a long pin consistently which is 1000 px by 1500 px. Pins can be a variety of dimensions however most use a ratio of 2:3 meaning width to length ratio. I also posted the infographic on Pinterest as well. It is not the perfect ratio and it is possible that it will be trimmed by Pinterest, but it is an experiment.
Pin Description
You’ll want to keep your copy to around 200 characters, so it’s important to be concise and straightforward. SEO targeted keywords can be used to help rank your pin in the search engines. Just be sure your description reads naturally and tells users precisely what they’ll find upon clicking through. Well-written copy can convert well, inspire trust and increase views.
Use Rich Pins
Rich Pins are incredibly useful for businesses because they benefit users by providing all the information they need directly on the pin. There are four types from which to choose. Your website, product info and price are on the pin. However, if you pin for a variety of places such as selling on ETSY, Shopify, etc, not sure this works as well.
Full disclosure, I do not use rich pins. You have to apply, they have stringent rules and are geared towards providing viewers with current pricing on products. I post pins for my ETSY shop as well as my website, so not sure how this would affect the pins description since they are coming from different places. But it is an option, and you can investigate and decide if this is an option you want to use.
Product Pins are geared toward the shopper who wants to find products, shipping information, current prices and in stock information so they can make buying decisions. Some of these options are not applicable for digital, downloadable products.
Recipe Pins are for those people who love to cook, need information on ingredients, where to buy them, what tools are needed, etc.
Article Pins will appeal to the readers because it will lead to an article when you click on the headline.
And, app pins include an install button, increasing the likelihood that users will download your app due to its ease of use. There is a setup process involved in order to apply for Rich Pins, but it’s fairly painless. See the process HERE.
Repin from Others
It need to be re-stated how important it is to give back when using social media. So be sure you’re repinning valuable and relevant stuff from other users to your boards. Your board should not have just your pins, it needs to have a variety of pins. To get started, just type a term related to your content or niche into the search bar.
Look for pins that are attractive to the eye and come from active accounts. You want to associate yourself with other pinners who are consistent in their use of Pinterest and who take time to produce quality content. Choose a pin, save it and add it to one of your boards.
Create More Than One Brand-Relevant Board
You want to create multiple boards, in fact the more the better. I have boards for journals, planners, coloring pages, coloring journals, coloring planners, adult coloring pages, checklists, blog posts, etc.
So when I pin to a board, I pin to ALL relevant boards. If it is a blog post about coloring, then I pin to the blog post board as well as all boards that are about coloring.
Since standard practice for pinning is to not pin the same pin more often that 7 days apart, I can pin that same pin every 7 days to a different board. This way I won’t have the same pin on a board more than once.
Use simple phrasing for your board titles and include keywords most associated with your content.
Use Hashtags
Be sure to use relevant hashtags when posting on pinterest if you are going to use hashtags. There is some discussion that hashtags are not that important for Pinterest, but you can experiment and see if using/not using will change your analytics. Using hashtags can make your posts easier to find and can help you reach new audiences who may not already be aware of your business. Additionally, pinterest offers the option to host contests or giveaways which can be a great way to drive engagement and followers on the platform.
Does your audience use Pinterest? If your audience is not hanging out on Pinterest, then putting your effort to market products on that platform may not be a good use of your time. You can check out the demographics to see if this fits your audience before you begin investing time there. PINTEREST DEMOGRAPHICS.
If you are just getting started on Pinterest this is a lot of information. So start slow and give yourself time to make progress.