A recent report by Experian revealed that Pinterest is now the third largest social media site based on the number of site visits in March 2012. Facebook
maintains its mammoth lead with 7 billion visits, Twitter received 182
million, Pinterest received 104 million, and LinkedIn received 86
million. Considering Pinterest launched in 2010 with a small beta test,
its growth has been remarkable. A social media site built around the concept of sharing photos,
Pinterest users can “pin” photos to their boards for sharing with other
users. With a predominantly female audience, Pinterest is a popular
place to share photos for wedding planning, home redecorating, recipes,
vacation destinations, and books. However, despite popular belief, your
business doesn’t need to be product-based in order take advantage of the
benefits that Pinterest offers. Here’s how to get started with Pinterest:
1. Apply for an account. Pinterest still operates
under invitation only, though this is a minor technicality and after you
submit your request for an account, you can expect confirmation within a
day or two. Note that though you can login to Pinterest with your
Twitter or Facebook account, it is beneficial to set up your account
with an email address and password since Pinterest doesn’t yet integrate
with Facebook business pages.
2. Create your pin boards. When defining your
boards, consider what would be of interest to your target audience. You
can and should have multiple boards with various themes such as books
you love, photos from events, featured products, inspiring places you
want to visit, products you love, client success stories, etc. For
ideas, surf around the Pinterest site to see what others are doing with
their boards. You can search by keywords to find boards related to your
topics of interest.
3. Name your boards. You don’t have to use the
default board titles that Pinterest suggests. Instead, rename your
boards with descriptive, keyword-rich titles that will help Pinterest
users find your content.
4. Download the Pin It button. Pinterest makes it
easy to share content by allowing you to download a handy button to add
to the toolbar on your web browser. This makes it easy to get in the
habit of pinning interesting content to your boards.
5. Start pinning content. One of the great benefits
of pinning photos to Pinterest is that a link is automatically included
back to the source of the pinned photo. So if you pin a book from
Amazon, a link will be added back to the book’s page on Amazon. The same
is true when you pin photos from your own website or blog—and you
should do so regularly. By pinning each new blog post, you add links
back to your blog, which can lead to increased traffic. Note that you
can also add descriptions to each photo that you pin to your board so be
sure to include a descriptive title. You can even include an additional
website link if you want to, which can also contribute to improved
search engine optimization for your website since Pinterest currently
allows Google to follow those links.
6. Build your audience. You can cross-promote your
Pinterest presence with other social networks by periodically sharing
links to your boards. You can also integrate Pinterest with your Twitter
and personal Facebook accounts to automatically share your new pins
there—just be careful not to share too often or you could risk annoying
your followers. Also, be sure to add a link to your Pinterest profile
from your website alongside your other social media site links.
7. Engage on Pinterest. Spend some time visiting
Pinterest boards by other users where you can choose to follow a user,
leave a comment on a photo, like their pinned photo, or repin their
photo to one of your boards. As with all of the other social networks,
the more you participate, the better results you will see as other
Pinterest users begin to return the favor.
9. Get creative with your pins. Start paying attention to the content you come across online and pin interesting articles, news, info graphics, or products to a board on your site (you can always create a new board if needed). As long as the content appeals to your target audience, anything goes. You might be surprised to discover how many others will begin to engage with you, visit your website, and repin your content as a result.
10. Mix up your strategy. Avoid making Pinterest all about selling your products or services. Make sure to include interesting content that provides value for your target audience.
Some Final Pinterest Tips
- isn’t just limited to photos. You can pin videos too!
- If you want to monitor who has pinned content from your website
onto Pinterest, use this link format: pinterest.com/source/<your
website.com>.
Here’s an example for pins of Forbes content: http://pinterest.com/source/forbes.com/. - Engage your customers by asking them to share photos of themselves using your products or services.
- Send out a link to your Pinterest account in your next e-newsletter and ask readers to leave comments.
- Use boards to emphasize what your brand represents. For example, you might have a board featuring favorite charitable causes or one featuring articles on recycling.
- Make sure you aren’t infringing on copyrights. Pinterest is facing some legal trouble due to concerns about copyright infringement and photos being shared illegally. Never add a photo to your website without having permission to do so. Just because a photo is available on Google, it does not mean you have the right to use it for commercial purposes. To be safe, invest in a royalty-free image service such as Clipart.com.
http://pinterest.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest
