Pinterest continues to be a popular channel amongst shoppers of all ages. The typical Pinner loves nothing more than browsing the latest fashion trends, planning their future wedding and discovering ways to create household products from scratch.
No matter what your business is, there is value in exploring your place in this niche market. Many businesses have an opportunity to benefit from this active group of Pinners.
Recent studies have shown that 88 percent of Pinners say they find new ideas on the platform. In addition, 87 percent of Pinners reported that Pinterest has helped them decide what to purchase.
Is your brand ready to add Pinterest to its marketing strategy? Pinterest can help drive awareness, increase traffic, boost in-store and online sales, draw in sign-ups, and increase app downloads. Below are a few tips to get you started.
Setup
Create a business account to take advantage of extra features that the platform provides, like analytics and the ability to run advertisements. If you are currently running a personal account, you can convert it through the site’s help center.
Your account is at its best when you have your company’s logo set as the profile picture and when the “about you” section describes what makes your company unique. Keep in mind your business goals as you create and style your account to be sure that you are delivering a message that is consistent with those conveyed through your other marketing mediums and efforts. This will help generate brand awareness and loyalty.
Get Started
You first need to create a board so that you can start pinning. Boards are collections of pins categorized by you, the user. Design your board categories to align with your business category and brand personality. Then, start pinning often! Create original pins by uploading an image and adding a description. As you become more advanced, you can add metadata to each pin that is linked to your site, so that changes like price or availability are automatically updated in the associated pin.
4 Pro Tips to Help Your Brand Stand Out from the Crowd
High-Quality Images Are Key – Pinning decisions are made in a matter of seconds, and whether a Pinner chooses to pin your pin is largely influenced by the image it’s paired with. Pinners prefer high-quality, interesting images, so think twice about settling for cheesy stock photography. Consider browsing Creative Commons images, an organization that releases images available for anyone to share. Getty Images is a paid source with a massive selection of high-quality stock photographs.
Use a Variety of Image Styles – Pinterest is an inherently visual platform. Using different image sizes and styles can help your Pins to standout on the Pinterest feed. Target found that showing the product in use can be more effective than using a standalone image of the product. Target still showcases the product on its own, though, so that Pinners can be inspired to use the products in their own way as well. Using a combination of image styles can bring your Pins to the next level.
Promote Your Pinterest Board Outside of Pinterest – Brands can leverage their Pinterest board by promoting it in places other than Pinterest itself. A good place to start is your own website. It’s important to include “Pin It” buttons wherever shareable content can be found. From there, some brands seek other modes of advertising. Caribou Coffee brought their Pinterest board to life in a five-story interactive Pinterest board placed in the Mall of America in 2014. Pins were updated and displayed in real-time, highlighting “moments worth staying awake for” and kept the brand top of mind as customers passed by.
Pin More Than Just Your Own Products — Pinners lose interest when you only pin promotional material. It is important to find fresh, eye-catching content and embrace pinning videos, pictures, and articles from various other sources, keeping in mind audience interest. Just remember not to eliminate the source of any third-party material.
BONUS TIP
Include Keywords Wherever Possible – Search results on Pinterest are based on keywords in your pin, board, and account descriptions. If you want your brand to show up for certain keywords, make sure that these are included in the description wherever possible. With the new Pinterest Search Ads, this is even more crucial now. These search results and ads help to drive consideration for your brand, and ultimately sales for your business.
