Apr 11, 2013
No Comments
Pin That!
You’ve heard about Pinterest, right?! Of course you have. Pinterest is all the rage. It’s visual, it’s addicting, it’s cool.
A year or two ago the platform went from 1 million users to 150 million users within six months . . they must be a on to something! Pinterest is everything that Flickr should have been – a simple platform to organize and share pictures and video. There is a lot to love – hence its popularity.
Are you addicted yet? Many are. Am I? Check my profile and let me know what you think.
Pinterest is thrilling to use on a personal level but what should you be doing to use it for your business? Is Pinterest the new Facebook? Is it better than Facebook? How can Pinterest help your business reach its business goals?
If it’s appropriate for the nature of your offering and used properly it will be a very helpful tool. Many businesses – especially photo-based businesses – have seen that a large amount of web traffic comes directly from Pinterest. But don’t think that you have to be a fashion brand or magazine to utilize Pinterest, even the U.S. Army has found a way to effectively use it.
Now moving on to what you can do. I’ve listed a few reasonable ways you can make Pinterest a part of your business.
Explore the Landscape
Look to see if anyone is already pinning photos from your site and tailor your boards to what’s already happening. If your site doesn’t have photos, then you better start taking some!
Put a “Pin” Button on Your Site
As your business and website continue to expand you’ll have more and more shareable content so make it easy to share. Of course they can add pictures manually but you want to make it as easy as possible.Add a “Pin” button now.
Infographics Sell
Many people like to pin them – so give them something they want to pin.
Be A Part of Pinterest
Include a caption with all of your photos on your blog and/or website. Check any comments that are made on your photos/pins and then make sure to answer questions, thank them, etc.
Double Check Your Settings
Create a mission and description for your page – make sure people know why you’re there. Important: make sure that in your account settings your “Search Privacy” is turned off. This will allow your pins to be searchable in a general search. It won’t necessarily improve your SEO but it will drive traffic back to your site.
Use Hashtags
Just like Instagram and Twitter, Pinterest allows you to search for content based on terms identified by hashtags. For example, if you have a real estate site, all of your pins should likely include a #home or #realestate hashtag in the description. Just another way to help people find your content more easily when they do a search.
Pinterest isn’t as brand new as it was just a year or two ago, but things will continue to change and evolve as its presence continues to increase. Keep up with the trends and let this wave of Pinterest activity help your business grow.