Whether or not you’ve already taken the plunge into Pinterest, now is the time to consider using the site for your business. In October 2011, the site had more than three million unique users, and by December 2011, that number had shot up to 7.2 million.
But Pinterest is truly a new take on social media, so before you dive in, take a moment to learn the ropes.
Master the Art of Marketing on Pinterest
Here are some tips for marketing your business on this virtual pinboard site.
- Install the pin button. Make the process of sharing your website easy for your users by installing the “pin” button on your website or blog. Once you do, visitors will be able to share your content in one easy click.
- Follow the rules. Pinterest is designed as a place where people can share the things that they love, and businesses that are blatantly marketing themselves stand out and won’t do well. Think of Pinterest as an online community board: the things you pin should be related to your industry, helpful, interesting, and from multiple sources (not just your website). Whole Foods has been cited as a model of business use on Pinterest: it maintains a number of pinboards that illustrate the lifestyle customers can achieve by shopping at Whole Foods.
- Use it for research. Because Pinterest users collect and share information about what they love, marketers can use the site to get a glimpse into the inner workings of their ideal clients. Spend some time looking at the pinboards of people you’d like to attract to your business and learn from what they pin.
- Put in the legwork. Like any other social media marketing tool, Pinterest requires regular maintenance. Set aside time to update your pinboards, comment and repin the posts of others, and plan your strategy for future pins. This also means that you should optimize new pins you create with keywords and hashtags in the description section and link to your website in your profile.
- Be Pinterest-friendly. To increase your odds of getting pinned, tailor your marketing materials to Pinterest’s setup. That means including high-quality photos and images on every blog post you write, posting visually appealing charts and slides, and avoiding Flash, which can’t be pinned at present. But format alone isn’t enough: be sure that your materials are also useful and / or interesting to your target audience.
Have you started pinning yet? What has your experience been like?
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