Pinterest is one of the fastest growing, image-based, social sharing platforms. It has a lot of benefits for businesses, especially since image search is going to play a large part in 2014 according to Google.
Now you may think that Pinterest is for decorating, arts and crafts and baking, but this scrapbooking website has so much more to offer businesses. It can be used to enhance customer service, spread brand awareness and eventually become a valuable tool to drive sales and engage with clients and prospects.
SO, WHAT IS PINTEREST?
Launched in 2010, Pinterest is essentially an online scrapbook. With over 70 million users it provides a virtual area that allows ‘pinners’ to save images onto categorised boards, which you can refer back to later. It’s a great way to organise your interests or business topics and find other images or ‘pins’ you may not have ever seen.
How can it help my business?
There are many pros to having a Pinterest account. It can open the doors to an untouched audience, aid your search engine optimisation efforts as well as showcase who you are and what you’re about.
So let’s get started with the basics:
HOW TO SET UP & OPTIMISE YOUR PINTEREST ACCOUNT
Follow the following steps to achieve the best possible profile:
1.Create an account
Upload your logo and fill in all relevant details, including your website’s URL – this creates an inbound link to your site, which can aid with PageRank and SEO results
2.Follow relevant accounts
Use the search function to find people or companies by name, or search by relevant keywords. Following users not only provides you with a homepage stream of ‘pins’ to look at and engage with, but it also alerts them of your presence and they may follow you back
3.Create relevant boards
Choose topics that are related to your industry e.g for recruitment, you could create ‘inspirational words’ or ‘dress to impress’ boards
4.Pin relevant images
Search the web or Pinterest for images to ‘pin’. You can also upload images too. It is good to select images that are relevant to your business, and also your boards. Remember to use relevant hashtags to ensure your content reaches further. A handy tip is to install the ‘pin it’ button on your browser to ‘pin’ images super quick!
5.Don’t spam with sales messages
Pinterest, like other social media platforms are foremost an area to share content and engage with others. It should not be used as an overt selling tool, rather position yourselves as someone who provides relevant, interesting information to open up communication channels.
6.Engage with others
Remember this is not a one-way conversation. Engage with other users ‘pins’ by liking, commenting or re-pinning their content. It’s more likely they will do the same!
7.Link your website to Pinterest
Once your Pinterest site is all set up you can link your website to it so that you can monitor analytics. Looking at your data can help you plan your content better, as you can see what works and what doesn’t.
So there you have it, you’re ready to go. Pinterest will open up a lot of doors and provide a lot of inspiration, so you will be able to learn and evolve as you go. Just remember to keep it relevant, interesting and you’ll do fine!
If you want to see how we’re working things on there you can find us here
