Pinterest Tips
Posted 7th December 2015 at 07:09 AM by randomsoftwaregroup
1. Build Content Rich Boards Around Your Niche
You want to build content rich boards and curate your content just as you would on any other social network.
Pin your products and your content to themed boards on Pinterest with shortened links that allow you to track your Pinterest traffic.
Make sure that you are presenting your products, services and content in a visually appealing way because this is what will draw people’s eye. They aren’t reading the subtext in other words.
Stand out, be creative and most of all; be unique!
I suggest a minimum of 10 boards with at least 4 pins in each because that is the ‘view’ that people have when they come to your site (or to use a designer term, ‘above the fold’).
Do not leave your boards empty! After those first 10 visible boards, people will have to scroll down to see more. When someone clicks on your profile, you want to give them a good first impression. You want them to know that you are active, engaging and have great content.
2. Branding Your Business
Make sure that you feature your business name on your Pinterest profile.
If you are branding your business name, you might want to have your business name as your Pinterest profile username.
In the “About” section, include a brief description about who you are and your interests. This area is like the bio area on Twitter and should be short but provide a good description of your business and how you solve a pain point for your ideal customer.
Connect your account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. And of course, don’t forget to include a link to your website as this is displayed as a live link under your bio!
3. Like Other People’s Pins
If you come across pins that you like but aren’t necessarily useful to your audience or be something that you want to pin to one of your boards, you may want to consider liking them rather than repining them.
Anytime you like someone’s pin, it will show up in their activity feed. This may grab their attention and get them to follow you.
4. Use Keywords For Search Results
Hashtags are no longer necessary on Pinterest as the search functionality looks for keywords in pin descriptions. When writing your pin descriptions, make sure you are using the keywords most people would use to find your content. For example, if you want to be found under the keyword ‘travel’, you would obviously use the word “travel” somewhere in your description.
This makes it easier to be found and will create more followers as well. More followers = more exposure.
5. Mention Other Users
You can mention others in your Pinterest comments or pin descriptions to get their attention or to recognize someone specific.
A ‘mention’ is very similar to Facebook and Twitter. Type the @ symbol before starting to type the name of the person. A drop down box will appear and your choice should be displayed there for you to select.
One quick note on this…you can only mention users who are following you on at least one board. When you mention someone using this method, they will get an email (if they have their settings set up for email) and the @mention will be linked back to their profile.
6. Use Pinterest’s Browser Extensions for Easier Pinning
Pinterest offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safai. Downloading the extension gives you a pin it button right in your browser’s toolbar. This is a great way to quickly pin things you see while surfing the Internet.
Once you have installed the extension, you will be able to simply right click, choose Pin this Image from the drop down and be able to choose the board that you want to pin it to. If you see a great pair of shoes, you will be able to pin that image to a board on your Pinterest account. Not only will it pin the graphic but it will link back to the originating source.
7. Pin Videos
Pinterest doesn’t just allow you to pin images…you can also pin videos!
Pinterest allows you to pin videos from sites like Dailymotion, TED, YouTube and Vimeo.
In order to pin a video, you have to make sure you have the ‘share’ URL of the video; not the URL where you watched the video, or the embed code. On YouTube, for instance, you’ll find this link under the video under ‘Share’.
8. Pin Smart
A good description will more than likely follow the graphic as it gets repinned so make sure that you include your business name in the description (this is particularly important if your username is not your business name).
9. Optimize Your Graphics
Make sure you are using a graphic in your blog posts that is clearly associated with the content. In other words, do not use a graphic of a camel if you are talking about how to grill a great steak.
Images that are really sparking a lot of pins on Pinterest are powerful visuals and tap into emotions in some way.
You might want to consider adding a clear text description to your graphic so that it is clear what your content is all about; like the graphic at the top of this blog post.
When creating graphics for your blog posts, be sure to include the name of your post as well as the URL of your site…that way you get the credit wherever your image is shared!
For more on optimizing your images, see my post How to Create Pinterest Images That People Love to Share.
10. Use Pinterest’s Mobile App
If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to download Pinterest’s mobile app from ITunes or Google Play. Since most of us now spend at least as much time on our mobile devices as on our computers, the mobile app is a must! It will allow you to browse, pin, repin and even take photos to pin right from your phone!
You want to build content rich boards and curate your content just as you would on any other social network.
Pin your products and your content to themed boards on Pinterest with shortened links that allow you to track your Pinterest traffic.
Make sure that you are presenting your products, services and content in a visually appealing way because this is what will draw people’s eye. They aren’t reading the subtext in other words.
Stand out, be creative and most of all; be unique!
I suggest a minimum of 10 boards with at least 4 pins in each because that is the ‘view’ that people have when they come to your site (or to use a designer term, ‘above the fold’).
Do not leave your boards empty! After those first 10 visible boards, people will have to scroll down to see more. When someone clicks on your profile, you want to give them a good first impression. You want them to know that you are active, engaging and have great content.
2. Branding Your Business
Make sure that you feature your business name on your Pinterest profile.
If you are branding your business name, you might want to have your business name as your Pinterest profile username.
In the “About” section, include a brief description about who you are and your interests. This area is like the bio area on Twitter and should be short but provide a good description of your business and how you solve a pain point for your ideal customer.
Connect your account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. And of course, don’t forget to include a link to your website as this is displayed as a live link under your bio!
3. Like Other People’s Pins
If you come across pins that you like but aren’t necessarily useful to your audience or be something that you want to pin to one of your boards, you may want to consider liking them rather than repining them.
Anytime you like someone’s pin, it will show up in their activity feed. This may grab their attention and get them to follow you.
4. Use Keywords For Search Results
Hashtags are no longer necessary on Pinterest as the search functionality looks for keywords in pin descriptions. When writing your pin descriptions, make sure you are using the keywords most people would use to find your content. For example, if you want to be found under the keyword ‘travel’, you would obviously use the word “travel” somewhere in your description.
This makes it easier to be found and will create more followers as well. More followers = more exposure.
5. Mention Other Users
You can mention others in your Pinterest comments or pin descriptions to get their attention or to recognize someone specific.
A ‘mention’ is very similar to Facebook and Twitter. Type the @ symbol before starting to type the name of the person. A drop down box will appear and your choice should be displayed there for you to select.
One quick note on this…you can only mention users who are following you on at least one board. When you mention someone using this method, they will get an email (if they have their settings set up for email) and the @mention will be linked back to their profile.
6. Use Pinterest’s Browser Extensions for Easier Pinning
Pinterest offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safai. Downloading the extension gives you a pin it button right in your browser’s toolbar. This is a great way to quickly pin things you see while surfing the Internet.
Once you have installed the extension, you will be able to simply right click, choose Pin this Image from the drop down and be able to choose the board that you want to pin it to. If you see a great pair of shoes, you will be able to pin that image to a board on your Pinterest account. Not only will it pin the graphic but it will link back to the originating source.
7. Pin Videos
Pinterest doesn’t just allow you to pin images…you can also pin videos!
Pinterest allows you to pin videos from sites like Dailymotion, TED, YouTube and Vimeo.
In order to pin a video, you have to make sure you have the ‘share’ URL of the video; not the URL where you watched the video, or the embed code. On YouTube, for instance, you’ll find this link under the video under ‘Share’.
8. Pin Smart
A good description will more than likely follow the graphic as it gets repinned so make sure that you include your business name in the description (this is particularly important if your username is not your business name).
9. Optimize Your Graphics
Make sure you are using a graphic in your blog posts that is clearly associated with the content. In other words, do not use a graphic of a camel if you are talking about how to grill a great steak.
Images that are really sparking a lot of pins on Pinterest are powerful visuals and tap into emotions in some way.
You might want to consider adding a clear text description to your graphic so that it is clear what your content is all about; like the graphic at the top of this blog post.
When creating graphics for your blog posts, be sure to include the name of your post as well as the URL of your site…that way you get the credit wherever your image is shared!
For more on optimizing your images, see my post How to Create Pinterest Images That People Love to Share.
10. Use Pinterest’s Mobile App
If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to download Pinterest’s mobile app from ITunes or Google Play. Since most of us now spend at least as much time on our mobile devices as on our computers, the mobile app is a must! It will allow you to browse, pin, repin and even take photos to pin right from your phone!
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