Many businesses don’t usually consider using Pinterest as part of their marketing strategy.
There’s no doubt that Pinterest is an under-utilised social tool, which can build your brand by attracting niche and engaged audiences who tend to be very receptive to products and services. This is because the platform is overflowing with people who are searching for inspiration and helpful resources, including branded content. Since these 416 million monthly active Pinterest users (in 2020) are prepared to make a purchase, your business has so many valuable opportunities to capture their attention!
In saying that, here’s how businesses can use Pinterest!
Optimise Your SEO for Pinterest
While some people consider Pinterest to be a social network to connect with friends and influencers, it’s actually more than that. The unique proposition of Pinterest lies in the fact that it’s essentially a visual search engine, or even a ‘productivity tool’ where many users can easily plan their dreams – whether this be weddings, vacation getaways and special dinners.
Just to give you a quick idea, a Pinterest user could search for ‘make-up and beauty hacks’, which will generate thousands of Pins (published posts containing images, videos, links, text captions and more). These Pins will pop-up from numerous cosmetic beauty and skincare brands, influencers, online retailers, beauty magazines, and even other Pinterest users.
Like with normal SEO, You can optimise your Pinterest SEO in many ways, using relevant keywords or phrases for content discovery. You should always integrate these keywords and link back to your website or social media throughout your collection of Pinterest boards, Pin names, captions / descriptions and hashtags. From regularly pinning search-friendly content from your website to boosting engagement, you can rank highly on Pinterest’s Explore Feed (where many users find popular Pins, inspirations and trends) or feature on other Pinterest users’ Home Feeds.
Grow Your Brand Using Pinterest Boards
There’s no better way to grow your followers and enhance brand awareness than by using Pinterest Boards. Pinterest Boards are where you can save your Pins. As a business, having a collection of boards to organize and categorize your Pins can heighten your brand cohesiveness. It also makes it easier for your followers to search, identify and follow the Pinterest boards which are relevant to their interests and goals.
For example, if you’re a travel company, you can create separate Pinterest Boards for key destinations, or even tailor each Pinterest Board around a specific itinerary or travel package you offer. By creating these distinctive topic areas for the Pinterest boards, you can provide an improved user experience for your audience, since your audience can easily browse for information and search for specific products.
Pinterest Pins: Develop Engaging Visual Content
Visual aesthetics play a major role in attracting followers on Pinterest. In fact, a Pinterest study revealed that 85% of Pinners prioritise visuals over text. That’s why optimising your Pinterest Pins by creating mesmerising visual content is incredibly important. It’s strongly recommended that these Pins (which typically contain high-quality images) should link back to your business website, especially if you have created a Business Profile for Pinterest.
Generally, every Pin can link back to the original website it was sourced from, including an online store, magazine, blog article or company website. When you develop a visually appealing Pinterest Pin, you should also provide informative and compelling captions (with relevant keywords for SEO), so that you can garner a strong following of engaged users. Find out more about how to craft better Pinterest Pins.
It’s also important to collect and save Pins from other Pinterest users and websites which are associated with your business. This can help you develop a striking media library, which encourages your followers to browse for relevant Pins, and most importantly, build authority and credibility in your industry sector. This nurtures trust within your customers, who will perceive you as a go-to resource for the best inspiration and information.
Make Your Website ‘Pinnable’ with the Save Button
One of the best ways to be discovered on Pinterest is to add the Pinterest Save Button to your business website. For example, if a customer is browsing through your website and sees an image of a product they’re interested in, they can hover over it and click the Save button. This will instantly add the image to their Pinterest account or boards – all without leaving your website! Even better, more people can find your brand and product on the site.
Add Rich Pins for Your Pinterest Business Account
Freely available for all Pinterest users, Rich Pins are a type of organic Pin that can automatically sync information from your website to your Pins. With Rich Pins, you can add extra details above and below the image or the bold title in your feed. If you make some changes to your original website, the Rich Pin can update to reflect this.
Currently, there are three types of Rich Pins:
- Product Pins – Helpful for any online retailer, having Product Pins makes shopping for your customers easier through Pinterest. This includes real-time pricing, availability, and product description straight from your website.
- Recipe Pins – These are perfect for food and hospitality-related business. A Recipe Pin contains your recipe’s title, serving size, cook time, ratings, diet preference and a list of ingredients to recipes that you Pin from your site.
- Article Pins – For online publishers and bloggers, Rich Pins can help your followers easily save and share your articles and posts that interest them. Each Article Pin highlights the headline, author and story description underneath the Pin image.
Target Audiences with Pinterest Ads & Promoted Pins
While organically growing your business following through Pinterest can take time, you can speed up this process by using Pinterest Ads. Pinterest allows advertisers to target ads with keywords, user interests, location, and other demographics.
Another effective Pinterest marketing tool is audience targeting, which allows businesses to reach certain groups. This includes: customer lists (e.g. email or newsletter subscribers), people who have visited your website, people who have engaged with your Pins or other similar content. You can even create Actalike Audiences to identify people similar to your customers or followers. To do this, just simply select an existing audience as a source, and Pinterest will deliver like-minded Pinners at your door.
On a similar note, if you want to showcase your business’s products to the right audience, you can use a Promoted Pin. According to Pinterest, 61% of Pinners make a purchase after seeing branded content on their feed. This is a great opportunity to build your brand awareness and maximise audience outreach. Using Pinterest Ad Manager, Promoted Pins are very easy to create and fit seamlessly into your Pinterest Boards aesthetic.
Foster a Seamless Shopping Experience
Make it easy for Pinners to shop for your business’s products! One of the easiest ways to achieve this seamless retail experience is to use Shop the Look Pins, which enable people to click on the specific product that interests them. This redirects them to your business’s product page, so that they can make immediate purchases. Coupled with Pinterest Analytics, you can easily track and measure conversions, while gaining deeper audience insights.
Additionally, Pinterest announced their new Shop the Look Ads for business profiles, which help retailers to feature multiple products within a single Ads. This means that Pinners can discover your product within a Pin’s image and click to checkout on your business website, allowing for improved point-of-sale processes. Inspired from the Shop the Look Pin, this feature allows advertisers to tag up to 25 items in an image. With this new ad format, customers can preview four showcased items and can click through to see more.
Advertise Your Business Through Pinterest!
Pinterest is an extremely underrated tool for marketing your business. Why not take advantage of this platform with OMDIGI Group’s Social Media Marketing Services? We’ll work closely together with your business to deliver the optimal results across several social media channels, including Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Build your online presence, foster brand awareness and increase sales quickly by tapping into the limitless opportunities of Pinterest. Contact us now for more information!
