Pinterest is a great tool for gathering inspiration and creating a digital vision board. It allows you to browse through thousands of pictures all over the internet, compile images you like into one place, and organise them into categories.
Not only is Pinterest great for personal use, it is also an effective online business marketing tool. Pinterest offers two types of accounts; a personal account, or a business account. If you already have a personal account and wish to change it to a business account, Pinterest provides this option too.
By linking your Pinterest for Business to your website or online store (ie. etsy) you provide a new avenue for viewers to access your content. The best way to generate followers is to create Pinterest Boards and add Pins that are relevant to your target market’s interests. Your Pinterest for Business account is not about what you personally like, but what your audience likes. For example, if you sell homewares online, create a Pinterest Board on ‘home interiors’ or ‘home decorating’. Then, from time to time, link the homeware items from your online store through to your Pinterest Board, the people who are following your ‘home interiors’ board will be exposed to the original content from your website or online store, directing them to click through.
It’s important that you don’t just simply re-pin images, but customise them as much as you can to be as relevant as possible to your business. The caption section allows you to add in valuable key words that your audience will be searching for. For example, you might repost a cushion image with a caption ‘nice cushion’, however you have the option to write more so make sure you take advantage of this feature. Be more in-depth; ‘beautiful, recycled cotton, cushion design to compliment a rustic lounge room interior’ includes more keywords which may determine whether 100 people see your post, or 100,000 people see your post.
Pinterest for business has a built in analytics functionality. This means you can view the statistics of visitors and activity from your Pinterest account. You can see what posts are the the most popular with your audience, and with that feedback you can customise future posts. Successfully reaching your target market is your goal, the larger your following, the larger your Pinterest audience.
People love freebies, whether its a free download or a free DIY tutorial to learn from, if you have content on your site that is useful and has a purpose then people are more likely to visit your site. Once they are on your site make sure you provide strong visual links to direct them to your store or important content you want them to see.
TIPS:
- If you are just starting out, make sure you have at least 5-10 boards with at least 5-10 pins on each
- Make sure you are always pinning content that appeals to your target market
- Dedicate a block of time each day, or every couple of days to add to your Pinterest account. Not only will you gather inspiration for yourself, but you will be generating more traffic to your Pinterest and website
- What you write in your captions needs to be relevant. Don’t just simply re-pin other posts, write a caption that includes valuable key words that your audience will be searching for.
If you would like to learn more about customising your Pinterest or other social media accounts for your business, get in-touch via the contact tab.
