Earlier this year, Pinterest celebrated reaching 200 million users. That's not bad for a site that’s only been running since 2010, and in that time, Pinterest has gone from a place where people “pin” pictures of their ideal room makeovers, to a force to be reckoned within the social media marketing sphere.
People are using Pinterest every day to find ideas, share content, and much more, leading to the posting of, collectively, more than 100 billion pins.
Used well, Pinterest can also provide significant benefit to your business, helping to drive traffic to your website or better enabling customers to plan for purchases.
Are you getting the most out of your Pinterest presence? Here are ten tips to help optimize your businesses Pinterest account:
1. Ensure you have a Business account
Pinterest’s T&Cs state that if you’re trying to drive traffic to any website where you make money, you should have a Business account.
It’s easy to set one up - you can even convert your existing personal account into a business one. Pinterest Business accounts also come with a range of important benefits, including:
- The ability to display your company name, rather than your personal name, on your profile. This will make you look more professional.
- Access to a library of marketing content. This will help you to grow your Pinterest account and drive sales.
- The ability to verify your website and get a check-mark next to your name, to show you’re a legitimate account.
- Hold contests for your fans. This is a great way to drive traffic and increase brand awareness.
- Get analytics on your pins and boards. This can be incredibly useful in evaluating and adapting your Pinterest strategy.
2. Fill in all your business details on your profile
This suggestion sounds simple, but you’d be surprised by how many brands leave out vital information on their profile.
Ensure that anyone who comes to your Pinterest profile is able to find out about your business, and can easily get in touch if they want to. Spend a little time putting together a punchy bio which explains who you are and what you do. You only get 160 characters for your Pinterest bio, so make each letter count.
3. When uploading a pin, add a URL that links back to your website
When you post images to your account, always ensure they link back to the correct/relevant page on your website. It sounds simple, but again, it’s something many forget.
4. Track the content being pinned by other users from your website
While you'll naturally want to focus on your own content, don’t forget to monitor what's being shared by others.
For example, you can keep an eye on which web pages and images are the most popular on the platform, and use this information to develop your future posts and content.
5. Rearrange your boards and change your board cover images
Don’t just let your boards sit where they naturally fall.
For example, if you have a board for Valentine’s Day, make sure it features at the top of your profile throughout January and early February. Then afterwards, you can move it to the bottom of your profile and replace the top spot with your Easter board.
This way, visitors to your profile will always see the most relevant content first, without having to scroll. This is something you'll need to keep on top of, with regular rearrangement of your boards for maximum effect.
Also, instead of using the automatically selected cover image, pick an image that stands out and shows off your board best.
6. Run ads on Pinterest
Running ads is a great way to promote your business to people who are already searching for the things you’re selling.
You can target your ads and use analytics to see where your traffic is coming from, and going to on your site.
7. Experiment with Rich Pins
Rich Pins are a great way to make your pins stand out from the crowd.
A Rich Pin is similar to Google rich snippets - it includes HTML text which enables you to include things like product information, real-time pricing and stock information within your pins, meaning potential customers are more likely to click through to your website and buy your products.
8. Optimize your pins for SEO
Even those of us who optimize our websites for SEO might not automatically think to optimize pins, but it can make a huge difference.
9. Pay close attention to your pin images
For all your pins, make sure you choose an eye-catching image. It’s important to remember that users will look at this image, and any text on it, before they read your carefully crafted description.
Make sure the image is clear and any text stands out.
The size and shape of your pins are also important - a quick look at your home page will show you that horizontal images work best. Pinterest recommends an aspect ratio of 2:3, with a minimum width of 600 pixels. Canva has a great template for Pinterest pins already set up, which has become very popular.
10. Follow the Pinterest blog
Whilse these tips may help you optimize your account today, Pinterest is regularly being updated, bringing new and exciting features (such as its most recent “sections” feature). The Pinterest blog is therefore a fantastic resource for all the latest updates, news and information. It’s also full of lots of fantastic inspiration too.
Hopefully, with the help of these tips, you can make even better use of Pinterest for your business in 2018.