If your target audience spends time on Pinterest, you definitely want to make sure your best blog posts are shared there. Pinterest has a large and growing audience and more exposure there can lead to more visibility for your company and its products and services. Pinterest can also be a great way to help spread important messages or ideas that deserve to see the light of day.
1) Use a Compelling Picture
First and foremost, you need to have a central picture for your post. Whether you're writing about the best way to fix a roof, the newest fashion trend or tourism in Florida. You need one picture that is highly "pinnable". It has to be visually compelling and relate in some way to the content of your post. This picture can be one of your company assets, something you design or a shot purchased from a stock photo site.
2) Add the Title to Your Picture
When you create your post, you need to have a compelling title that intrigues potential readers but is also clear about what the post is about. The extra credit step is to add this title (or a shortened version of it) to your main post picture. That way people will instantly know what it's about when they see it in Pinterest.
3) Make Sure You Have "Pin It" Buttons on Your Post
Every one of your blog posts should have a "Pin It" button on it. This is something you can have your web developer research. Or if you're using Wordpress or similar, you can find Pin It button plugins. Make sure you read the reviews of the plugins before installing. I always like to have my share buttons near the top of the post versus the bottom. Many people share without reading to the bottom of your post, so why make it harder for them to find this button?
4) Make Sure the Pin Text Automatically Populates
Most people don't properly configure their pictures when inserting them into their blog. This means that instead of your nice title, people get a picture file name that pops up as the default text when someone clicks the Pin It button on your site. See this post for details on how to set up your pictures for Pinterest in Wordpress and for most content management systems.
5) Ask People to Pin It
Request in your text that people Pin your post. People respond well to requests or clear direction!
6) Write About Topics Pinterest Lovers Care About
Knowing your audience and how they engage in Pinterest can help you choose which posts will do well in Pinterest. Find the visual angle for your business. For example for a restaurant, you can write about a popular dish and the ingredients (with vivid pictures) that go into it. For an architecture firm, you can write about a certain kind of homes and include a highly pinnable picture of a stunning project you worked on.
7) Make Sure Your Post Adds Value
People will pin valuable resources to share with their friends and colleagues or to save it for future reference. So, focus on making your content just that much better, complete or valuable. It will pay off with more attention on Pinterest as well as on other sites.
8) Share It on Pinterest Yourself
You might want to take the time to add a "Pin It" button to your favorite web browser so you can pin great pictures or video that you find on other sites (get it here at Pinterest's goodies page). You can (and should) pin your most pin-worthy articles pictures as well to help get the ball rolling.
9) Cross Promote on Other Platforms
Just because it resides in Pinterest doesn't mean you can't share it via other platforms including your blog (where it may have originated anyway), you email newsletter, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. You can also link to the post from other posts.
What will you do to Increase Pinterest Love?
So how are you going to change your content production process to optimize it for Pinterest? Let us know in the comments!