So in case you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, just have, or are wondering what all the hype is about, Pinterest is still sizzling. It’s a fun and useful tool that brands can use to their advantage in order to show a more visual side to its consumer market.
Now here’s what’s really important…how to truly capitalize on Pinterest and all it’s glory:
1. Integrate with other social networks: Allow your target market to see you on all the places they play. Share your new pins on your Facebook page or Tweet them out. Consumers don’t always know you are present on the latest social networks, so the more you promote your presence, the more traffic you may receive, even if just for mere curiousity.
2. Show a more visual side to your brand: Take the time to prepare aesthetically pleasing visual content to share. For example if your brand produces blog posts, such as tech, then make sure the pictures which will direct back to those posts are eye-catching. If your brand has consumer products to share, then ensure the photography behind it is something your target market will want to like, comment on, re-pin, and/or follow.
3. Use instagram: Be creative and use fun photography such as instragram to highlight certain boards. Pinterest focuses on visual beauty; the more you can make your pictures exciting to view, the more engagement you may receive from consumers as well as other brands.
4. Ensure the pins are items people will want to re-pin: When you are pinning your items to the different boards, ensure the link goes to something on your website, blog or other social network. It should help drive traffic to your other brand sites, and additionally be something your consumers will want to share their own followers on Pinterest by re-pinning your content.
5. Marketing Campaigns with Pinterest. Brands can utilize Pinterest (along with Facebook and Twitter) to do creative campaigns which may include…
- contests: For example, allowing consumers to create images to be featured on the pinterest page
- voting: For example, allowing consumers to vote on their favorite item on a specific board, or picking what other boards they would like featured.
- how-to: Feature how-to demos, videos, posts, and other items in order to let consumers get better insight into your service or product.
- audience-specific: For example having different boards with content specific to different audience groups. This will allow for more targeting rather than just focusing on one consumer group at a time.
Last but not least, make sure your brand doesn’t forget to let the public know you’re there. Use the Pinterest widgets for your website and other channels.
Wish List
Although Pinterest has taken off and many brands have already established their presence…there are always improvements that could be made. In my opinion Pinterest would be even more valuable if it had analytics within it for brands to monitor in order to improve their boards and pins. In the mean time brands can focus on the referral traffic through google analytics, which is helpful to know which pins are really of interest to their consumers.
Sources:
http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/02/pinterest-marketing/
https://www.socialnomics.net/2012/01/22/five-brands-engaging-like-pros-on-pinterest/
http://www.inc.com/john-brandon/9-tips-boost-your-business-pinterest.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204792404577227542820850590.html?mod=googlenews_wsj