It’s official: with 104 million visits in the month of March alone, Pinterest is now the third largest social media site, behind Facebook and Twitter.
The question now is, how are you going to use this photo-sharing site to promote your business? Regardless of what your company does, Pinterest can boost its visibility by taking advantage of the power and popularity of the visual. People love images, and you can use them to draw customers to your site.
Here are 5 tips for using Pinterest for business:
Create and name your pin boards. Think of them as corkboards where you “pin” your images for viewers to see. These boards should be grouped by themes that you think will be of interest to your audience; for example, featured products, places related to your business or stories gathered from your staff and customers.
Names should include your primary keywords to help people find your boards. This makes your boards more visible and boosts the SEO value of your Pinterest account.
Pin frequently. Every time you pin a photo to your board a link is automatically added that takes the viewer back to the source. So, pin photos from your site frequently. It leads people to you and gives you more opportunities to garner back links. You can also add descriptions and titles, so think about how to make them compelling, colorful and keyword-rich.
Do you have another site you’d like to link to? Pinterest allows Google to follow links, so add all relevant links that pertain to your business.
Cross-promote. Integrate Pinterest with your Facebook and Twitter accounts to have your pins automatically shared on these places. Also, be sure to add a link to your Pinterest profile on these sites to increase visibility for your pins. Many companies take advantage of social media integration to point viewers to their boards—just take care not to share too many promotional pins.
Which leads us to an important point—don’t sell too hard! Just like any social media site, Pinterest works best when you mix promotion with other topics of interest to your audience. One idea is to post pins from other sites and companies, or resource sites that offer information your customers might find helpful.
Make it easy to share. Download the Pin It button so that people can easily share your pins with others and pin your images on their boards.
Actively participate. For best results, don’t just pin photos and leave! Visit other boards, leave comments, follow users and repin their photos. Just like with Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus, the more you engage with others the more they will reciprocate in the form of repins and links back to your site—which is always good news for your business.
Using Pinterest for business gives you exposure to a huge pool of potential customers. Through the power of pictures, your business can reach many people who otherwise might not have connected with you. Take advantage of the popularity of visual imagery to capture more traffic, leads and sales!
