Did you know that Pinterest is its own search engine? That’s right, every time you search on Pinterest you’re working within their own algorithm to find what you’re looking for. And there are over 2 billion monthly searches on Pinterest. That’s massive!
The good news for brands is that putting your products on Pinterest drastically narrows the competition. Because instead of scouring the whole internet, the user is just getting results from within the Pinterest ecosystem. And if you play your (Pinterest) cards right, then you have a huge opportunity for getting found by new customers.
Who Should Use It
Pinterest is primarily a visual tool. So if you’re selling a product, then you need to be on Pinterest.
The most popular categories on Pinterest are those related to DIY projects, fashion, exercise, beauty, photography, and food. So if your brand falls into one of these categories, or if your audience is one of these groups, then Pinterest is going to be worth your time.
Pinterest is also a tool where people come to learn something, so keep this in mind when crafting your blog content.
What can you write about, related to your offerings, that your customers will enjoy? Maybe it’s 5 fast fitness tips, healthy food to eat on the go, or non-messy DIY projects to do with kids. Whatever your brand, your Pinterest strategy should include content that supports using your product, whether that’s creative ideas, education, or life tips.
Who’s On Pinterest?
In short? Women.
More specifically, moms.
Wealthy millennial moms are overwhelmingly the people who use Pinterest the most, according to Pinterest’s own data reporting. So if this is your audience, then create a business account already!
How & When to Use It
First, you need to be blogging. We’ve talked plenty about the importance of blogging for SEO, because it’s the fuel that’s going to feed all of your other channels.
Co-schedule reports that you should be pinning anywhere between 3-10 times a day. That’s a lot, isn’t it?
That’s why we love to use tools like Tailwind to plan out our pins.
And the other secret to having lots of content to pin? Repurposing!
When you write a single blog post, create multiple pins for that post. Create a different pin for each angle of your post, or just use different images to capture the attention of multiple audiences.
We LOVE Canva and Adobe Spark for creating pinnable images (for free!).
What To Pin
Primarily, other people’s content.
Yes, even if your main goal is to sell, that’s not the main goal of Pinterest, or the people using the platform.
You should be pinning a healthy mix of your own content and other people’s content, create boards full of inspiration that are unique to your signature style.
This is one of the things that makes Pinterest so unique from other social platforms. While most platforms focus on promoting your own content, Pinterest is a place to share what’s inspiring you, influencing you, and what you’re doing.
So post pins that inspire your latest products, including color palettes, scenery, other products, vintage photos, etc. Use your boards as a way to tell your brand’s story, and through that, your individual products will become much more compelling.
What Images to Use
You have a few options with this one. Keep in mind that Pinterest is a visual platform, so choose images that are inspiring and on brand for you.
You have limited caption space on Pinterest (if it’s displayed at all), so get around it by including a description within the image itself.
White space is your friend. The nature of Pinterest is to be quite cluttered and full of color and design, so one of the best ways to make your pins stand out is to pull it back. Pare down your designs with simple, clean fonts, whitespace, and a clear visual of what the Pin will lead the reader to.
Also, when pinning your own content, don’t be afraid to use stock photography. There are so many gorgeous resources out there, so find images that fit your brand aesthetic, and use text overlays to make them your own.
How to Optimize It:
Just like Google, Pinterest is keyword driven. And the more specific you get with keywords, the better chance you have of getting found at all, and by people who are more likely to be interested in what you ultimately sell.
There are 3 main ways you can incorporate keywords:
- Your profile
- Your boards
- Your Pins
Profile Keywords
Let’s start with your profile. The three places on your profile where you can put in keywords are your username, business name, bio. (Note that you only have access to a business name if you have a business account). Put clear concise terms that describe what you offer/sell/do in each of these places.
Board Keywords
You have a few opportunities to optimize your boards. First, make the board name something clear, not cutesy. Spell words correctly, and make the title relevant to your business and main topic.
Second, each board has a section for a description. Unlike Google, Pinterest at the moment doesn’t seem to penalize for keyword stuffing…but we still don’t recommend it. Even if Pinterest never penalizes for it, it’s just spammy and junky. So write a clear, captivating description of the kind of content people can find on your board.
Pin Keywords
Ok, now we’re into the pin itself. Keep in mind that before we even touch a single pin, there are 5 opportunities to put in keywords and generate good SEO.
But because the pins are the foundation of what makes Pinterest so special, it’s important to optimize them too. Use complete sentences that tell the reader what’s behind the pin, and make it interesting! And please, oh please, don’t make the caption something like “Img_9381”. Pins with captions like that are a waste of time, so even if you write a quick sentence it’s better than that.
You might be wondering, however, if captions really are necessary, because Pinterest doesn’t always display them. Here are our thoughts on that: 1) Pinterest could start displaying them at any time 2) someone can click on it and see it, and 3) Most importantly, those captions are what Pinterest uses to understand your pin. So take a minute with each pin you create to leave a compelling, clear description.
What’s your Pinterest strategy?
Do you already follow these recommendations? Do you have others that we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments!
We’d also love to know what’s working for you on Pinterest. Have you seen a big difference in traffic and/or sales from using it? Spill your secrets, friend!
We’re always in your corner,
Meg and the Clapping Dog Media Team
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