With more than 4 million daily unique visitors and over two billion page views on average, it makes sense to market on Pinterest. Fastest becoming one of the most popular social networks currently online, the image sharing network has become the go-to site for an expanding target market. For a few years now we’ve heard how Pinterest is only populated by bored house moms and dads. That’s no longer true; as the statistics now show that entrepreneurs, chefs, creative types and loves of fashion are all heading to Pinterest on a regular occasion. Your job is to target these individuals using high-quality images that will get pinned, pinned and re-pinned again. For a more specific plan of attack, you’re about to learn how to use Pinterest in way that will get your Pinterest followers flooding your board with their pin-hands at the ready.
Use Pinterest To Give Back
Sony Electronics recently learned how to use Pinterest in a whole new way. Using its own products as its images, the brand encouraged activity on its board by promising to donate a dollar to the Michael Phelps foundation for each repin. The campaign ran for a single month and raised more than $12,000.
This is a great way to give back to the community while also generating product and brand awareness on a much broader scale. Make sure, like Sony, that you include pricing and product descriptions on your images so that potential consumers have most of their questions answered. Statistics show that a higher than ever percentage of Pinterest users purchase items they first saw on the social image-sharing site. This goes to show that it pays to market with Pinterest, if you know how to engage properly.
Encourage Guest Pinners
With Pinterest’s group boards feature, you can encourage fellow Pinterest users to contribute to your own board as part of a special theme. For example, if you are selling cookbooks and one of your Pinterest followers keeps their own board of special recipes, you might invite that person to contribute to your board while making it a big deal. You’ll essentially share audiences, allowing for more exposure, and you never quite know what business relationships you might form that could lead to bigger and better opportunities.
Etsy is a good example of this. Using the Pinterest group boards feature, the social commerce site created what is known as contributor boards. These include several guest pinner boards that feature well-known brands like Random House and Martha Stewart Living.
Instead of learning how to use Pinterest more effectively, take some of the burden off of yourself and encourage guest contributors. Your audience may love it and it may gain you a much higher share of the market simultaneously.
Show The Man/Woman Behind The Curtain
What are you all about? How did your business start? What’s involved with the daily operations of your business? It’s a good bet that your customers have wondered these very questions themselves. Why not take advantage of this phenomenon by hosting boards that target these very subjects?
Ben & Jerry’s of the famous ice cream have done this very thing with their Our People and Our Factory boards. These boards include engaging photos fans and the goings on behind-the-scenes. It’s yet another way to engage with your customers and prospective customers, and with great images it’s a great way encourage more repins for your brand.
Encourage Customer Contribution
When your customers have a great experience with one of your products or services, encourage them to develop a pinnable image or video that you can use on your board. These testimonial pins will provide you with even more content for your Pinterest board and you’ll generate tons of positive reviews, which will contribute to higher sales in the long run.
You’ve now learned how to use Pinterest like a professional. It’s what you do with the information that will separate your boards from the elite of the Pinterest marketing world. Take these lessons and tailor them to your own brand. Then, report back here. Let us know what you did. We want to hear how our advice is being used to further your brand exposure and your bottom line.
Just remember that all of your photos and video should be of the highest quality. Use image-editing software if necessary to brighten them up to make them ready for publication. There should be zero resistance felt by people who are considering repinning your materials. Use one or more of the above tips and keep your images top-notch and your repins should increase along with your Pinterest followers.