Pinterest is among the most popular social media platforms for sharing and discovering visual content. This makes it ideal for businesses to reach potential customers. Pinterest remains a powerful business tool to drive traffic and brand awareness while boosting sales. This is because Pinterest registers around 400 million monthly active users, providing businesses with a diverse and highly engaged audience.
Moreover, the platform has unique visual search features that allow users to locate products and services via images. Businesses in the beauty, fashion, and home decor industries can benefit greatly from this, with Pinterest marketing helping businesses to create engaging content that attracts loyal followers within the crowded digital landscape.
This article will highlight the various ways in which businesses can use Pinterest to their advantage. The latest Pinterest marketing strategies to be implemented will be explained for businesses to engage their audience. In addition, it will highlight the do’s and don’ts of Pinterest marketing for businesses to get the most of its quality advertising features, tips, and insights.
Table of Contents
What is Pinterest marketing?
Pinterest marketing strategies
What to avoid in Pinterest marketing
Conclusion
What is Pinterest marketing?
Pinterest marketing involves promoting products, services, and brand awareness using the social media platform, Pinterest. On Pinterest, content is created and shared through images, infographics, and videos that are appealing and visually engaging to users. As such, Pinterest marketing drives website traffic, builds brand awareness, and increases sales.
Generally, businesses use Pinterest to connect with their target and potential customers. This highly-engaged user base helps them promote their products and services. The common forms of Pinterest marketing include targeted advertising and organic content creation. With effective strategies by industries like fashion, businesses can grow and succeed during this digital age.
Pinterest has three essential components, including pins, boards, and feeds:
- Pins are images or videos saved by Pinterest users on their accounts. A pin includes visual content, a brief description, and a link to the primary source of the content.
- Boards are virtual collections that users organize to save their pins. They are generally used to group and curate pins depending on interests, themes, or projects.
- The feeds on Pinterest are the main screens or home pages where users access the personalized stream of pins based on their preferences, interests, and accounts they follow. They are constantly updated to let users see new content and explore other pins related to their browsing behavior.
Creating a Pinterest business account is a simple process.
Pinterest marketing strategies
1. Researching competitors
Businesses researching their competitors can be an effective Pinterest marketing strategy. They should start by identifying the competitors and analyzing their profiles. Considering the pins they use to determine the images used, content created, and the pins with the most engagement. Their audience should be analyzed to determine the level of engagement within the likes, comments, and repins to help create content that resonates with the target audience. Also, they should look out for gaps and opportunities to enable them to develop a unique strategy. The content created afterward must differentiate the brand from its competitors. Below are some aspects that businesses can research about their competitors:
- The pinning strategies, including the type of content competitors pin.
- Boards and themes to understand the topics being focused on.
- Their engagement metrics, including the number of followers, comments, shares, and likes.
- Visual branding involving the styles, schemes, colors, and tones of their pins.
- Descriptions and keywords that competitors use on their pins and boards.
- Audience and follower insights, including interests, demographics, and behaviors.
2. Pin engaging and captivating content
High-quality visuals, including images and videos, capture customers’ attention. They should be attractive, clear, and visually appealing. This would involve creating a cohesive aesthetic using similar color schemes, design elements, and fonts across pins to develop a constant brand image. Pinning should be consistent in order to keep the business profile active and engaging. The content should be helpful, informative, and value-adding to users’ lives.
3. Leverage keywords
Research keywords by considering the users’ searches and feeds. Businesses must identify and use relevant keywords in their profile name, bio, and board titles. For instance, a business that deals in handmade soaps can use keywords like ‘organic soap’ or ‘handcrafted soap.’ When these pins appear in Pinterest search results, it improves the business’s discoverability.
Using long-tail keywords makes them more specific and less competitive than shorter ones. For example, a pin description like ‘quality natural soap for your sensitive skin’ gets the target audience more interested. These keywords should not be overstuffed to prevent them from looking spammy, which may affect the business’s overall ranking. Generally, the pins can target a particular audience and increase the chances of users finding them.
4. Optimize pins for SEO
Fitting SEO into marketing strategy helps businesses to increase visibility and traffic for their generated pins. It ultimately results in more engagement and conversions. Businesses must use high-quality visuals and engaging descriptions to attract users to discover the available content on their accounts. This is optimized through high-resolution images (at least 600 pixels ), compelling graphics, and clear language.
Businesses should use descriptive keywords and rich titles to describe what the pin entails accurately, for instance, ‘consider the luxury of our handcrafted soap that will relax your senses and nourish your skin. Gift your loved one. Click here to experience more.’ Relevant keywords enable buyers to search for content based on their preferences easily. They should also include relevant hashtags that effectively achieve broader visibility, like #organicbeauty, #naturalsoap, and #handcraftedsoap.
5. Promote your Pinterest profile
The next step is to make it easier for buyers to find and follow a business on the Pinterest platform. This strategy increases visibility and attracts more followers while driving more traffic to the business website. Businesses should add Pinterest widgets on their websites to enable potential buyers to follow them and see the latest pins. They can also run Pinterest ads to help them promote their profile and reach a wider audience. This is because the ads target campaigns based on interests, keywords, and demographics to reach specific audiences.
The Pinterest profile should be shared on other social media platforms, websites, and email newsletters. Cross-promoting helps attract more followers, like “Follow us on Pinterest for handcrafted soap and more.” Collaborating with other Pinterest users and influencers increases a business’s reach and attracts potential buyers. Also, the Pinterest profile link can be included in the email signature to find new followers.
6. Use different pin formats
As a strategy, using different pin formats on Pinterest marketing creates engaging content that resonates with the existing and potential audience. Standard pins are commonly used on Pinterest, including a titled vertical image, a link, and a description. They are ideal for showcasing goods and services.
Video pins of about 60 seconds showcase products in action as they demonstrate how to use the product. Story pins include images, text, and videos that tell a story about a business and its products. In addition, idea pins are designed to inspire and educate buyers and thus drive more traffic to a business’s blog or website.
7. Plan your boards
A business that plans boards on its Pinterest platform creates a cohesive brand presence and attracts more followers. Boards should define the business niche while considering the target audience. Research keywords should be included for relevance and easily reach the audience. A theme should be created for each board and organized logically to make it easier for buyers to find the business’s content.
8. Analyze results
Analyzing the results of Pinterest’s marketing strategies helps the business measure the effectiveness of its efforts. Businesses can make data-driven decisions to raise performance. Pinterest Analytics is a free tool that gives insight into the Pinterest profile with the most popular boards, pins, and audience demographics. It tracks overtime performance and identifies areas that require improvement.
Businesses should monitor engagement and conversions, including comments, repins, likes, sales, and leads generated on the platform. Additionally, conducting A/B testing highlights the performance of various boards and pins.
What to avoid in Pinterest marketing
Businesses should avoid some common mistakes when it comes to Pinterest marketing. This will help them optimize their marketing plans and increase their chances of success on this platform. Below are some of the key things businesses should avoid:
- Avoid including low-quality images – pixelated images make the brand appear unprofessional and unappealing.
- Over-promoting content – businesses should avoid bombarding followers with promotional content and focus on engaging and valuable content.
- Forgetting to monitor results – using Pinterest analytics, businesses can track performance and make data-driven decisions on marketing trends.
- Ignoring mobile users – most users access Pinterest content on their mobile devices; businesses must ensure the content is optimized for mobile viewing.
- Violating copyright regulations – businesses should have the right to use various images or content posted on their business account to avoid legal issues.
Conclusion
Pinterest marketing remains a vital tool for businesses aiming to attract potential customers and grow their brands. This is because Pinterest continues to showcase goods and services in a unique, immersive, and visual way.
Businesses should aim to be updated with the latest trends and practices in the e-commerce industry to promote customer engagement. To source high-quality products for your business, and to learn more about e-commerce trends, head to Alibaba.com.
