Creative small business owners looking to increase traffic to your website, blog or other social platforms, listen up! Are you snoozing on Pinterest?
Boasting over 450 million active users and serving as a dynamic marketplace for entrepreneurs and creators, Pinterest is an underrated tool to market your creative business. However, not everyone has been sleeping on Pinterest's power as a marketing platform. Emanuela Schneider of Marketing for Interior Designers has helped countless creatives to grow their businesses using Pinterest—and now she's going to help you do the same! Emanuela Schneider spoke to our community of creative entrepreneurs about all things Pinterest marketing, and we've rounded up the highlights to give you a complete guide to setting up a marketing strategy on Pinterest. Let's dive in...
How do I gain Pinterest followers and increase my brand visibility?
Simple: the more you use it for your marketing, the more followers you'll accumulate. There are a few things you can do to fast-track the process though...
- Always pin your projects with your website attached.
- Use keywords in your pin descriptions.
- Make use of all the features on the platform: use Idea Pins, play music, and add text to your images.
Most importantly of all, find your unique differentiator and use it! What makes you stand out from other interior designers? Whatever it is, use it in your graphics, descriptions, bio—everywhere!
Should I include my branding on my posts?
Always have your website or logo visible on your pins. Treat it as a watermark, that way if people share your pin they'll always know it's your project. You should also think about your brand identity when re-pinning and re-sharing other people's posts. Keep your ideal client in mind and only re-share content that is consistent with your brand identity.
How can I make my pins more engaging?
Using the right format makes all the difference. "Long Pins"—stretched-out portrait images—tend to perform best. That being said, content is still immensely important. Always create high-quality content and keep your graphics clean. For interior designers, that's usually as simple as a photo of your work, with your company website neatly placed over the image. Explore the use of Idea Pins (carousel posts) to switch up your content and provide viewers with a little excitement.
This is a great example of an idea Pin being used to attract viewers and direct traffic to the homepage. This Pin got 1.52k impressions despite the fact the account has very few followers. That in part is due to the clever use of text. Snappy copy placed in a way that entices users to click and learn more always performs well, educational posts suit this format best. Another idea to borrow from this post is the clear call to action. Always think about your intention. Is it to drive traffic to your website? Or is it to increase the views on a particular blog post? Calls to action are the best ways to leverage Pinterest for your brand's marketing. Just make sure to keep it fun as well!
Can I reuse my Instagram content on Pinterest (and vice-versa)?
Since Instagram has a different format, if you re-use those Instagram posts on Pinterest, they'll just get lost in a sea of pins—people won't really notice them. What I like to do instead is reuse Instagram captions for the Pin description and re-upload images to work best with Pinterest's format. Read more about what Pinterest Pin size you should be using here.
Another fun and easy trick is re-using reels or Instagram stories on Pinterest. Those tend to do really well since people love behind-the-scenes content and it's already in the long format.
Can Pinterest be used to promote my blog content?
Pinterest is a great marketing strategy for your blog! Use a few different snippets of your blog post to create a few different pin titles. Since you want to redirect your audience to your blog post, use eye-catching titles in the graphics. For blog post pins, I don't recommend just pinning a picture with your website at the bottom, instead create fun graphics where they'll want to click away from the pin to your website.
Can Pinterest be social?
Pinterest has a somewhat under-the-radar feature called Group Boards—collaborative boards for members of a community to share ideas. As part of a Group Board community, you can more closely interact with fellow pinners. The trick is finding an active group that produces content relevant to your niche. Without active pinners, you're wasting your time and would be better off putting energy into other Pinterest strategies.
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