Pinterest is a very fast growing social network that has a lot of people talking. It is a bit unique in how you share content. If your not using Pinterest and do not have an idea what all the fuss is about, go check it out. If you need an invite, let me know and I’ll send you one.
Source: mashable.com via Alan on Pinterest
4 Ways to Make Pinterest Work for You
1. Add a Pin It Button
You can add a Pin It button to your website. If your on WordPress, use a plugin that adds the social media icons to your Posts or Pages. Check the plugins that are available and make sure that Pinterest is included.
Having the simple “Pin It” button can get more people connecting with your site.
2. Become Visual
Pinterst pins images and videos to users walls. Not text or excerpts from your page or post. The way to encourage Pinterest sharing is to have plenty of graphics or video on your site that users can share. They can be simple images that are interesting or captivating to expanded Infographics. Become more visual if you want Pinterest traffic.
3. Promote MORE than Products
It will be tempting to just load your Pinterest boards with your own products and images. But if your going to be on Pinterst, you need to participate. And participation is about sharing information, news, tips, and products from other companies. You need to promote the social community by engaging the community. Definately post your content, but don’t be an island. Share!
4. Learn from the Heavyweights
There are several larger companies that are doing an excellent job using Pinterest, follow them. Get an idea of how they are using the network? Look at the kind of content they are sharing. Observe the kind of content that is getting a lot of re-pinning. Find the trends and then begin to develop strategies that work for you.
To Join or Not to Join, that is the Question
Whether you take the time to become part of the Pinterest world is up to you. I have just recently joined the community. I will keep you posted on what I think and how effective it is for me. I really think that it can become a great traffic source. But I want to spend where I get a return and that return is translated into revenue. I’m going to give a few months and see how it goes.
How are you using Pinterest for your business? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
No, I haven’t joined.Finally I too got overwhelmed by a choice of too many social media. I think it is time to pick a few and discard the rest. I only do Twiiter and G+ now.. and a tiny bit of Linkedin.
I totally agree that the social network landscape is a bit overwhelming. I am telling my clients that they need to be where their audience hangs out. If you know your ideal customer and you find the places they hang out, then you can build an ideal social media marketing strategy. One way you can potentially reap the benefits of Pinterest without being on Pinterest is adding a pin it button to your blog post and increase the number of images you have on your site. These two elements will increase the odds of your content being pinned and you repeating traffic bumps without the added social network.
Howdy Alan..
Thanks for the quick and easy on Pinterest.
Started using it for an “Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame”, so we’ll see how it goes.
One thing for sure though….. so busy with so many other social conversations that it’s hard keeping up with another service.
Yes? 🙂
Thanks Alan…. Eric
Alan,
I agree with your points and for some businesses it’s a no-brainer to be on Pinterest or to at least make their websites Pinterest-friendly. Or, as individuals, they may want to explore – for many it could be a pretty interesting and new type of social network that doesn’t require a huge time-commitment. At least for now it looks like it’ll be around for awhile. Thanks for the great post!
Hi Alan
Pintrest is certainly rocketing up the charts probably the quickest adoption rate I’ve seen. Having said that I’m still on the fence with regard to business value. I do have an account, I’m usually pretty quick to jump in, but then I like to see where the tide takes it.
I’ll be watching with interest and look forward to your updates on how it works for your business.
Alan,
What really intrigues me about Pinterest is how long the average user stays on the site. Over 10 minutes per user… That is crazy.
One thing that I was thinking about is does that mean that less users are clicking off the Pinterest and following content back to web pages?
Thoughts?
Ryan H.
I think that it is translating into real traffic. The nature of Pinterest is to push users to other sites and the longer they spend on the social network the more sites they visit.
The fact that users are spending so much time on the site indicates to me that the bounce rate for the visiting sites must increase proportionately to the amount of traffic. If they are clicking on pins and then returning to Pinterest, they aren’t spending much time navigating around the site the pin directed them to.
As a business owner, I’m interested in turning traffic into leads and revenue. If Pinterest is just a traffic generator, I’m not interested. I want a lead generator.
We’re singing out of the same hymnal Alan – how melodic 🙂
I like singing in harmony. It is so much more fun than not! 🙂
Hi Alan,
I think you compressed the key points about Pinterest very well. I’m just staring to consider using it, so I can’t really say much more 😉 But I think a good Pinterest strategy follows the general guidelines of all social media marketing: share something people want to consume and share forwards. It’s easier to think about what people want to consume, but most people forget to think about what others want to share. If you can nail that, you’ll do fine in any social media.
Yeah, Pinterest buzz strikes again 😛 (3rd article I’ve read on it in 30 min. lol)
Still, it’s a good article, and this caught my interest.
“4. Learn from the Heavyweights”
This really peaked my interest, do you have any examples you’d like to share, Alan?
Four businesses that I would call “Heavyweights” on Pinterest are Nordstrom, Whole Foods, West Elm, and Mashable. They have large number of followers and their content seems to resonate with the Pinterest audience.
I love this post Alan & your infographic is awesome! This is so relevant to my niche of creative business because Pinterest is so visual & a great resource to market your business on. At first I was a little unsure of it & I’m sure there’s a right way to use it & a wrong way, but the statistics are amazing. It’s growing so fast & it looks like an ideal place to share your content, products, or services. Thanks!