Bulletin Board Material: Do's and Don'ts of Pinterest for Business

Founded in 2009, Pinterest has experienced quick success, and is already considered the third most popular social network behind Facebook and Twitter.  Its 48+ million users have helped to generate roughly 25 million unique visitors per month.

Pinterest is built on the foundation of quality visual content.  And for companies that can continually produce awesome content Pinterest can really help the bottom line.  Pinterest customers have been found to purchase 10% more often than Facebook and Twitter users, and spend more when they do so.  The average e-commerce order from a Pinterest user is $179, compared to $80 for Facebook and $69 for Twitter.  We’ve all heard the cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but Pinterest is starting to make businesses wonder how many dollars each picture can be worth.

Before your company starts snapping as many pictures as your memory card can hold, consider the following do’s and don’ts of Pinterest.

4 Do's and Don'ts of Pinterest for Business

Do…

Be keyword conscious

Even on Pinterest you should be considering your SEO.  If you post your images into general categories with generic keywords, you will be buried under the content of those who are more established.  Try focusing on the keywords that your targets will be looking for to drive quality leads to your page.

Ask questions through Facebook or other social media to drive traffic to your Pinterest board

Driving traffic to your Pinboards may seem a little more difficult than generating traffic for other social media sites.  Try driving traffic to your Pinboards through your other social media platforms, and let your content speak for itself.  Ask questions to your Facebook followers, and request that answers be shared as images on Pinterest.

Use hash tags to sync campaigns with Google+,Twitter, and Instagram

Since hash tags have not been officially trademarked, multiple social media sites utilize them.  By using consistent hash tags across the different platforms that employ them, you can allow your business to be found easily across all four.  That way, if a viewer sees interesting content from your campaign on Pinterest, they can follow it to Instagram, Google+, or Twitter, and vice versa.

Use tools such as Pinpuff and Pinreach to analyze your campaign

Wondering how to track your “Pinfluence?”  There are a variety of tools, including those provided by Pinterest that can help you to analyze your Pinterest campaign.  Pinpuff will provide you with information on your number of followers, the number of pins and repins you have, and your number of likes, among other statistics.  It will generate a total score and break it down based on activity, reach, and virality.  Pinreach provides similar information in the form of graphics and related visual content.  There are also browser extensions and add-ons that can help you to break down your Pinterest campaign.

Don’t…

Pin without a purpose

It is very easy to get sucked into Pinterest, but you cannot lose focus of your marketing goals.  Think of what your campaign is trying to achieve through Pinterest and pin content that will advance these goals.  It is great to pin an image that goes viral, but it is even better to pin an image that goes viral and directly relates to your business.

Create uncategorized boards

Think of each Pinboard on your Pinterest page as a collage.  It is a collection of similar images that follow a common theme.  If you mash a bunch of collages together you may have a lot of interesting images, but you will also have a lot of confusion.  Organize your Pinboards to have common themes, so that people can look at the posts that interest them the most.

Post content without any text at all

People like viewing images, but they usually prefer to know what they are looking at.  Creating or posting thought provoking images can be great for generating excitement, but may not get your viewers thinking about your company.  Images without a caption are the equivalent to an abstract painting.  Don’t leave your images completely to interpretation.  Let your audience have some context.

Post links outside of your pins

Play by the rules on Pinterest.  Links are okay as long as they are attached to an image, but they are not meant to be posted elsewhere.  If you do not follow these rules you risk being banned from Pinterest.  While this may not seem like a big deal, Pinterest is a little less forgiving than other social media sites and will not allow you back.

Looking to get more out of social media?

For more do's and don'ts of Pinterest and other popular social networks, check out our newest Ebook!  It will help you generate more value from your social media efforts.