Pinterest, hot social media site du jour, is a deep, thrilling sea of images, lists, ideas and sharing. Increasingly, small businesses are vying for a piece of the attention on Pinterest – but not every industry has an obvious place in the Pinterest world. Everyone is still figuring out just how to use this fun new tool and what the possibilities are for integrating it into social media outreach across all industries. As you dive in and start carving a Pinterest presence for your small business, follow these 7 tips for successful pinning, no matter what your business is.
1. Sync up
As with any other social media initiative, make sure you connect one to the others. Pinterest can be linked to your Facebook and Twitter pages easily, and doing so will not only broaden your reach and diversify your content on each channel, but will lighten your social media workload. Also be sure to add a “Pin It” button to your website, particularly if you have a visual heavy web presence, like a t-shirt company.
2. Mind your content
Pinterest accounts appear in search engine results based on the content in their profiles, especially the About section. Make sure to mind your SEO and include lots of relevant keywords.
3. Follow the leader
Follow other Pinterest users in your industry, most especially the ones who seem to have a successful engagement with the site. Pay attention to what they do well, and tailor those ideas for your own company’s profile. Plus, networking is networking, no matter what the platform.
4. Get visual
Pinterest is a completely visual-based site. Having a thriving presence for your business means translating what you do into a package that’s compatible with what the site and its users are doing. For some industries, the transition is natural and easy. But for some, it takes a bit of creativity. A good go to for any field? Infographics. Creating a beautiful and informative infographic is a certain way to garner a ton of repins and help set your small business apart from the pack in your industry.
5. Be human
Individuals and businesses have identical profiles and methods of engagement on Pinterest, so it’s a good chance to humanize yourself. If you’re following the rest of these tips, your brand is sure to come across just fine, so it’s fine to engage the site as a real person.
6. Don’t sell too hard
Speaking of your brand, don’t focus solely on selling your business / products on Pinterest. Sharing other things your into, in addition to producing content specific to your company, helps to not only make you appear more interesting, but will help you reach a wider audience of followers, and provide good aesthetic context for your company. If someone doesn't know exactly who you are or what you do, they should be able to look at your Pinterest page and through looking at your lists and repins, should be able to ascertain a sense of what world you’re doing business in.
7. Be an info source
Pinterest is such a fantastic way to show that you know your audience, not just in terms of what they want from you, but what they want in general - and this is where you get to help provide that to them. Does your small business make kitchen utensils? Repin lots of interesting recipes and culinary articles. This is a tremendous platform for establishing your company as a dynamic, well-rounded supplier of all the things that you and your customers are into. There’s no better way to build brand loyalty than that.
