Our Pinright Pinterest account has 25,000 followers and we’ve learnt plenty over that process. Don’t waste time trying to figure it all out yourself jump ahead and learn from our shortcuts.
If you’ve found this post, you know what Pinterest is and probably have an Account. But chances are you don’t know the incredible tool you have at your fingertips or the huge results it can bring you.
When was the last sale you got from Pinterest? A week ago? A MONTH ago? NEVER!?
Pinterest is a traffic powerhouse, you’ve just to got to know how to use it. Especially to get leads and sales.
If you’ve not had a sale from Pinterest or if you’re not getting as many as you’d hoped, use our 7 Tips to marketing using Pinterest to drive targeted traffic to your website that will result in sales TODAY.
Tip #1 – Create quality pins that make you want to click through!
People use Pinterest to solve a problem. It’s important that your Pin shows how to solve that problem, either by text, image, or both!
Put multiple images, such as “before and afters” or step by step images conveying the journey of the solution to their problem. Because Pins work better in portrait (vertical), you don’t need to squash images side by side.
Place the images below each other to create a longer pin (expanded pins work great for things like info graphics, recipes and instructographics – capturing the viewers attention and increasing the chances or repinning).
The perfect ratio for pins without becoming an expanded pin is a ratio of 3.67:1 (length:width).
Example: if your pin is 100 pixels wide, it shouldn’t be longer than 367 pixels.
Bonus Tip: If you are creating expanded pins, put the end result at the top so it encourages them to expand and see the steps to get there.
(Get our Pin Dimensions Cheat Sheet Here)
Tip #2 – Don’t forget to add links!
One thing we notice straight away when looking at new clients’ accounts, is that their pins don’t have links!
Pins are great for building brand awareness but their main purpose is to drive traffic. So make sure each pin you upload has the website link added or it will go nowhere and you will lose traffic. What a waste!
It’s also important that the pin links to a piece of content on your website that is relevant to the pin. People don’t like to click a pin that says one thing but be taken to something else that just smacks of nasty old click bait – don’t risk it.
No hard selling here, engage the user with a blog article on the subject of your pin and create offers on the website that the user can choose to click on.
Note: if you’re using Shopify then you can create “buyable pins” allowing people to buy straight through Pinterest. This means your pins will have to describe what your product is and how it can solve their problem. You don’t want them to click through to get more information and think about their purchase further than looking at your pin. Buyable pins will roll out in more platforms soon so we will see more and more of these.
Tip #3 – Add keyword rich descriptions
Pinterest is a search discovery tool, over 100 million active monthly users are using the search box.
How are they going to find your pins?
Having keyword rich (not spammed) descriptions will increase your chances of being shown in the search results.
It’s not just the descriptions of your own pins that will need adding. You can change the descriptions of your repins too.
Wouldn’t you rather they find your repin with a keyword rich description than the original titled “image-21”?
Doing this will also increase your chances of being followed as it will grow the exposure of the amount of people they see your pins and repins.
Remember: Don’t take credit for someone else’s pin! Add some context and added value of why you think the pin is useful, always be creating value.
Tip #4 – Engage your Pinterest Community
Just like you’d comment on blog articles to engage others on relevant content, you can do the same on Pinterest.
Find other pins and comment on them.
If you strike up a relationship with people on Pinterest you can agree to promote each others content and gain a new follower that’s interested in your pins!
Bonus: Greet your new followers on Pinterest, drop them a quick message thanking them for the follow and see if you can help them in anyway. For us at Pinright, this has lead to actual sales! It’s a great way to get to know your customers.
Tip #5 – Find what your customers like
It sounds obvious but find out what your customers (and potential customers) like and do more of that. You can use Pinterest as a tool to find out what your ideal customers likes are, what they are interested in and how you can engage them.
Regularly go back through your analytics (and the pins themselves) and see which type of content is getting the most repins and likes and you will start to see patterns form.
Note: You can use this as research to create your own content but also to make sure that you are repinning the right kind of content from others that your audience is going to be interested in.
Tip #6 – Rich Pins
It’s STILL one of the most underused features of Pinterest.
Years after its initial launch this amazing FREE feature from Pinterest is still not being used by the majority of businesses.
Rich pins will add elements to your pins that will make them stand out in the newsfeed and draw attention to your content.
With bold headings, your own favicon, more links to click and more chances to drive traffic straight to your website, rich pins are something you can’t afford to miss out on.
Bonus: Follow our easy tutorials on how to set up rich pins.
Tip #7 – Use what you’ve already got
The most simple and easiest to implement our tips is to repurpose your own content.
Your website is likely full of great product shots, articles and even tutorials so don’t reinvent the wheel. Use what you already have but just make sure you pin it.
Optimise your content and make sure the images are pin friendly sizes and have the descriptions filled in.
It’s a wasted opportunity to pin a great image and then the description to let you down with an auto filled filled description like the dreaded “image-21” mentioned above.
Remember: Most people don’t ever bother changing a description when they repin so write one that will last and encourage engagement.
Bonus: You can short cut descriptions by pre filling using a great tip with your alt tags to automatically fill your pin description using our tutorial.
If you found our tips above useful and want to set up a Pinterest Business Account, get our free guidebelow…
Set up a Pinterest Business Account that Drives Targeted Traffic to your Website NOW!
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