As the internet’s fastest growing social media site, and having recently been valued at $2.5 billion, social-scrapbooking site Pinterest is definitely worth paying attention to.
As you may well know, Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pinboard. Last year I wrote posts about What you need to know about Pinterest and Top brands successfully using Pinterest and what you can learn from them.
But as a small business, how can you get the most out of Pinterest?
Small businesses can use Pinterest
1. Get started
Firstly you need to open an account and create a Pinterest business page. This is a relatively new function from Pinterest so if you already have an individual account with Pinterest, you can convert it to a business page. If not you can simply create an account and verify your business website. Check out these tips for verifying your website. If you can’t do it yourself, you may need to ask your nearest technical whizz. I got the lovely Rob Peters from Fresh Eyes Consultancy to help me out.
2. Start pinning
Install a ‘pin it’ bookmarklet, and you’ll be able to pin images and videos as you find them whilst surfing the net. When you pin an image or video, Pinterest will automatically link it back to the original page. Add the ‘pin it’ button to your website so that others can pin images of your products, or your blog posts, etc.
3. Check out the competition
Check out what your competitors and other small businesses are doing on Pinterest. Search for their boards using Pinterest’s search function, and follow any that are of interest.
4. Create relevant boards
Create boards that are relevant to your business – e.g. products and services, team members, case studies, ideas, how-to articles, etc. Take a look at Pinterest’s guide to what works.
Create relevant Pinterest business boards
5. Add useful descriptions
Always add a full description of whatever you’re pinning, with a mention of your business, so that if your pin is ‘re-pinned’, people will be able to see exactly what the image is and where it came from. Include relevant keywords to help your pins show up in searches.
6. Include a price if relevant
If you’re selling products, be sure to include a price in the description. If you add the £ sign, a banner with the price will appear over the image
7. Use great images
Pin interesting images, which are more likely to be re-pinned, giving greater exposure to you and your business. If you have a blog, include an image in your blog posts, then pin them to Pinterest. This will create a link back to your site, driving extra traffic there.
Use great images on your Pinterest business boards
8. Show off your personality
Use Pinterest to show the fun side of your business – pin team photos, pictures of your office, work events (obviously only pin appropriate images…)
9. Interact with your customers
Encourage your customers to pin to your boards - maybe get them to pin photos of them using your products?
10. Be Pinteresting!
Pin lots of interesting stuff, share your pins on social media and encourage your networks to follow your boards. Oh, and don’t forget to click the button below to follow me!
Are you on Pinterest? Leave a comment with your page and I’ll follow you. Got a question about how you can use Pinterest for your small business? Drop me a line.
