Pinterest is an anomaly in the social media space. Rather than a place to connect with friends, Pinterest brands itself as a “visual discovery engine.” Pinterest users, or “pinners,” use the platform to share their inspirations, create curated pinboards to help guide their projects or plans, and use Pinterest search to find ideas, inspiration and products that they need. Boasting 175 million users, Pinterest is driving tons of traffic to online shops. A recent study shows that 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest. If you want to reach more customers online, Pinterest is a great place to expand your reach.
The name of the game on Pinterest is beautiful, aspirational, helpful content. What works on Instagram isn’t always a fit for Pinterest, so consider what content appeals to your target customer as you create your pinboards. If you sell hand-dyed yarns, are your target customers looking for knitting patterns? If you offer bookkeeping services for creatives, are your customers searching on Pinterest for receipt organization tips? Think about how you can connect with your target customer by curating content on pinboards that best serves their needs.
If you run an online business, you know how important beautiful images are to help market your business. The most important thing you can do to increase visibility on Pinterest is to create compelling imagery in a vertical format. Since pin images are width-restricted, pins that are taller have an edge in getting spotted by users who are scrolling the homepage. If you’re planning a photoshoot for your products, consider taking extra photos in that vertical format to use on Pinterest.
Pinterest’s updated algorithm automatically spaces out your posts in the news feed, but it’s still not a good idea to go on a pinning binge, and flood your feed with tons of new pins at once. In their best practices guide, Pinterest suggests, “It’s a good idea to save Pins regularly—consistent, daily activity is better than a once-a-week flurry.”
Consistency is important because Pinterest functions as a visual search engine. Pinners often search for inspiration by typing keywords into the search bar, which means your pins have extended life beyond the front page news feed. According to Pinterest, “Unlike social networks where all of your audience reach typically happens in the first 24 hours, the reach of your content on Pinterest will continue to grow over time as Pinners discover and save your Pins.”
With that search engine functionality in mind, it’s smart to seed your pins early in advance of a popular event or holiday. Pinterest suggests that you should, “start saving Pins that are relevant to upcoming trends, seasons and holidays about 45 days before the event.” Using targeted keywords in the captions of these pins is especially important, as well as choosing a keyword rich board title to optimize for those users using search. Keep an eye on the meta tags and title tags on your website, as those areas often auto-populate the captions for Pinterest. Choosing a relevant board category also helps Pinterest better understand your content, and serve those pins to the appropriate audience.
The question I often hear from small business owners is, “How can I use Pinterest effectively to promote my business without it turning into an enormous time suck??” If you’re short on time, you can consider using a Pinterest-approved scheduling tool to add content to your boards on a regular basis. If you choose to use an app or software to streamline your pinning process, it’s vital to choose a partner that’s approved by Pinterest, to avoid going against their TOS. Luckily, Pinterest has created a directory of their 50+ approved partners, including Buffer, Hootsuite, and Tailwind. (Note that Craft Industry Alliance members get a discount on Tailwind as part of our member benefits!).
Pinterest has an enormous reach, so you want to make sure you’re creating content that can beautifully represent your brand. Want to learn more about using Pinterest for your business? Check out my social media class on CreativeLive, where I dig into exactly how I optimize my efforts on Pinterest to send more traffic to my online shop.
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Erin Dollar is an artist, surface pattern designer, and founder of Cotton & Flax, a collection of boldly patterned textile home decor that is designed and manufactured in California. Her work has been sold in 100+ retail shops, from indie boutiques, to large mass-market retailers like West Elm, CB2, and Need Supply. By growing her ecommerce business to accommodate wholesale buyers, she has built a sustainable business that generates income year-round, and built a platform for long-term growth. See her webinar, Wholesale for Craft Business, in our archives.