Although Pinterest has over 100 million active users is often overlooked by companies in favor of other popular social networks, like Facebook and Twitter. However, this could work to the advantage of small businesses. While competition is acerb on the most popular social networks and, most of the times, you need to invest money in advertising, when it comes to Pinterest you can promote your small business for free. And we all know that small businesses start with a limited budget, but a huge desire for affirmation. Pinterest might be exactly what you need to let the world know about your products and services.
Pinterest is all about the visuals
And this is good news! Viewers react faster to visuals. Take photos of your products and make sure you incorporate the Pin It button on each of them. Using professional and appealing images, your business will capture the attention of viewers faster than with words, and determine them to want to know about your products. If you have a blog, you can create a pin for every post. The important thing is to post unique, beautiful images that stand out in the Pinterest crowd and reach your target audience. Make sure you use the description field available for every pin to capture the essence of your products or services. After all, a picture is indeed worth a thousand word.
Become a part of the Pinterest community
You need to remember that if you want to become a successful Pinterest user, you need to fit in its community, establish friendly relationships with other Pinterest users, and be open to repin other people’s pins. Yes, you need to share, if you want to receive. Repin posts that you like, but make sure they are related to your field of activity. This way your pins will be both appealing and helpful for your viewers and other members of the Pinterest community. Get involved and other users will do the same for your business! This way, you can become one of the influencers in your field of activity. And this takes us to the next point.
Reach out to influencers
Like on any other social network, there are people who make and break the trends on Pinterest too. They are called influencers and you need them by your side to help you promote your small business. Try to locate the influencers who have a word to say when it comes to your target audience and start following them. Repin their content and comment politely to their posts. After a while, you can ask them to help you with repining your content and even promote it on their page. You can also ask your followers to do the same for your content. Your goal is to get as many repins as possible because this will definitely increase your audience and attract customers to your website.
Stay in the “zone” with great content
In other words, try to focus all your pins on your field of activity. Your content doesn’t need to be all about your business, but it has to be relevant to your followers. It’s even better to create different boards that are related to a certain topic and focus on getting comments and repins. For example, if you sell hair products, you can have a board dedicated to different hairstyles and mention the products (you sell!) as the key ingredients for achieving those styles. I know that the world of Pinterest is fascinating, but if you want to make a profit and keep the customers engaged, try to avoid posting cake recipes on a board that is about shoes. Stick to the message of your brand and keep it relevant!
Timing matters
As with all the other social network platforms, timing matters when you post your images and it can make a big difference for your audience. When it comes to Pinterest, it’s been demonstrated that you need to post daily, between 2 and 4 pm and 8 pm and 1 am, to get access to users. This is when people are most active on Pinterest and when it’s more likely for your images to get repins and comments. However, be patient and try to track users’ reaction to your posts to identify the best time to post your images.
Infographics are hip
People react great to infographics, so don’t hesitate to make use of them to convince your viewers of the authenticity of your statements and the importance of your products. People actually like infographics so much that they enjoy repining them, as long as they are relevant and convincing. You can use infographics created by your own company or share the ones that are relevant to your business and, consequently, to your customers.
Monitor your Pinterest activity
Make sure you always monitor your Pinterest activity to see if your efforts are rewarded. You need to see if Pinterest actually helps your business grow and what you need to do to improve your activity. At first, you need to know the number of your followers and pins, so you can establish a strategy to increase traffic to your website. Google Analytics will definitely help you make an idea about the number of visitors that come from this platform. Set a time frame for any goal and analyze the results. If you want to increase your followers but you’re only active on Pinterest, let’s say, two days a week, you should consider increasing your Pinterest activity to three or four days a week. The important thing is to be committed and dedicated to your efforts to consolidate your Pinterest presence.
