With so many different social media platforms out there, you may be wondering if Pinterest will be worth your time. I would say that the answer to that question for the majority of businesses is yes. In my opinion, businesses with any visual aspect should consider using Pinterest as a marketing platform.
I’ve already completed a blog on the advantages and disadvantages of having a Pinterest page for your small business, so I won’t really touch on that today. Also, if you need help on how to work Pinterest, I did a blog on that too!
Today, what I want to focus on is how to build an effective Pinterest account for your small business. If you are going to spend time managing it and adding content, you’ll want to be as effective as possible; we all know a small business owner’s time is valuable!
There are a few basics to having an effective Business Pinterest account:
- Having a business account and not a personal account: It is difficult to connect with your customers if the profile is under your personal name or if you just have a business board on your personal page. You don’t have the freedom to follow other business or people and build your brand as you go. If you started a personal page as your business page, Pinterest actually makes it easy to change over: business.pinterest.com
- Completing your profile: It seems simple, but there are many things involved with this. Make sure to link your other business social media accounts to your page, include and verify your website, fill out your information section and include a profile picture for starters!
- Pinning ‘pin-worthy’ content: In order to gain followers and create value for them, you need to pin things that people will find interesting. Getting your content seen can be easily accomplished if you create pins that will drive interest.
- Having boards that are related to your industry, but not specifically about your business: Just like other social media platforms, you need to have a reason for people to follow your page. You want to avoid posting about your business all the time; people will most likely get annoyed and unfollow your boards. Post about things related to your industry, funny pictures, or even quotes, if they are applicable.
- Following other local businesses and community advocates: Chances are, these pinners already have a large following and are well respected in the community. There is also a general sense of cooperation in that if you follow a business, they are likely to follow your business back.
- Optimizing your pins: It’s important to select a category for your pins and boards, add hashtags and weblinks in the description, include key words that are easily searchable in your descriptions, and so much more.
- Avoiding ‘pinwashing’: ‘Pinwashing’ is what I call it when one brand floods a user’s page by pinning too many times in a row. This will usually cause the user to simply breeze over all of your hard work and generally does not create engagement/interaction.
- Pinning frequently: By pinning in a consistent manner, you’ll create pins that get noticed and easily gain followers. It’s not that users will notice if you are not pinning; it’s more like users will notice if you are pinning!
By taking these simple steps to building an effective business Pinterest account, you should see your follower numbers raise quickly and establish your brand within the Pinterest world!
What techniques have you found successful for your business Pinterest?
Until next time
~Melissa
PS for inspiration, check out our business Pinterest page!