Until recently I only dabbled in Pinterest; I used it as a very occasional evening and weekend thing to do for myself not for my business. I had purchased a few things in the past which I had seen on others Pinterest boards. But, the penny still hadn’t dropped and my brain hadn’t engaged that Pinterest is a fantastic social media marketing tool.
It wasn’t until one of my clients’, who owns a very visual business asked if I would set up an account for them that the penny finally dropped with a thundering clatter! Pinterest is fantastic for social media marketing. I’ve since read many blogs and articles on how to make Pinterest work for social media marketing like this excellent one from Amy Porterfield and Pinterest also offer lots of tips and advice.
Driving traffic to your website is the entire point of engaging in any social media interaction, including that of Pinterest. The trick is to include enough information to get your audience to not only like or re-pin your pin, but also to follow you so that they can re-pin and share more of your pinboards…and also getting them to click through to your website for more information.
[bctt tweet=”There are some tried and true methods for accomplishing traffic generation using Pinterest.”]
Create Themed Boards
Create a new pinboard for every category on your website or the services you provide. Plus, in addition create some pinboards that are lifestyle oriented for your audience that don’t necessary go with your business, but match the interests of your niche audience. For instance, if you have a bookkeeping business and you do bookkeeping mostly for beauty shops, you might, in addition to the typical tips and information about bookkeeping, include a board for new hairstyles or products related to beauty shops.
Include a Quote from an Article
Within the description, include a quote or summary of the post that you will be linking your readers to. This will engage them and perhaps pique their interest enough to get them to click through. Be sure that your articles and description resonate with your audience and match the particular theme of the pinboard you’re attaching it to.
Choose a Relevant Image
Create or purchase an image that will go with the topic, is interesting to look at and brings meaning to the words in the article or blog post. The image is also a good place to put a quote, a logo and URL watermark, and other information relevant to the blog post that you’ll be linking to. Images are of extreme importance on Pinterest. There are several software programs you can use to help you create images fast, like Canva.com and Pixlr.com.
Link directly to the Page Where the image lives
Don’t just link the pin to your home page. Instead link directly to the exact page that you want your readers to click through and read. It can be a blog post, a landing page, or an article and even a product. It’s up to you.
Finally, don’t shy away from long images like infographics, or from using video. Pinners love infographics and they love watching video. Anything that is highly visual and pretty to look at will entice them to go further to see more by clicking through to your information. Canva.com also provide an excellent template which enables you to group images into one longer pin which the viewer can click to expand.
I now use Pinterest all of the time as part of my social media strategy and I’ve seen my website visitors climb in just a few weeks and my client has received a request for a quote.
I am a newbie on Pinterest as far as business is concerned, so if you’re on there then please follow: You can find me on Virtuoso-PA I’ll also answer any further questions or queries if you comment below.
So, go get pinning – a word of warning, you’ll soon become addicted to Pinterest.
