Are you looking to boost your website views, gain new visitors and grow your traffic organically? Look no further than Pinterest – your secret weapon for success and a great excuse to procrastinate at work!
Forget thinking of Pinterest as just your personal pinboard. Instead, see it as the powerful marketing machine it truly is.
While tweets disappear faster than a donut at an office party and you have to pay to play on Instagram these days, Pinterest has the potential to keep your website content in front of new eyes and potential visitors for months, even years, to come.
What is Pinterest anyway?
interest is a search engine and should be treated like Google with good SEO, keywords, and proper linking. While there are a few “social” aspects to the platform, being social won’t get your content and your pins found.
While every other “social network” is designed to get the user to stay on their platform, Pinterest is specifically designed to get users to click through to your website or articles.
Pinterest functions on keywords, just like Google or any other search engine, to help users find what’s relevant to them and what they’re looking for.
Pinterest rewards users who consistently pin relevant content by boosting their posts in the algorithm.
So it takes some daily activity to really make good use of it. Pinterest allows you to create visual pins, graphics that typically link back to a specific URL.
A few Pinterest stats worth knowing
While its user count may not blow you away, compared to Facebook or Instagram, Pinterest is seeing steady growth and is now up to 291 million active users, a rise from 250 million in September 2018.
In October 2018, Pinterest debuted product pins that show up-to-date pricing and inventory information and also have direct links to a checkout page on a retailer’s site to make a purchase. In February, the company automated the curation of its shop the look feature to reduce dependence on human employees to match images with the appropriate product links.
Research shows that some 57% of weekly Pinners use the app in-store while shopping, while it’s also the leading social media platform in terms of product discovery.
Also, video pins are currently booming, with searches for “inspirational videos” increasing over 31% since last year.
It’s not too surprising to hear that 85% of women users use Pinterest to plan “life moments.” This is according to a study Pinterest commissioned to better understand its American women users aged 25–54. Only 53% use Facebook to plan these moments, and 44% use Instagram.
What are “life moments,” according to Pinterest?
Big ones might include decorating a new home (43%) or going on vacation (50 %). Small ones are more like meals (67%), gym routines, and party planning.
How to triple your traffic with Pinterest
We’ve all heard how important it is to build your email list, and that couldn’t be truer when you’re a writer that is considering monetising your content in the future.
Your email list size and how well targeted those subscribers are to your content will have a huge impact on the effectiveness of growing your website impact and readership.
So how do you build your email list, your traffic, and your loyal readership consistently and effectively throughout the year?
My answer is the powerful duo of Pinterest marketing plus the right strategy.
To start, make sure you’re creating Pinterest worthy imagery for your website, pin them from your blog to relevant boards on Pinterest, alongside pinning others’ pins in a good mix. Make boards relevant to your niche and pin regularly and consistently.
Creating a powerful Pinterest account
If you’ve only used Pinterest as a personal social media platform in the past, or if you have been ignoring its potential for growing your reach, it’s important to start by creating a strong Pinterest foundation.
Be sure that you’ve set up your Pinterest profile as a business account and you’ve confirmed your website, and applied for Rich Pins.
- There’s a lot of focus on rich pins, especially for food-related content, but it’s important to remember it’s just one element in successful pinning. Having said that, rich pins will help as they show much more information to your follower (although currently this isn’t shown on the home feed anymore) AND they help you get found in search.
- Look for ways to include keywords in your business name, about section, board titles, and board descriptions to gain the maximum SEO power from your Pinterest account.
- Finally, don’t forget the overall aesthetic of your Pinterest page. Be sure you’re choosing pins and board cover images that match your branding.
The key is to remember that your Pinterest account is no longer for you. It’s all about your audience. Your focus is on what they like, what they want to see, and what inspires them.
Your Pinterest profile should fully reflect that!
The role of boards on Pinterest
In a way, boards still matter, but not that much. Keywords, Pin graphics and idea Pins are much more important.
- My best piece of advice is to create 3/4 boards related to your main product, service or main topics within your niche. These will quickly become your top boards, as long as you Pin consistently.
- As well as those, you can have more fun and unrelated boards that relate more specifically to lifestyle and further interests your audience may have.
Yet do not underestimate the power of creating boards about your core topics and your niche.
Optimise Pins for success
Pinterest is a search engine and should be treated like Google with good SEO, keywords, and proper linking. Once you have set your boards up, it’s time to plan which Pins you should create.
Use the Pinterest search bar to do your keyword research and truly understand what would work best for a specific topic.
- First, type in a keyword that’s important to your business and look at what comes up with autocomplete.
- Next, hit enter and look at the tiles under the search bar. Both the autocomplete phrases and the tiles show what people are looking for on Pinterest!
You can use keywords across a variety of assets – it’s not just about your Pin title, as other elements of your Pins come into play. Use these keywords on your Pin images, Pin description, and Pin title. They should also be included on the page you link to.
Long gone are the times you’d re-use old pin graphics for months and months.
The Pinterest algorithm is now rewarding fresh, new content.
Pinterest is really wanting to get fresh content in front of people, rather than the same bacon recipe from 2010 that we’ve been seeing for 10 years now.
They’re really really putting an emphasis on new ideas, brand new content, brand new products. If you are creating and you’re wanting to get that juice from Pinterest, the strategies have changed!
Another note on your Pins. Take your titles punchy, bold and concise. Use those first few words to be clear about the message of your Pin. Add in a few capitalisations to help it stand out.
What to share in your Pins
When it comes to sharing content on Pinterest, the possibilities are endless. Whether you’re looking to drive traffic to your website, grow your email list, or increase your sales, there are many types of content that you can share to achieve your goals!
Here are five types of website content that you can share on Pinterest:
- Infographics and visual content: Pins that are visually appealing and easy to read can be highly effective in capturing the attention of your target audience.
- Blog posts and articles: Sharing blog posts and articles on Pinterest can be a great way to drive traffic to your website and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
- Free resources and downloadable content: Offering free resources such as e-books, guides, and templates can help you grow your email list and establish trust with your audience.
- Webinars, online courses, and workshops: If you offer webinars or online courses, sharing them on Pinterest can help you reach a wider audience and generate more leads.
- Products and services: If you sell products or services, sharing high-quality images and descriptions on Pinterest can help you – definitely tap into product Pins if you are an e-commerce brand!
Remember, the key to success on Pinterest is to create visually appealing, high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. By sharing a mix of different types of content, you can keep your followers engaged and drive more traffic to your website.
Tailoring your Pins to different audiences
In order to appear in more search results, your content needs to appeal to a wide range of audiences. Whenever you are sharing a new piece of content online, take the time to create variations of that content that can resonate with all of those audiences.
This is one of the biggest changes in Pinterest strategy.
- I suggest you write down the 3 top outcomes or results people will get by reading your content (or listening, or even watching!).
- By doing so, you can create 3 different types of pins with three completely different messages.
- Outline at least 3 audience personas for each new piece of content you are promoting on Pinterest for maximum exposure.
By combining these core needs and tailored design and copy, the same piece of content will touch three times more people, really skyrocketing your overall Pinterest growth.
Set effective Pinterest goals
I see a lot of people actively growing their accounts, but if it doesn’t actively lead to their bottom line in some way I think it’s a waste of time and energy.
And it makes me so sad to see people try it without an understanding because they ultimately give up thinking it’s not for them. When in fact it’s exactly for them and it’s a crazy powerful tool. If they knew how to use it properly.
I’ve found that being crystal clear on who you’re trying to attract and knowing exactly what you should share to attract that person is key.
These three questions I love to review whenever working on Pinterest for a marketing strategy
- What specific metrics do you want to improve on Pinterest, such as clicks, saves, or website visits?
- Who is your target audience on Pinterest and what content do they engage with the most?
- How will you measure the success of your Pinterest strategy, and what benchmarks will you use to track progress towards your goals?
Now you have everything you need to get started with Pinterest.
The first step towards Pinterest success is setting a clear objective that supports your overall business strategy. You gotta know who you’re trying to attract and what they wanna see from you.
Once you’ve got that figured out, it’s time to start creating killer content that speaks directly to your target audience. And guess what? Pinterest is an amazing traffic driver for your website.
Now, don’t get it twisted – Pinterest isn’t some magical solution that’ll solve all your problems. But when you’re crystal clear on what you’re trying to achieve, Pinterest has the potential to be a game-changer for your business. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get pinning!
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