Pinterest is a new social media tool that some businesses are experimenting with and are getting results. It enables you to make bulletin boards and allows you to pin things to it, whether it be for your business or fun. You can not just self promote yourself or your business but to have fun with it.
Pinterest has a tool called "Pin It". You drag this tool to your browser on your desk top and when you find something of interest on the internet you pin it. All you need to do is click the "Pin It" button and it will ask you which board you want to pin it too. Make sure you switch boards because I started pinning some pictures to the wrong board. You can edit your boards and make sure you write a caption on your pictures. If you have products, make sure you put links on them. You can also add prices on your products and services as well. You can also pin images from other people's boards. This is how you interact with other subscribers and to build your contact base.
I just started experimenting with it and have a few boards started. I have two boards with two different companies that I have affiliate products with. I have added a link to those products so people can go to them. With these images you can post links to your blog, facebook business page or to a squeeze page. I recently went to the Cash Control Academy and posted all my pictures with the trainers on a board and I also have a board with family pictures and pets. The pet pictures I pinned from other boards. I saw a board from a follower called the bucket list. I thought that was pretty cool. I may do one of those later.
Pinterest is growing each day. Since January, there has been 11 million users. When I went on to set up my account, I did not know my daughter had an account. I actually liked a couple of her pictures she pinned and pinned them to my board. That is how you get personal connection.
If you design logos, websites, a photographer, make sure you display your work. If you like certain books and you have an Amazon account, pin book covers and have a link to your affiliate account.
According to Hillary Topper, HJMT Public Relations, Inc. she wrote "
13 Tips for Gaining Business Exposure for Your Clients"
- Don’t Just Put Up a Page – Like any other social networking site, don’t just put up a page and walk away. You need to be able to curate it and put interesting pins on your page that will entice your followers. In addition, the more interesting the pin the more likely it will be repinned, which helps with search engine optimization (SEO).
- Update Sites Every Week – Update them at least weekly, if not daily. Otherwise people lose interest and stop coming back.
- Create Links Back to Your Web or Other Sites – Make it as simple as possible so that people can click on links easily and purchase or view products or services in other places.
- Link Pinterest With Other Social Networking Sites – By doing this, your followers on other social networking sites will know your activity on Pinterest and will be able to make more personal connections with you.
- Have a Daily or Weekly Theme – This will help entice your followers to keep coming back and keep piquing their interest. For instance, have a “yellow” day where everything you post on that day is the color yellow.
- Don’t Only Promote Your Product or Service – Be sure to promote other brands that you like. By just promoting your product or service, you are being too commercial.
- Follow Early Adopters – They often have an interesting perspective on new sites.
- Use Back Links to Take Followers to Your Web Site – This will help increase your SEO and also draw attention to your Web site.
- Need a Focus Group? – If you are interested in a particular demographic—say, for example, people who like to sew—check out their boards on Pinterest and see what interests them. This will help you target them better.
- Use Keywords and Hashtags – This also improve SEO.
- Enable Your Community to Add – Your followers can actually add pins to your boards, which makes your Pinterest page more interactive. This also helps with SEO and the engagement of your followers.
- Use the Boards Creatively – You can use them for team building with your staff and you can also have a board on office things you need to purchase.
- Have Fun – If your pins are humorous, they will be repinned more often than those that aren’t.
I hope this helps with some of the confusion that is going on regarding Pinterest. One final note, I read that with affiliate sales, Pinterest puts a code in there and they reap some of the benefits off your profits, this is how they are making money from it.
Here is to Your Success,
Anita Levesque
207-694-0314
facebook.com/anitawaltonlevesque