Is your business on Pinterest yet? If not, where have you been?

Pinterest is a fantastic online tool for users to discover, catagorise and share ideas, interests and projects.  Over the past couple of years it has been recognised as one of the fastest growing sites ever, even outpacing Facebook and Twitter!

Users have been getting bucketloads of inspiration from Pinterest and the site has also shown that it can be very effective for businesses.  Not only is it gainig exposure for your business it can actually help you to increase sales.

Here is some quick Pinterest Facts:

• Pinterest attracts 1,090 visitors per minute.
• The average user will spend just over 15 minutes on Pinterest per visit. Facebook users spend about 12 minutes, while Twitter users spend about 3 minutes.
• 93% of Pinterest users are women. Since half the world is female, this a huge market.
• Pinterest is now the third most popular social network.
• Call-to-action pins can increase Pinterest engagement by 80%!

So how should you be using Pinterest to rocket your brand into the pinning stratosphere?

Part One – Establishing your Brand on Pinterest

1. Build a Pinterest Profile that tells your brand story

Think of Pinterest as your virtual storefront – what does your brand encompass, what your values and how do you outwardly project these to your customer.  Whether you are online or have a Bricks and Mortar store, every store tells it’s own story.  Use this as your starting point of inspiration.

2. A Picture tells a thousand words

Pinterest is an almost entirely visual platform, whilst written content is important, it will be the image on the pin that catches someone’s eye first. Think about what makes your business or service visual.  Uploading product pictures can be a great start, but a photograph  your products in action can be even better.  Think of Pinterest as “inspiration in action.

3. Ensure that you name your Images accordingly and use great descriptions

Pinterest has a fairly basic search function, but using the best key words for your product to get them noticed is important.  As is naming the file of your pin with a great description. Naming a photo “Bow ties in red for Cats” will always be better than naming it image001, and make sure your “pin description” is just as expressive.

4. Give your boards fun and descriptive names

This also lets pinners know what you do.  Be sure to branch beyond your own products and find other content and posts that relate to your industry.  You don’t need to spend heaps of time coming up with original content when you have the ability to share from others.  Make sure your board names match up and you will be away.

5. Get “Pin-Interested”

Engage with other users content on Pinterest by repinning and commenting, this will help you and your brand to become noticed.  Likewise by not only sharing your own content and products, you are  encouraging others to do the same – all at the same time increasing your reach. Engaging with other users is one of the easiest ways to start to gain or maintain a following.

6. Use your other social platforms as leverage

Promote your Pinterest activity on your other social platforms.  You can encourage your followers on other platforms to engage with you on Pinterest and ensure that your content is getting out to who really matters, no matter what social platform they prefer.    

Think of Pinterest as the inspirational arm of your business, it can tell your customers a lot more about you and your business than you first think! So sign up, get your Pinterest boards up and running and tune in next week to look at E-Commerce and Conversion on Pinterest!