Pinterest is one of the fasting-growing social marketplaces. It’s transformed so many industries from wedding services to home decor to even house maintenance and technology. Pinterest is now the third-largest social platform after Facebook and Twitter.
In reality though, Pinterest has gained a reputation of being a massive time consumer. Don’t point fingers yet; it’s not Pinterest’s fault for being so addictive. The drawback from this stigma is causing many businesses to dismiss Pinterest from any future marketing opportunities. Just this past week three different people told me, “Pinterest is just a time waster. Why bother?”
My response is this… if people are “wasting” their time on a site like Pinterest, wouldn’t you want them to be “wasting” their time looking at your products and services?
A recent study by Pew Research Center shows nearly 1 in 6 Internet users is on Pinterest. Retail information group Rich Relevance found the average order placed by Pinterest shoppers is $169! The average for Facebook? $95. Twitter? Only $70.
If you want to harness the business potential in such a wildly addictive platform as Pinterest, follow these six steps to boost your Pinterest marketing.
1. Create interesting boards for your ideal audience
For many businesses, the strategy of “pin dumping” is their approach to Pinterest: flood people’s home feeds with pins, and hope they click on something. Yes, they’ll click on something; it’s called the “Unfollow” button.
When it comes to Pinterest marketing, value quality over quantity. Think about what might interest your ideal client as they peruse Pinterest, and then target all of your pins, boards, and overall strategy around being the ideal fit for your next customer.
2. Brighten Up the Place!
Psychologists and marketing research show people favor lighter and warmer pictures over cooler, darker ones. The brighter your pins, the better response from followers. Pin images with warmer dominant colors (red, orange, yellow), instead of colder images with darker primary colors (blue, black, green).
3. Make portraits, not landscapes.
Create longer images (portrait layouts) to keep your post in a viewer’s feed longer as they scroll. The more scrolling needed, the longer window for grabbing their attention (and hopefully, a response!). Where did infographics first become popular? Pinterest.
4. Cut out faces.
This may sound harsh, but people don’t want to see another person’s face on Pinterest. Research shows posts without people in them are twice as likely to be re-pinned as posts with people. Keep your pins more impersonal, and add posts with people sparingly.
5. Engage your readers.
If someone does you a favor, a “thank you” is in order. The same goes for Pinterest. When someone re-pins your content, take the time to engage them with a quick comment, thank you, or maybe even re-pin back some of their content.
6. Keep it short and sweet.
Being wordy in your pin description will lose your readers fast. Keep it short and sweet in your descriptions. The ideal description length is between 100-200 words.
Follow these six steps and watch your Pinterest impact soar!