3 Things Your Brand Should Be Doing To Gain Pinterest Followers
Unlike many other social networks, businesses cannot yet advertise to a specific target market on Pinterest. With Pinterest exploding to nearly 11 million unique visits last month, I predict that eventually the site will follow the advertising strategies similar to Facebook and Twitter, but until then what can a business do to increase it’s followers?
When joining Pinterest as an individual, you are given the option to follow all of your current Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Unfortunately, businesses do not have the luxury to follow all of their fans, so it takes some more work to gain a large follower base on Pinterest.
Here are 3 things your brand should be doing right now to gain Pinterest followers:
1. Link to Other Platforms
The easiest way to quickly gain followers is to post links to Pinterest on your website, blog, and Facebook pages. Since Pinterest is still gaining in popularity, adding a Pinterest button will let your readers know that you are an early adopter of the new social media trend. Linking Pinterest to existing networks is a great way to gain followers, but it is important to remember not to flood your followers pages with a million pins.
Posting a pin to Facebook and Twitter once or twice a day (at most) is a great way to let them know you are on Pinterest. However, if your Facebook page and Twitter profile begins to look like an extension of your Pinterest page, it might be time to step away from Pinterest. When pinning an image to Pinterest, you are given an option to post on Facebook and Twitter, only choose this option for those amazing pins that everyone needs to see. Like these!
2. Utilize Searchable Captions
A great way to increase the strength of a pin is to add a searchable caption when re-pinning. This becomes a missed opportunity when an account does not change the caption to reflect their company’s relevant keywords to make it searchable to their target market. By using keywords often used by your target market, it is more likely that your Facebook fans and Twitter followers will come across your pins using the internal search feature. Not only can you add searchable keywords into captions on Pinterest, but you can also utilize the hashtag function in the same way that it is used on Twitter. Including hashtags into captions make your pins searchable for a wider audience, who may be unfamiliar with your brand.
3. Link to the Correct Page
One of the most frustrating things that I’ve encountered on Pinterest is when links do not follow back to the original source. There is absolutely nothing worse than looking for a recipe and not being able to find it because of a poorly placed pin or an inactive link. When pinning content (especially if it is from your own website) make sure that the pin links back to the page where someone can get more information. By pinning from your website, you are hoping to drive traffic to that specific page. Making sure that the pins go back to the correct page on your website will make it easier when others re-pin your content as well.
Looking for Pinterest tips? See my prior blog: How To Create A Unique Brand Image on Pinterest
Happy pinning!
Is your brand missing opportunities to capture followers on #pinterest? ow.ly/9c4qc#socialmedia
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) February 21, 2012
Managing Your Personal & Professional Social Profiles (Part 3)
Join our own @MaryLeeS as she discusses how Social Media Privacy is really now Search Privacy bit.ly/IPSocMed2 ^MLS #privacy
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) January 25, 2012
Part Three: Social Media Privacy has morphed into Search Privacy
This post is the third in a five part series addressing the management of one’s personal and professional social media profiles. (Did you miss Part 1 and/or Part 2?)
Most of us are quite familiar with Facebook and its ever changing Privacy Settings. We know that every time there is a Facebook update, we need to go in and deactivate whatever changes they made arbitrarily – we know the drill. But when is the last time you updated your Google Profile? Have you delved into your Google+ Privacy settings? What about your other Social Media profiles? Why does it matter?
Last week, Linda O’Neill discussed Intrapromote’s POV on Google Search Plus Your World with Erik Dafforn. In what Erik describes as “One of the most dramatic changes to search results in years”, Google has significantly increased the input of certain social signals for certain users. What does this have to do with Privacy? Depending upon how you have your privacy settings set up on your social media accounts, your profiles will be showing up more prominently in Google Search Results than ever.
Take this quick search for Intrapromote’s illustrious President, Erik Dafforn, as an example:
You will notice the following:
- Erik’s Google+ profile shows up in instant search results
- Erik’s LinkedIn & Twitter accounts are listed prominently
With Google having the largest market share (66.6% in December 2011) by far, it is important to take a closer look at your Google Profile Privacy settings.
First of all, if you want Personal Results to show up in your Search results on Google, you do have to opt in. You may do this in your Search Settings as seen below.
Now that you have Personal Results turned on for Search, what is the easiest way to manage all of your different profiles? Fortunately, Google has Google Dashboard to manage all of your profiles associated with Google products. From your Google Dashboard you may currently manage settings for your Google Profile, Google Analytics, Android Devices, Android Market, Blogger, Buzz (yes it’s still listed!), Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Docs, Friend Connect, Gmail, Google Music, Google+, iGoogle, Latitude, Picasa Web Albums, Reader, Google Talk, Google Chat, Google Voice, YouTube and any other Google product that you may have signed up for!
Check out this video about the Google Dashboard below:
Google Privacy also has a YouTube channel, which is a great resource for further information on the topic.
Although Google related profiles are very important, that is not all you need to look at. As we found with our search of Erik above, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles regularly rank high in search results.
Especially in regards to business, LinkedIn is a profile that most of us would WANT to show up in search results. LinkedIn has a newly re-designed settings page with privacy options prominently displayed as shown below:
When it comes to Twitter, it really depends upon what you are using Twitter for (personal vs. professional). Twitter does not have a lot of privacy features aside from protecting your tweets from public view. As a good rule of thumb, never Tweet anything that you would not want seen by the world (including employers and journalists). You never know when a national publication may pick up and quote your tweet on a subject and always assume potential employers are searching for your Twitter account to review. In Part 1 of this series, there’s a good example of how this can backfire on you — especially if potential employers or customers are using tools like Rapportive.
And don’t leave out your new Social Media accounts as well! It is generally a good practice to search out privacy settings in each network when you first set up your account. You may have caught Intrapromote’s Katie Hehn and her recent blog post about Creating a Unique Brand on Pinterest. Interestingly, Pinterest has just one Privacy Setting and it is all about Search!
How you have your privacy settings set on your social media profiles is now more important than ever. After all, you will probably prefer that a potential employer find your polished LinkedIn profile over your Milli Vanilli Fan Pinboard….”Girl you know it’s true!”
Follow Mary Sutter on Twitter:
How To Create A Unique Brand Image on Pinterest
Are you on @Pinterest yet? If not, you will! @KatieHehn shares her tips for creating a unique brand image bit.ly/IPSM2
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) January 20, 2012
Have you heard about the new social network called Pinterest? If not, here’s a great definition from Pinterest.com:
“Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
Pinterest allows users to “pin” images from anywhere on the web into categorized boards. Examples of boards might be Crafts, Places I’d Like to Visit, Bucket List, etc. Boards can then be followed by anyone on the site, who can “repin” images to share with their followers. Currently, Pinterest’s main demographic is twenty to thirty-five year old females with the most popular boards being crafts, wedding planning, clothing, and inspirational quotes.
Many well known retailers are flocking to Pinterest. For example, Nordstrom has over 6,000 followers and boards like Autumn Accessories, Fall Wishlist and Fun Shoes:
As a proud member of the Pinterest demographic (yes, my boards include wedding, craft, and sorority boards), I have compiled the following tips for companies to create a unique brand image using Pinterest.
Showcase images that would not be featured through Facebook, Twitter, or your company’s website. Show videos of product demonstrations, before/after images, images that compliment your products or infographics. For example, a hair salon could pin and re-pin celebrity hair styles with tutorials of how to do them at home.
Avoid cluttering your boards with website screenshots and images of your place of business or office. Instead, get creative with images that compliment your brand. For example, a hotel might avoid pinning images of their hotel that are already on their website, and pin images of the area’s best restaurants, scenic views, tourist spots, local recipes, and themed drinks.
Utilize the tools that Pinterest provides. Here are several I recommend:
- Download the “Pin-It” Chrome extension and iPhone application for easy pinning anywhere!
- Add your social media team as collaborators to your boards (much like adding Admins on Facebook).
- Create a product catalog by posting prices in the caption box and Pinterest will create a banner with the price for the product.
- Add “Pin It” and “Follow Me” buttons to your web site (Follow Me button example). Craft supply store, Michael’s, has an option for website visitors to “pin” their local Michael’s store location onto a pinboard straight from their website.
Get your marketing team together and brainstorm some exclusive contests, coupons and giveaways that are only promoted through your company’s Pinterest board. Encourage competitions based on pins and repins with your followers. A great example of this is home décor retailer Layla Grayce who has challenged their followers to design their dream foyer with Layla Grayce products and the winner gets something they’ve pinned to their board.
Be creative! Instead of using dull names for Pinboards, such as “Organization” or “Recipes,” create boards called “Simplify Your Life” or “The Sweet & the Savory”. Don’t forget to put in the time to find quality images to promote through your Pinterest page and give your brand a personality and connect with others who share the same interests.
Happy pinning!
