Using Pinterest As One of Your Marketing Strategies

Pinterest is the newest social media giant, boasting of over 17 million users.  If you have ever visited this site, you might be a bit confused as to how it can work for your business.  While it is true that not every social media site can work for every small business, reaching this websites ever growing global user base by pinning creative business related images is being is an untapped source of new traffic.  Follow these ten rules for using Pinterest for business promotion, and you will be surprised at just how effectively Pinterest can help your business grow. 

• Create a plan for pinning - All marketing strategies start with a plan.  This includes everything from properly setting up your account to target audience research.  Share buttons need to be easily accessible on all of your social media platforms and blogs.  Before getting started, identify who your ideal customer is and research what they are pinning the most.  That will give you an understanding of what types of images your clients will find most interesting. 
   
  Honor you sources  - Read the terms and conditions of the site, and always be aware of possible copyright infringement.  Before re-pinning any images, find out if the source of the image is legitimate.  For your own images, add a watermark for maintaining their integrity.
• Have a strategy  - The basics of other social media marketing strategies work here as well.  Plan to pin over a wide range of boards. Take advantage of following, pinning, repinning, and commenting on a regular basis.  To sell more products, design a price banner.  Make sure your description has a web link so people can find you.  Most importantly, dont pin dump.  Time your interactions and space them out, just like on any other social media site.
• Be Social In other words, become a member of the community.  If you make yourself out to be solely a profiteer, you will not be able to maximize your number of followers.  Being social means liking and commenting on the pins of others, tagging other pinners by name, and thanking followers for repinning your images.  There is a tool you can use to track all repins from your own site.
• Be creative Choose only the best images from your blog or set. Use different types of images, photos, text, and even videos.  Instagram and Pinstamatic are helpful tools for creating images.  Keep you images simple, and learn how to make your own info graphics.
   
  Be a curator as well as a creator  - Shameless self-promoting will get you shunned from any social media network. Don just pin about your own business.  Show off other businesses in your niche, and include images that illustrate the lifestyle behind your branding.  You want to be the source for all information concerning your nice, whether it is original or just re-pinned content.
• Be creative in promoting your business Use your pins for promoting contests, and allow users to post on your contest or promotion boards.  If your product is particularly useful, encourage users to pin images and videos of the product being used.  When you are using Pinterest for business, dont forget to include a call to action.
   
  Integrate SEO and traffic generating techniques. Use keywords, captions, hash tags, and urls on your pins.  Dont forget to include your url in the About section of your profile.  Pin images from your website.
   
  Use your tools. The site is growing, and regularly adding new management tools like Pinstamatic, Pinerly, and Pinpuff.  Learn what these tools are and make them work for you.
   
  Track your results.  Check Google Analytics to see the traffic coming from your pinning.  Research the brands that are successful, and replicate what is making them a success. 

Pinterest is actually a lot of fun if you know how to use it.  The popularity of the site cannot be denied.  It is worth an investment of time to see how the site works, and what it can do for you.