These 9 Pinterest Marketing Strategies Lead to Success

Has Pinterest played a minor role in your marketing activities so far? It’s about time to change that! The following numbers illustrate the potential that this picture search engine holds for companies:

• 433 million users are active on Pinterest every month.
• Most users are female, with the biggest group among them in the age range of 18 to 34.
• Pinterest users are usually well educated and have a high income (35% earn more than 75,000 dollars per year).
• 67 percent of them use the platform when they start a new project, and 58 percent of users in Germany have used Pinterest to discover new products or brands.

Looking at these facts it’s obvious that more and more companies are discovering the possibilities of Pinterest marketing. They do however often lack the necessary knowledge of how this platform really works. With the following tips you can ensure a successful start and learn efficient Pinterest marketing strategies.

1. Optimize boards with the right titles and descriptions

Pictures are the main focus of content on Pinterest. But that does not mean that you should forget about words: There are at least two good reasons to focus on your text content as well:

• Titles and descriptions have a direct effect on the ranking of your content.
• This text content gives you the opportunity to stimulate curiosity with your target group and provide valuable added information.

Just as in search engine optimization keywords play an important role for the ranking on Pinterest. To find the most relevant phrases for your board it is best to use the integrated search function of the platform. Just like Google it will offer you similar phrases when entering words. Use the most relevant keywords in the titles and descriptions of your pin boards, but in a way that seems natural to the readers.

SEO is not the only thing the descriptions on Pinterest can be used for: They also give you the possibility to provide your users with additional information about your pictures, to engage them with a little story or to make them smile with a punchline.

2. Use group boards for higher reach

Taking part in public group boards administered by various users has two advantages:

• You generate attention for your brand or your company.
• You position yourself or your company as an expert on chosen subjects.

You can create group boards yourself or alternatively choose existing boards covering themes relevant to your company. Ideally, you should use both possibilities in a combined approach.

Also try to integrate your own employees and influencers into your boards. The latter especially can work wonders for the reach of your posts. There is also the possibility to invite relevant influencers to create their own board for your company.

3. Pin regularly and at the right times

Pinterest marketing newcomers often ask themselves how often and when to publish content. There are different approaches to this, but the following points are considered useful:

• Pinterest recommends pinning small amounts in regular intervals instead of a higher volume once a week.
• 5 pins a day are considered the minimum.
• The most promising time of day for publishing on Pinterest is usually given as 2 to 4 p.m. on weekdays. The evening between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and Saturday morning at 9 a.m. are also often recommended. To what extent this information applies in your case, however, depends crucially on your target group and their habits. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

You don’t know how to create 5 new pins a day? You don’t have to. There is also the possibility to repin other users‘ content. This has the additional advantage of boosting interactions. But make sure that your own content isn’t overlooked!

4. Use lifestyle pictures of high quality or offer users valuable added information

It’s always tempting to just post a litany of pure product photos. The catch is: according to Pinterest, lifestyle pictures are much more popular. Fashion companies have a great advantage here: They can show their products on male of female models, e.g. boots and a coat during a romantic couple walk.

Service providers and companies selling less visually attractive products have to get creative. They have the chance to supply users with valuable knowledge around their core topic. Real estate agents e.g. could link pins with information on certain city districts or important aspects of buying property. Lawyers could link FAQs on law topics.

Apart from this the high quality of all published pictures is very important. You can find tips for the right format of your pins in our blog article “The social media picture guide – all image sizes at a glance“. Generally speaking, pictures in portrait orientation are more successful than those in landscape orientation. Carefully used text content in photos also increases the chances of success as long as it doesn’t turn out to be too complex.

5. Use rich pins

Rich Pins are pins enriched with meta data giving the viewer additional info without him or her having to follow a link to a website. At the moment there are 3 different types of pins:

• Product pins: contain information on current price, availability and shopping possibilities
• Recipe pins: contain lists of ingredients, preparation time and portion sizes
• Article pins: contain title, short description and date of publication

Rich pins generate more attention than normal pins and provide the users additional information and thus added value. Product pins therefore increase the chance of viewers buying the products shown. Pinterest will also automatically e.g. change the price when it is adjusted it on the source page.

6. Use consistent branding to make your brand instantly recognizable

By increasing recognizability on Pinterest your pins have higher chances of attracting attention and being pinned by other users.

You can see how this works at the online shop for kitchen supplies Springlane. Even though the board is optimized for display on Pinterest, the uniform design of the pins (one picture at the top, one at the bottom divided by a field with the icon and title) ensures that the user automatically notices which company has created the pin.

You can also achieve consistent branding with the following elements just like on other platforms:

• Use of distinct fonts
• Easily recognizable colours
• Consistent layouts
• Including logos

7. Concentrate on maximizing the number of repins, not followers

On many networks the number of followers of your profile plays a key role in the reach of your posts. Pinterest is different in that regard your own reach gains less from a big follower base than on Facebook or LinkedIn.

The reason for this are the inner workings of the Pinterest algorithm (smart feed algorithm). The algorithm ensures that users preferably see content in their feed which is oriented on the content they have already looked at and shared. This has the advantage that you can achieve a high reach even if the number of your followers is (still) limited.

Therefore it is important to:

• create content relevant to your target group and motivate your followers to repin
• and ensure a good ranking for your pins with the SEO measures that were mentioned previously.

To kickstart the repinning of your content it is important to optimize it for Pinterest in terms of format and design so it will look as good as possible on any pin board. The following measures are useful as well:

• Publish your pins including a link to other networks such as Facebook.
• Use content that will stay relevant for a long period of time.
• Repin successful content on various pin boards.
• Include info graphics in your pin boards.
• Use call-to-actions to encourage your users to repin your pin.
• Upload pictures to your website in a format optimized for Pinterest and give your users the possibility to pin each picture to their own board (e.g. by using a button).

8. Share tutorials with Idea Pins and trigger actions

Idea Pins are the story format on Pinterest. However, they are clearly different from Stories on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat.

Storytelling is at the heart of Idea Pins. They are used to share instructions in multiple images or videos, which can be designed with text and image overlays. The key difference between them and Stories is that they don’t disappear after 24 hours, but remain available in the profile.

Compared to other pins, you have special design options with Idea Pins and can present your product optimally with storytelling. Focus on topics for which there is a certain search volume and use tags, lists and pin boards to make the information easily accessible. With the design tools in the Pinterest app, you can also apply numerous effects and highlight products.

9. Use Pinterest analytics to continually improve your strategy

As we all know, a standstill often equals death – especially in marketing. Luckily Pinterest offers its own analytics tool enabling you to continuously optimize your marketing strategy.

Pinterest analytics are available to all users with a business profile and will tell you:

• which of your pins are most successful
• which boards they are integrated in
• and demographic data about your users

Pinterest analytics allow you to regularly improve your content. Usage of analytics also helps you to understand your target group and learn about their interests. Use this to be more successful across platforms.

Pinterest is different and that is its strength

Pinterest grew by 40 percent in 2017 alone. This development shows the potential of this network within your marketing strategy. The “being different” of this picture search engine is one of its greatest strengths. Furthermore, Pinterest picks up on the central meaning of visual elements for communication in the 21st century, giving the platform a truly modern character.

Both aspects make the network a fascinating tool for marketing. But this also means that it will take a while to get acquainted with the special mode of operation of Pinterest. And it can take a while to see first successes. But your patience will pay off: If you follow our tips and have a bit of patience you can raise brand awareness and revenues with Pinterest.