Social Media

20 Quick Pinterest Marketing Tips

As regular readers know, I’m a fan of social media. I literally wrote the book on Twitter, and I love connecting with all my cool online biz people in my various Facebook groups. So it’s kind of surprising that I’ve never discussed Pinterest marketing before here at The Savvy Solopreneur.

I’ve had an account on Pinterest for a while but until recently it wasn’t really optimized for business. All that has changed now, and I’ve been brushing up my Pinterest account to make it work for me as a blogger and small biz owner. I thought today I’d share twenty tips I’ve picked up along the way, most of which I’ve already implemented, some of which I’m still working on (such as tidying up all my old Pins –I didn’t realize I’d pinned quite so much stuff).

There’s a lot of information in this one, and links to more detailed instructions for some things you’ll need to do, so you may well want to bookmark it (or Pin it of course) so you can refer back to it later.

 20 Quick Pinterest Marketing Tips

Disclosure: Links in this post (and anywhere on The Savvy Solopreneur) may be affiliate links. Find out what that means here.

Upgrade to a Pinterest business account

This is super quick and simple to do. Pinterest explains how to start a business account here. If, like me, you want to convert your personal account to a business account, you can do that here. Once you’ve converted you’ll get access to Pinterest analytics, the ability to run contests and even free Pinterest marketing tips.

Create the perfect Pinterest profile

Create your perfect profile, to attract your ideal audience. Don’t forget to put keywords in your name (my name now reads Karen Banes: Freelance writer, author & content creator) and in your description. You might want to say who you serve and how you help them. Include a link to your blog or website, and a call to action (such as inviting people to join your email list) if appropriate.

Enable Rich Pins

Rich pins add extra details to any images that are pinned from your website, and apparently Pinterest prefers them, so they tend to show them to browsers more often. There are different types to suit your different needs. Product pins for example, include real time pricing, availability and where to buy. Pinterest explains exactly how to enable rich pins on your blog or site here.

Make a Pinterest board for your blog or brand

I now have a board that’s just for posts from The Savvy Solopreneur. I still pin each relevant pin to other boards, but I keep this as my first board and my featured board. I’m here to drive traffic, not make friends (actually that’s a lie, I love meeting like-minded people on Pinterest – join me over there if you do too).

Make boards for your blog categories

So I now have boards for blogging tips, social media marketing, productivity, etc. Each board features posts from my blog and from all my blogging buddies who write about similar stuff (as with any social media, you want to share lots of things that are of interest to your target market by curating the best content on your topics from around the web).

I’ve kept various boards that aren’t related to my business, but they are working for me at some level too. My ‘fashion’ and ‘home’ boards were purely personal before, but now some of what I pin on there has an affiliate link. That means if you shop from my boards on Pinterest, I may earn a commission. Yep, Pinterest allows affiliate links and it’s a great place to make affiliate sales. If that’s something you want to get into you might like this ebook How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale in 24 Hours Using Pinterest.

Learn how to make money from affiliate sales on Pinterest.

Write keyword heavy descriptions for your pins

Make sure that when you post pins linking to your blog that you write a longer keyword-heavy description to help browsers find them. Pinterest recently made a move to stop showing full descriptions on Pins when your browsing (you can still see them when you click or tap on a Pin). But descriptions are still really important for search reasons. Pinterest is a search engine, so use your SEO wisely. A great description is one of the most important aspects of creating a perfect, click-worthy Pin.

Put your description where it matters

It’s worth including that description in your alt description when you upload images to your blog, because that’s what will automatically attach itself to that image when people Pin directly from your site.

Brand your images

Make sure your images are branded with your blog name, url or logo, so if they are reused or saved somewhere else, without the live link, people still know where to look for the information on the image. Use your brand colors and fonts, too. It helps your blog readers and followers recognize your images on Pinterest.

You can actually buy in brand able, customizable Pin templates. Just be careful to check what format they are. If they’re PSD files, you’ll need PhotoShop to edit them. I love these easy-to-edit templates, and they’re less than $10. You can edit them in the free version of Canva and I find they save me a TON of time.

Pin templates editable in Canva

Join some group boards

There are so many, for every niche. Contact the owners of group boards in your niche and ask to join. Then play nice. Support other group members by liking and repining, follow any rules or guidelines, and don’t spam. Find a list of my top 20 (+) group boards for bloggers here.

Consider automation

I always caution against too much automation on any social media platform, but a little is OK, and Pinterest lends itself to it more than most, so consider using a scheduling tool such as Buffer, Boardbooster or Tailwind.

Make it easy for people to pin your images

Make sure that people who want to pin your blog images can do so easily. I use the free plugin Sumo to both include pin buttons on every image and to create those floating side buttons to make sharing on all social media easier.

Give people something to browse

People don’t want to land on a Pinterest account with just one or two boards. Aim for at least twenty well titled, relevant boards. Make sure the titles and descriptions make it clear what people can expect if they click (and don’t forget to include relevant keywords in there for search purposes too).

Post infographics

Infographics (like this one, this and this) do really well on Pinterest. Create your own infographics on Canva or repost infographics you find around the web to your site, and then pin to relevant boards.

Keep your boards up to date

This one is ongoing for me, because I have a lot of boards and pins. I’m slowly going back and updating all my pins with keyword rich descriptions. Not to mention deleting old, duplicate, irrelevant or unpopular pins (those that haven’t been saved or liked much). I’m also deleting anything with broken links. It’s a lot of work but hopefully it will pay off when all my pins are updated.

Create templates

You can create image templates in Canva to help you make new Pinterest images easily. Then you can just add new details (blog title, content upgrade, etc) and resave them as a new image. They’ll all be stored in your Canva account, even if you only use the free version.

Pin regularly

As with any social media platform you’ve got to be there to reap the benefits. People who are using automation are often pinning dozens or even hundreds of times a day. That’s probably not even possible if you’re not using schedulers, but don’t leave your account to rot for weeks with no activity either.

Repin your own pins straight away

After pinning your blog posts, click the ‘see it now’ button and save it to all relevant boards, including any relevant group boards.

Make images with Pinterest in mind

The perfect pinnable image is big and bold, portrait, with a great title, and descriptive subtitle, right there on the image. If you are offering your opt-in or a content upgrade in the blog post that the Pin will link to, include a ‘free gift inside’ badge, or similar. If Pinterest continues to hide descriptions when people are browsing, it will become even more important to convey information about the page the Pin links to, right there on the image.

Pin your products

Sounds crazy but some people don’t remember to pin attractive pictures of what they’re actually selling, or they only do it occasionally. People often use Pinterest to shop, or research buying decisions, so make sure they can find your products on there, and click straight through to your sales page.

Pin other people’s products too

As I mentioned above, you can now post affiliate links directly on Pinterest. That means it’s worth pinning beautiful products your followers might like (and include a keyword rich description, because, as we’ve said already, Pinterest is a search engine, and you want non-followers to find these pins too). Check out the ebook I mentioned above if you want to try affiliate marketing on Pinterest.

Update: My traffic from Pinterest has exploded since I signed up for Pindepth Advanced. It includes four hours of video training, actionable workbooks, a private Facebook group, and a ton of bonuses (including two bonus courses, Content That Converts and The Subscriber Rush). Plus, you get lifetime access. Every time Pinterest rolls out new stuff, more information is added to the course, so you’re constantly updated. Check out the details here.

 

Happy pinning, guys, and don’t forget to connect with me on Pinterest. And sign up to get your free printable workbook and other goodies to help you run your online biz.

 

Save

24 thoughts on “20 Quick Pinterest Marketing Tips

    1. I’m a big fan of focusing on one social media channel at a time and learning the ins and outs. If you’re not ready to spend a lot of time on Pinterest yet, save this post for when you are. I find you progress a lot quicker with social media marketing if you build each platform right when you’re ready to spend a bit of time on it.
      Karen recently posted…Five Free Tools I’ve Used To Improve My BlogMy Profile

  1. I must confess that I’m a bit addicted to Pinterest. My favorite tools are ViralTag (for scheduling), Social Warfare Plugin (for my blog) and Viral Content Bee (for getting shares). Have you tried any of those? I know you’ll love them.
    Thanks for the tips Karen!

  2. This is a gem! I have just started creating large pinnable images and receiving my first trickles of traffic from Pinterest. I am greatly encouraged so I am looking to “rev” it up. This post is the perfect blueprint that I need. Thanks for the info!

  3. Good post. Pinterest can be a very big source of traffic to any blog if utilized well. Your post clearly gives details on how to do this. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Yes, yes, yes! I love this post! Thank you Karen!! Pinterest has provided SO much traffic for my blog! Every blogger need to understand the importance of pinterest marketing. One more insightful blog I found today. pinterest marketing tips
    Everyone should read this blog too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.