One of the most winning aspects of the Pinterest platform is its extreme user friendliness. The learning curve is nearly flat, allowing users to be up and pinning in no time. Pinning for yourself is easy, fun and addictive. But pinning for a business or brand is a bit more complicated than the “pin what you like” strategy that dominates the personal use model.
Here are some tips for getting organized when it comes to pinning for a brand or business.
1. Create a Pin Board Outline
This is a basic first step that organizes the different categories you’ll use to place your pins. Take a look at the content you know you initially want to pin. There should be a mix of product/service dedicated boards that come directly from your brand’s website, catalog, etc., as well as boards that combine your brand and products with a larger lifestyle vision. Spend time thinking about your target audience and what kinds of lifestyles they aspire to, then be sure that your products or services can be integrally tied to these aspirations within the boards.
1 a) Create a Pin Order
Unlike the organic pinning you may be used to doing for yourself, creating a brand or product board requires extra thought when it comes to pin order. Think of it like a catalogue or magazine spread: you want to think about the content you want most visible and plan your layout accordingly. On a product board, you want to be especially sure that you are pinning images in a way that makes sense, allows for you to add more pins later, and places the most important products closer to the top of the board where they are more likely to be seen at a glance. Remember the first pin you place on a board will ultimately be the last pin that displays, so be sure to think through your pin order before you start to pin.
Here is a sample spreadsheet that I use to organize my pins and get the flow of my product boards just right.
2. Make Sure Your Own Content is Pin Optimized
There are minimum pin sizes and certain formats that are not pinable (hello flash). If you are already thinking about search optimization you’ve probably already completed many of these steps. However, you may need to spend a little extra time making sure you are happy with how the images on your website will display on Pinterest. This is also a good time to add the “Pin It” button to your site.
3. Adding Pins
Once you’ve completed your basic build and have content seeded on your pinboards, it’s time to maintain your boards and build your presence. To be successful on the platform, you need to go far beyond uploading your own content. You need to spend time discovering fresh new content and sharing it with your audience. Decide whether you are comfortable sharing content from beyond your online presence and what kind of content you are going to associate yourself with on the platform to achieve your brand goals.
4. Engage With The Community
It’s not all about pinning. Just like any good social network, Pinterest is about connecting with other users. Take time to conduct regular searches for your brand within Pinterest and spend time engaging with the people who have shared your content. Perhaps repin something from one of their boards. Be responsive to comments left on your own pins where appropriate and monitor the conversations that are happening about your brand throughout Pinterest.
5. Don’t Let Strategy Overtake Inspiration
Pinterest is a community driven by inspiration, its users seek it out and soak it up at an astonishing rate and in many forms. So for all the thought you put into planning your boards, creating your pin order, ongoing maintenance and user engagement, be sure not to lose site of your own inspiration. Spend time finding content that evokes an emotional response in you and tap into the things that inspire you to work with the brands you do. Find creative ways to communicate those things that are inspiring to you and that will translate into a contribution of authentic and powerful content in the space that will attract followers and promote organic sharing.
