In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we talk to Erin Haynes about building your Pinterest following.
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Problem:
Are you a business owner or manager – who, during the course of your marketing strategy planning – determined that you wanted to engage with users on a few social media platforms, but nixed the idea of Pinterest because you’d heard it is predominantly used by women? And, relatedly, is your product or service geared primarily to men? OR to both men and women?
Well, we’ve got news for you…We’ve got the latest scoop on Pinterest users… Sit back and relax…you will want to hear this.
Solution:
It is true that traditionally, Pinterest was of greater interest and usage by women. In fact, according to comScore, 70% of Pinterest’s 100+-million active users are women.
But then, in 2014, the number of men on Pinterest spiked… in fact, in that year, it doubled! An article in Sproutsocial.com noted that Pinterest reported that the number of men in the U.S. who use this platform each month was greater than the combined total of men who read Sports Illustrated and GQ!
And also, Pinterest reported that fully one-third of new Pinterest sign-ups are now men.
That’s good news for those of you who have interest in the Pinterest platform but believed the demographics just weren’t a match.
Q&A:
Now that you may be reconsidering the Pinterest platform as a marketing venue, let’s talk. Today, Erin Haynes, our Marketing & Project Manager here at DirectiveGroup, who specializes in social media, has popped over to talk about how to engage Pinterest users and to grow your Pinterest following.
Q. Hi, Erin. Thanks for joining me. At a high level, can you tell us: what is Pinterest and what are some of the benefits for a business to engage?
A: Hi, Lisa. It’s very good to be here.
Basically, Pinterest is a digital pin board. It is a place where you can gather, categorize and share anything you find visually appealing.
As with all social networks, it gives business owners the ability to not only share their brand but to tell their story. It helps make the relationship between the business and potential prospects more personal and engaging. And, it is a superb way to showcase your products, services and expertise.
Though Pinterest has always utilized a more visual form of communication, it is morphing into a venue for text-based content, too – like blog articles.
You asked ‘what are some benefits for a business to engage with Pinterest.’ Let me share a few stats from Social Media Today that I think might answer that question:
* Depending on your reference source, Pinterest ranks as either the second or third largest social network.
* Both click-through and sales conversion rates are better with Pinterest than with either Twitter or Facebook.
* Pinterest users traditionally have an above-average disposable income.
* Shoppers referred to a website from Pinterest typically spend 10% more than those referred from other sources.
Q: Pretty powerful statistics, Erin. How can businesses achieve a good success rate on Pinterest?
A: With most social media platforms, increasing followers is the ultimate goal, but with Pinterest, it’s a little different. You want to increase the number of people who see your pins and who repin your content. There are quite a few ways to do that, but of course, one way is to increase your number of followers.
Q: (follow-up) Ok. So, one way to increase re-pins of our content is to have more people see your pins. And, one way to do that is to increase your followers. Do I have that right?
A: (follow-up) Yes. If you have more followers, it stands to reason that more people will click on your boards – which is a good thing. If they like your pin, they might comment on it and even re-pin to their board. Re-pinning is very good because it amplifies your pins to the re-pinner’s followers, and then hopefully the re-pinning will continue exponentially. If your pin is core content, it has the potential to continue on even after your campaign ends.
All of these actions will help drive your traffic, generate engagement and leads, and help to build your Pinterest brand – culminating in increased sales. Your ultimate goal. Does that make sense?
Q: Yes, that does make sense. Thanks for explaining that. Real quickly, ‘core content means that it is foundational content that won’t go out of style quickly … What are some surefire ways to gain more followers?
A: There are many, many methods to gain more followers, Lisa. There simply is not enough time today to touch on all of them. I will briefly list a few:
* Make it easy for people to find your brand page and convert them to followers by adding the Pinterest Follow Button to various prominent places on your website and blog.
* Similar, yet different, than the Follow Button, the Profile Widget is bigger and can display up to 30 of your latest pins. That may work better for you than the tiny Follow Button.
* Share third-party content. Gather articles that pertain to your audience and find an image to go with it. 80% of all Pinterest users re-pin, so in addition to your company’s content, you want to share posts you know your audience will find useful.
* Keeping in mind that leaving too many comments is considered spam, consider leaving a thoughtful comment on pins in the Popular section. Limit your comments to 2-3 each day.
* Along those same lines, contribute quality pins to popular boards. If those followers like your pins, they will start to follow you, too.
* By connecting your Pinterest account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, your friends, fans and followers will find you on Pinterest and become your follower there, too. And, you can also find and connect with friends found on those other channels.
Q: Wow! Business owners certainly do have a lot of options to make their Pinterest engagement a success! Thanks for sharing all those tips with us, Erin. And thanks so much for joining me today.
A: I just touched tip of the iceberg today. There are many more ways to increase followers on Pinterest. I suggest your listeners stay tuned to DirectiveGroup. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about Pinterest again.
Benefits:
Thanks Erin. So, now we know that although the number of followers may be a way to gauge success with other social media networks, with Pinterest, you want to have your followers spread (re-pin) your pins throughout the platform so that your reach will grow exponentially. The tips Erin shared today will help your brand gain a broader visibility with both men and women.
Always remember: to increase your followers and to increase your success, your content must be of value and worth engaging with and re-pinning.
We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @DirectiveGroup or on LinkedIn and be sure to share it with in your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing. Join us next time for more actionable marketing in minutes.
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