How Pinterest Marketing Differs Compared to Other Social Media Platforms

Social media marketing on Twitter and Facebook has proven to be very successful and even necessary for many brands and companies. However, Pinterest has been somewhat of an enigma when it comes to proper online marketing tactics. Unlike other social media networks, Pinterest is much more than just a social sharing spot; it is also one of the largest search engines on the web.

Pinterest for Business is the only way to unlock all the features that the platform has to offer. Through a business page, you can access analytics, manage a campaign, run promotions, and more.

So what makes Pinterest marketing so important? For starters, pins on the site are far more shareable than a post on any other social media platform. In fact, they’re 100x more spreadable than an average tweet since visual content is shared far more than text. An average pin on Pinterest leads to about six pageviews and two site visits.

With over 700 million users and 500,000 brands on Pinterest, creating shareable content to break through the noise can prove to be a challenge. Here are a few tips on creating a successful Pinterest marketing strategy:

1. Implement rich pins

Rich pins garner about 2x more engagement than regular pins. There are 5 different kinds of rich pins that a business can apply for: Article, product, recipe, movie, and place. The most popular of these is the product pin. These information-rich pins provide real-time pricing and inventory to your pins. It also allows your audience to buy directly from the pin.

2. Have keywords in your descriptions, not a “salesy” call-to-action

Instead of blasting your followers with your latest sales promo, share lifestyle images with a quick quip about how they can achieve that lifestyle with your brand and products. Replace your CTA with a CTP (Call-to-pin) by adding something like “Repin to your own board”. Research varies on how long these descriptions should be. For some, shorter is better and others argue that between 150-300 words is best. Run tests to figure out what garners the best response from your audience.

3. Keep hashtags to Twitter and Facebook

Social media users generally head to Facebook or Twitter to search a trending hashtag and read the latest buzz. Hashtags are a way of search on other social media networks and therefore do not work as well on Pinterest since the site is a search engine within itself. Hashtags on Pinterest have been proven to be confusing and ineffective on pinners. Pinterest marketing professionals suggest staying away from hashtags all together with the most being a hashtag of your brand’s name.

4. Collaborate with Influencers

Grab attention and earn name recognition by posting in popular community boards. Pingroupie, a Pinterest board directory, is a great way to search for popular boards in your realm. It provides the board’s type, contributors, amount of followers, and more. Collaborating with influencers could not only promote your brand but help you establish a lifestyle which is a necessity on Pinterest. You can also grab an influencer’s attention by simply tagging them on some of your pins.

5. Run tests to find out what works best for you

While there is research out there for Pinterest marketing, many tests have proven to be inconclusive or results have been uncorrelated. The best thing to do is to perform your own A/B and multivariate tests to see what works for your brand and your audience. Utilize Pinterest analytics to find what pins have gained the most shares and engagement, and use those as a starting point.

AVX Digital is a Digital Marketing and SEO company in Dallas. We specialize in optimizing your online presence to bring in more website traffic and customers to your business and help generate excitement and brand awareness for your company. Contact us today to learn more about how we can work with you to help grow your business.