How to Use Pinterest for More Exposure

Pinterest is quickly becoming a staple amongst social media marketers as they wrestle their ways through the complex (and often convoluted) world of content marketing. With recent studies depicting the popularity of visual content over plain, conventional copy, opting to use a variety of social media platforms is a great way to increase engagement and drive site traffic.
In this article we discuss the best ways to use the social giant to gain more exposure for your business.

1. Be Smart with Your Pins

Like all aspects of content marketing, it’s important to deliver high quality, original images that will spark a reaction from the audience. Information can be processed quickly when it’s seen as an image or infographic and that’s why Pinterest works so well for retaining interested followers.
One of the biggest mistakes that marketers make on Pinterest is neglecting to redirect the source of a pin back to their own site. Something as simple as editing the URL on the pin will give you the opportunity to grow not only your main homepage but your blog. Don’t forget to edit other aspects of your pin such as the description and if your source if applicable. A pin without a relevant description and a dowsing of keywords is least likely to be repinned and ultimately found by those searching.

2. Building a Following

Social media has become a useful tool for businesses to interact directly with their followers but before you can engage you must build that following. It takes time and dedication to build relationships with people who share your interests. If you’re new to the whole Pinterest thing, why not promote your account via other social media channels or emailing list? Adding a Pin It button to your site will encourage more pins from your site and improve social sharing on your blog. Doing this is critical if you are looking to target people with access to mobile devices as you are unable to hover over an image to pin it on your smartphone.

3. What is the Pinterest Smart Feed?

The Pinterest Smart Feed is an algorithm that’s been developed based on the quality of the pinned image, source (whether blog or website) and relevance. These factors are measured based on the number of Pinterest users who link to that specific source. It is important to say that popular sources and high quality images are also given preferential treatment on Pinterest’s main news feed. A site is considered credible if it generates a lot of pins and will get boosted in the feed.

4. Using Group Boards

Group boards are a brilliant tool for collaboration and bringing people together. Currently there is no single directory for group boards so it is important to search for a group icon to distinguish between them. Collaborating with your employees or co-workers can help to enhance a specific project, it is also ideal for sharing industry tips and training resources. A brilliant feature of the Pinterest boards is the ability to make it secret (only available for selected people) so it is still possible to keep information under wraps.
Creating group boards can have real benefits for your brand as well as your business. One sneaky feature of these boards is that users select to ‘follow all’ of a contributor’s boards they will automatically be added as a group board follower, dramatically boosting your own follower numbers. This increased exposure will increase your follower growth at a faster rate.
The followers you gain through these boards will aid to your engagement levels. Your content is more likely to be seen and repinned and, in turn, there will be more click-throughs and traffic to your main site with the potential for more subscribers and customers. Your followers may already be commenting and sharing your content with their own followers on Pinterest and by inviting them to pin to your board you will be able to build relationships. These followers also act as brand ambassadors and a promotion for your business.

To Wrap Up…

If you choose to believe it or not, Pinterest is all about content and whether you’re trying to gain more of an online reputation or increase brand awareness, the only way you’re going to achieve this is through curating compelling, relevant content. Taking advantage of the tools available to businesses on Pinterest will ultimately help expand your reach whilst driving traffic to your main website.

Do you use Pinterest to expand your business’ reach? Do you have any tips to gain more exposure? Please leave your comments below…