Using Pinterest is a great way to boost exposure for your business, but are you using Pinterest to its fullest? Here I give a few tips for you to utilize when optimizing Pinterest for your business.
Profile Picture and Cover Photo
The first thing a user sees when they click on your account is your Profile Picture. You want your picture to be a statement of your brand. People like to see a face to brands and businesses they are searching, but a logo also works great if it is clear and easy to read. Some ideas are as follows:
You'll notice that all of these logos are round. This is because on Pinterest, the profile picture is round. So if you decide to use your logo as your profile photo, if it isn't round, it will likely be cut off.
For your cover photo, this is where you can add some text overlay to highlight the best parts about your business. You can showcase a product you sell or your company's mission statement. You can use a shortened URL to guide Pinterest users to a specific product, perhaps a freebie. If you do add a URL to your cover photo, note that it isn't clickable. This is why a shortened URL or a simple one that's easy to read is so important, so that users can easily type it into their search browser.
The best dimensions for your Profile Picture is 165x165 pixels and the best dimensions for your Cover Photo is 800x450 pixels.
Profile Bio
When writing your bio in your profile, it is important to make it so that it's readable, not just key words. Users are much more likely to continue through your profile if they can easily understand what your account specializes in. Look at the following two examples.
craft, diy, moms, art ideas, children, homeschool, simple
Hi, I'm Janie and I specialize in easy crafts for busy moms to help engage their children throughout the day. You can find everything from independent art for your children to more guided activities depending on your time and needs, whether that be homeschool or just to keep your children engaged.
Do you see how both examples have the same keywords? But in the second example, it's readable and makes more sense. Just using keywords in a list form may seem like they will be found in more searches, but that's not the the case. Even in a profile bio that is written in paragraph form, the keywords used will show up in Pinterest searches. The main difference is that the second one is enjoyable to read.
Boards
Boards are used to organize each of your Pins into topics that make the most sense for users to find. Too broad and it can lead to overwhelm. Too narrow and you'll find that some boards are rarely used. A good number to look at is 10-20 boards that you use each week and then a few more that are pinned to less often. Having seasonal boards is also a great way to organize your Pins, even if they aren't pinned to every single week.
If you are a teacher and you specialize in products for other teachers, you might have boards of the following titles:
Language Arts - Math - Science - Art - Classroom Organization - Teacher Tools
Digital Resources - Kindergarten Resources - Winter Activities - Back to School
If you are a crafter who specializes in crochet you might have boards of the following titles:
5 Minute Crochet Patterns - Free Patterns - Clothing Patterns - Amigurumi - Winter Crochet
Crochet Blankets - Crochet Stitches - Crochet Basics - Favorite Crochet Hooks - Best Yarn
On each of your boards, you will also want to make sure that there is a description. This helps when users search on the platform as your Pins are more likely to show up when your board description matches what they are searching for. Similar to a profile description, don't make your board description a list of keywords. Let's look at two examples from the lists above.
Kindergarten Resources - This board is full of resources, activities, ideas, and lessons that you can use in your Kindergarten classroom. Help your students stay engaged and excited to learn with the Pins here.
Crochet Basics - If you're just starting crochet and need some help learning the basic stitches, abbreviations, and more for your project, then look no further. This board is full of Pins to guide you as you learn everything from a slip stitch to a half double crochet and more.
Keep your descriptions simple but descriptive enough so that someone knows exactly what they'll find on your board.
Pins
Here is the most important part of your account, the Pins! There are 3 main types of Pins. Fresh Pins, a new Pin design with a URL that hasn't been posted before. Old Pins, an old Pin that has been posted before (URL and Pin image). New Pin and Old URL, a URL that has been posted before but the Pin design is new and has not been posted before.
The ideal is a Fresh Pin as it's all new content. But there are times when an old Pin performs well and is relevant again so reposting it is great. Likewise, if you have a new blog post and create 5 different Pin designs for this one blog post, the very first Pin you post will be a Fresh Pin but the other 4 Pins will be considered a New Pin with an Old URL.
Once you've created and designed all these Pins, you have to decide where to Pin them, as in which board(s) are you going to Pin them to. I like to Pin each Pin I create to multiple boards. So that one new blog post will get 5 new Pins that are then shared to 3-5 boards, resulting in 15 to 25 Pins being posted over a period of time.
I use a Pin scheduler, such as Tailwind, to schedule out my Pins so that they aren't all posted the same day, as that can be overwhelming. This is just the basics, but ideally, you should aim to have your Pins scheduled to post out every few days, having each repeat Pin image being posted to a new board every 7 days or so.
Takeaways
Make sure your profile photo and cover photo showcase YOUR brand
Use a paragraph format for your bio, not a list
Create 10-20 boards to organize the various themes of your business and make sure each has a description in sentence form, not a list
Create Pins for your blog posts that showcase your brand colors/theme and post them to various boards for optimal exposure
Hopefully, these beginning steps are just what you need to get started. Naturally, there will be questions so feel free to ask if you need anything.
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