Posted by Although Pinterest is usually taken to be a social networking platform, it runs along the lines of an optimized search engine. In particular, a visual kind of search engine, providing users with a visual platform that displays aesthetic pictures and videos known as ‘pins’. Did you know Pinterest means ‘pin your interest’? Pinterest is more or less a kind of mood board for users with their interest, be it DIY projects, art, or others.
And the numbers are looking good for Pinterest, with more than 300 million users and roughly 2 billion searches (monthly). This makes it a goldmine for businesses that uses visual aspects to relay their business, whether it’s original graphics, photography, or any other. About 55% of users specifically utilize the platform to look for pictures of new products.
Having such an active and vast audience, Pinterest presents itself as a platform capable of sprouting fruitful marketing opportunities for businesses through viral content. But, while the process is quite straightforward, one still needs to understand it and stay dedicated in order to succeed. This blog shows you how to mark out a successful marketing strategy, so, let’s get right to it! Let’s start with the algorithm of Pinterest.
Understanding Pinterest Algorithm
To develop a marketing strategy on Pinterest, you must first understand the structures and methods involved, known as Pinterest algorithm. Here are 4 algorithm factors that influence ranking:
- Quality of the Domain: In short, this is the evaluation of the user or ‘pinners’ website. What this means is, Pinterest emphasizes pins related to domains that are higher in quality to ensure a more positive experience. This domain is qualified in 2 ways – the first is how often contents are directly pinned from a given website while the second is site speed.
- Quality of the Pin: This is directly influenced by the performance of pins based on engagement – it includes the number of inclicks, saves, click-throughs, comments, and more. Since multiple pin locations and versions exist, Pinterest records the engagement across every version for determining the quality of the pin.
- Quality of the Pinner: It means evaluating the user account that creates and post pins. By looking at frequent or consistent contributions and their overall content performance, Pinterest assesses ‘pinners’ as content creators. Hence, more frequent and engaging content means a higher quality of the pinner.
- Relevance: This depends on the content alignment of the pinner with the audience’s needs, interests, and recent or specific searches. The more relevant the content is to the audience, the higher it’s ranking.
Optimizing Your Account
Keeping in mind the Pinterest algorithm, let’s have a look at how you can optimize an account better to garner a successful audience.
1. Profile Branding
The first step for an online presence in any media platform is profile branding. You also have to make sure you are creating a strictly Pinterest business account; one that will provide access to rich pins, analytics, and more. After this, you must brand your profile to make it easily recognizable and synonymous with your company. Here’s how you can get started with the profile.
- Choose a cover boar
- Select up to 5 showcase boards
- Upload a profile photo
- Write your bio
- Brand your board covers
Lastly, get your website verified. This is how you’ll get access to analytics concerning your website and activate features that will get your link information shared.
2. Pinterest Keyword Research
Just like Google, Pinterest also relies heavily on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for ranking results and to be found. Hence, Pinterest SEO is what controls the majority of pin engagement and discovery.
This is where keywords come in as it is a major part of SEO. The first thing to do is to execute Pinterest keyword research. For this, you can make use of keyword generating programs but the most effective is to conduct it within the platform. And there are few ways to how you can gather the keywords.
The first method is to type in on the search bar and it’ll auto-suggest phrases that are commonly searched as seen in the image down below.
After completing the search, a succession of words will appear under the search bar to move along with the search inquiry. These are the keywords frequented by users for refined searches to get improved results.
Another method is using Pinterest Ads Manager. Although meant for creating and tracking Pinterest advertising, it can even be used for keyword research. It is considered a much more beneficial method as it provides an estimation of the search volume rather than just keyword examples as other methods do.
3. Optimizing Content Strategy
Make up your mind on types of content you’ll be sharing on the platform. Now, there’s a lot of different content on Pinterest that performs well, so, let’s have a look at some of the popular ones!
Product pins
If you’re dealing with an online store or a retailer type of business then consider turning your product photos into pins. As a huge visual platform, people love browsing for products whether it’s clothing, home décor, food, or others. 72 % of pinners get inspired to shop through product pins.
Blog post graphics
This is another pin type that’s great for promoting articles published on your website. Make sure the pins are well-designed with appealing graphics or photos followed by bold text that pinners can read easily. This makes the pin stand out more as they scroll through the feed.
Infographic pins
Sharing valuable information through infographics is another great way for promoting any business. It can house graphic organizers, data visualizations, and more for convening data as well as other content visually more engagingly and openly.
4. Implementing Hashtags
While it is relatively new with a slower momentum in Pinterest, hashtags continue to be a beneficial exploration and search form that can be easily incorporated into a marketing strategy. A trick to finding relevant or popular hashtags is by using the same process as one would use while searching for keywords as mentioned earlier in the blog.
The search bar can also be utilized to explore the hashtag in order to look for pins with the same hashtag. Then, you can inclick those pins to check out other hashtags used by the pinner. When you’re incorporating hashtags, make sure you’re using around 3 to 5 – the lesser the better.
5. Joining Community Boards
Another great strategy on getting your content out to a bigger audience is joining or creating community/group boards on Pinterest. As it permits users to include and invite others for board contribution, it’s a great way of getting your content recognized especially with brand new audiences.
Once you’re well-versed with the concept, you can look for prominent pinners within your niche and check whether they have relevant group boards. A lot of users often include rules or an application link for other pinners to join within a particular board description. So, be patient and take a look around.
Usually, an email to the owner or filling up a contact form and giving their account a follow will add you to the board. Just remember to stay active within the board once you join by pinning your content as well as curating other content.
Pinterest as a unique platform is currently thriving by catering to the many needs of people through visual taste and representation. It has increased marketing opportunities and greater conversion potential alongside other social media platform marketing. As a space that’s generating high search volume, purchases, and inspirations, all that’s needed in the end is a well-planned marketing strategy.