Introduction

If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “Should my business be on Pinterest?” then I would recommend you hold off on this article and read the first article in the series, 8 Reasons You Should Start Using Pinterest For Business Right This Second. Also check out BUX Podcast 81: Pinterest Demystified for Dudes.

If you need help setting up your Pinterest account initially, check out the Social Media Examiner’s article. Pinterest Business Accounts: The Definitive Guide to Getting Started.

Now, if you are ready to start using Pinterest for your business, this article will get you started out on the right foot.

Ready?….Set?…..PIN!

How your business should be using Pinterest

Just like any social media platform, it will not serve your business at all, in fact it can harm your business, to create a profile that is not maintained and updated regularly with content that your target audience will find interesting, worth their time and (hopefully) their money.

1. Set the Playing Field

Set up your profile

Create a descriptive and thoughtful profile that describes your company and its mission. Remember to speak the user’s language.

Add a “Pin it” button or “Follow on Pinterest” botton on you site

Doing this makes it easy for your fans, followers, customers, clients to follow you and share your content. You can find this on the Pinterest “Goodies” page.

Download the Pinterest App to make sharing content easy and convenient.

You never know when you’ll need to pin something while you are on the go.

A sweet infographic on getting started.

 

2. Set Goals

Any business or marketing strategy is not complete without goals. Just like a website, social media platforms like Pinterest are business tools that can be used as a medium to reach your target audience and achieve business goals. And just like any business tool, it is essential to set goals for it. So before you start pinning and repinning and counting your followers, decide what you want to get out of Pinterest.

Here are some ideas for goals to get your wheels turning. It’s always best to have SMART goals that are time specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and timely.

Increase referral traffic from Pinterest by 20% by December 1, 2013

Tools: Google Analytics, Reachli, Pinfluencer

Measure by: number of referrals, increase in referral traffic visits

Increase brand awareness by 25% by December 1, 2013

Tools: Pinreach, Reachli, Curalate, Octopin

Measure by: Number of followers, number of repins, number of likes, a Pinterest Analytics score value, or by an increase of any of these numbers.

Goals are imperative to your Pinterest social marketing strategy. Remember, you can’t measure until you set objectives.

3. Measure Your Goals/ Track Campaign Effectiveness

Now that you have goals, you can start tracking and measuring your progress ability to achieve those goals. Your metric will change depending on your business goals and the goals of each campaign. There are many tools available that will help you track a campaigns effectiveness.

Pinreach, Reachli, Curalate, Octopin, Google Analytics, Pinfluencer

4. Know Your Audience

Before you can know what to pin on your Pinterest profile, you need to be knowledgeable about who your customer or audience is.

Who is your customer? What are they interested in? How do they like to receive content? Video, photo, text, infographic? Who do they follow?

Find yourself asking?

What do I pin on my businesses Pinterest page?

So while it’s very easy to fill a board with re-pins, ultimately the fastest way to increase your followership is by pinning new and interesting items. Think about what your customers would be interested in; informative, relavent, interesting, original content…

• Images of your product
• Photos of your work place culture and employees- make it personal
• Infographics
• Blog posts & resources
• Videos
• Customer testimonials
• Case studies

5. Follow the 10 Commandments

This infographic is full of great ideas of ways to use your Pinterest profile to generate leads and grow your online presence.

Conclusion

Creating a presence for your business on a social media network is not to be take lightly. It takes a well-thought out strategy, monitoring of the strategie’s objectives and new and shared content on a regular basis (4-5 times a week at a very minimun) to ensure your efforts are worthwhile and producing results. If you would like to see how specific businesses have used Pinterest to achieve their business goals, check out these case studies.