“Stick it!” – with Pinterest

By: Luis Borba

Pinterest is quickly becoming a content curator’s paradise for sharing images ranging from architecture to weddings and everything in-between.

Pinterest has over 11 million registered users, 28 million daily visitors, and it ranks as the 62nd most visited website. It drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined. Not bad for a two year old company.

As with every new social media service, the question on peoples’ minds is: How can I use Pinterest to market my brand?

Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Profile Names: Pinterest profile names are being snapped up at a rapid rate. Even if there are no immediate plans to use it, claim your name before someone else does. Starbucks did this, Zappos didn’t.

Content Strategy: Devise content strategies around image transfer, visual concepts, or pinboards and decide what types of content (Pins) to publish to them. Create a diverse selection of boards to broaden Pinterest user appeal. Home Depot has pinboards dedicated to colour trends and indoor and outdoor living, just to name a few.

Pins require descriptions, so use keywords that are likely to be searched with a hashtag. The right keywords will make it easier for users to find your Pinterest profile.

Sharing Tools: Include the Pin It button on your website and blog alongside the social staples: Like, Tweet, and +1. This will work for websites with lots of images. If images are lacking, look at acquiring some photos, illustrations and infographics that help tell your story.

Final Thoughts: YouTube enabled brands to showcase their products and services through direct-to-consumer-broadcasting; it also enabled everyday people to become video journalists and broadcast their own thoughts, reviews and insights.

Pinterest is doing the same with their interest-based image sharing platform by allowing everyday people to display lifestyle associations and brand affiliations to others within their social circles. It’s simple, fast and easy to make a thousand words stand out with a single “stick it”.

It’s another great promotional tool with explosive growth, and it should be considered in a digital marketing strategy. Working with an agency with wit and insight that provides a social media content strategy will help realize your digital marketing objectives and goals. It’s a joint effort. It’s about people creating content for people.

See Also: "Twitter and Facebook: The Tag Teams of Online Marketing"