If you don’t have a Pinterest account yet, you are behind on the times. More than seven million people have signed up for this social network, and it isn’t just people who like sharing pretty pictures. Both blogs and businesses have been jumping on board to use it for the powerful marketing and community building tool it is.
Doing the same starts with requesting your invite and setting up your Pinterest profile. From there you can use the boards to generate a fantastic community building set of photos that can be shared through repinning or on other networks.
Here are a handful of ways that you can make the process more simple:
1. Have Plenty Of Product Boards
This seems like it should be a given, but I have been seeing a number of Pinterest accounts that only have one product board full of cluttered photos of different items. It is better to have multiple boards separated by genre. For example, if you were a beauty oriented company you could put your hair styling products on one board, hair dyes on another, makeup and skin care in others, and nail nails in their own. It makes it easier for people to go through your pictures, while making it possible to include more pictures without appearing messy and lazy.
2. Have Plenty Of Customer Boards
The fastest way to foster community is by engaging with customers. On Pinterest, this means pinning other people’s images, not just your own. If you find anything that has relevance with your company, pin it to different boards. It will get their attention, as well as those of their followers.
3. Pin Blog Posts
If you have a blog, you can actually pin the blog posts themselves that are linked to images. This is a great way of promoting new posts and getting increased traffic at your site. Plus, it creates a highly shareable format. Just make sure it has its own board, so that the posts don’t get lost among the regular images.
4. Host Contests
Another quick tip for user engagement is by having a contest. For example, ask customers to pin pics of them using your products. The winner can get both a prize and a special pin to the winners board on your profile. This is an easy way to generate customer loyalty and promoting your product.
5. Show Industry Items
I have been seeing this a lot when it comes to designers or internet marketers. They post boards with things like search and social media infographics, typography examples, website layouts and similar items specific to their industry. This gains them a lot of attention, with follower numbers on these boards entering easily into the tens of thousands. You can get the same results with peripheral topics that could be related, such as designers showing photography or illustrations they enjoy.
6. Provide A Portfolio
If you are a freelancer instead of a business, or a studio that is based on projects, you can create a portfolio on a board. Pin photos of your better project results and update it periodically. It is a quick and efficient way to show what you can do and potentially score new clients.
Conclusion
It doesn’t take a whole lot to start building a community on Pinterest. Because the very nature of the site is sharing, you just have to pin something worth repeating. Keep your content quality high, engage with your customers and you will be on the way to building brand loyalty.
Image Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
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