Pinterest for Traffic and Profit
As we have been talking a lot about graphics over the last few posts lets look at how you can maximise them to drive traffic and sales to your business.
We put quite a bit of time into producing these images so why not show them to the world and get better traction off them than just in your website.
You can use these images anywhere like Facebook, Linkedin, Stumble upon, Flikr and a relatively new program called Pinterest.
Pinterest is a free website that requires registration to use. Users can upload, save, sort, and manage images—known as pins—and other media content (e.g., videos and images) through collections known as pinboards.
Before you get started…
Before you even open your Pinterest account, there are a few questions you need to answer first:
Do you really know what Pinterest is? Take a few minutes to read this post, written by our social media manager, Erica Ayotte. It’s a good introduction to what Pinterest is all about.
Do you know why you’re getting started on Pinterest? You should always have some goal in mind when getting started on any social network. I’m not saying you need to have reports with projections for future growth, but you should at least have an answer when someone asks you why you’re signing up.
Do you know how to get around on Pinterest? It’s a good idea—before you start using Pinterest to market your business—to create a personal profile to help learn the ropes. Get familiar with the language (pin, repin, boards, etc.) and explore the different pages and features that Pinterest offers.
After you’ve answered those very important questions, you’re ready to get started building your presence on Pinterest. Here are 10 things you need to do to get started…
Read 10 Things You Need to Do When Getting Started on Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/
Other free ways to get Pinterest followers. For example:
YouLikeHits – service where you can earn credits when you follow other people and in return they can follow you and earn points.
LetUsFollow.com – basically same principle as the example above.
PinAuthority.com – PinAuthority tracks statistics of thousands of Pinterest users – in BETA when writing this.
Pinstamatic.com – Pinstamatic allows you to add locations, music, quotes, Twitter profiles, and websites to your Pinterest board. If you’ve ever wanted to promote a Twitter account, event, or even a song on Pinterest, Pinstamatic will give you the tools to do so. The site even has an automatic post-it generator that’s perfect for pinning clever quotes or lines from your blog posts.
Pinerly.com – Which of your posts hit it big on Pinterest? Which pins actually lead to a site visit? Answer all those questions (and more) with Pinerly. This tool serves as your Pinterest insights dashboard that allows you to keep track of the “repins” and “likes” that you’re content is getting. Pinerly even allows you to see how many click-throughs to your site each pin received.
Pinerly is still in invite-only mode, but you can leave your email address to score an invitation.
Pinalerts.com – Think of this tool as Google Alerts for Pinterest. PinAlerts gives you a heads-up via email whenever someone pins something from your site, ensuring that you never miss an opportunity to thank the people who pin your images.
As with Google Alerts, you are in charge of the frequency of your alert emails. Whether you wish to receive alerts as the pins happen, once a day, or once a week is completely up to you.
Pinreach.com – Can’t wait to get your hands on your Pinterest data? Maybe PinReach can do the trick. Similar to Pinerly, this website gives you an overview of how your account is doing.
You can immediately see which boards are the most popular and which pins are doing well. PinReach also assigns a PR score to your Pinterest account to give you an overview of how popular you are on the site. The higher your score, the better you’re doing.
Pinterest for your business free ebook
You can create a new board on Pinterest, you decide whether only you can pin to it or others can contribute as well. In most situations (especially if you’re new to Pinterest) a solo board makes the most sense. On the other hand, a group board offers many interesting possibilities, such as the following:
* Collaborating on work projects, such as sharing articles that offer tips on a specific industry or case studies that are relevant to the staff
* Planning a home renovation with your family and contractors, sharing things such as color schemes, sample rooms, DIY project articles, and room layouts that you like
* Promoting a joint cause or topic, sharing content that is relevant, such as statistics on the issue, ways to donate or volunteer, and stories of people helped by the cause
* Sharing seasonal or topical content, such as a holiday cookie board to collect and share recipes or a Mother’s Day board to share crafts for kids to make gifts
When you create a new board in Pinterest, you have a “Who can pin?” option. To create a group board, select Me + Contributors. You can add members either by their Pinterest member name or their e-mail address. If you start typing a member name in the text box, Pinterest automatically populates a list of possible matches, and you can select the right person from the list. Then just click the Add button next to the name.
Create a pinboard that other Pinterest users can post to.
To invite someone via e-mail, type or paste in e-mail addresses one at a time in the field that appears when you click Me + Contributors and then click Add.
Some people don’t like to be added to boards without being asked first, especially because the boards then appear on their own profiles. When in doubt, it’s best to check with people first before you add them to a group board.
