Thinking of starting Pinterest for business? Well before you begin, it’s worth thinking through your content strategy to improve your chances for success. Sure you can just pin any old product shots or images from your mobile phone, but to be effective you need to think about your audience: how you can be useful, how is the content enticing to find out more and what problems are you solving so that people go back to your website for more information.
One of the most compelling sessions at Pro blogger 2015 was conducted by Ruth Soukup who has the blog Living Well Planner. With phenomenal growth to her traffic by using Pinterest, she highlighted the secrets to the composition of the perfect pin. It’s not rocket-science, but success on this platform does require you to invest some time. We learnt a lot from her insights and experience, so her key suggestions are summarised below and take a look at her Pinterest boards for some great examples of perfect Pins.
Here are the top 3 considerations for the perfect Pinterest Pin:
- Fantastic Content
Consumers are using Pinterest to help them find content that’s relevant. Help the reader solve a problem – if the content helps the user find what they are looking for they are more likely to immediately click and explore. For example, rather than just posting about your accommodation, maybe add some commentary around pins about how it might be a great family escape, or the ideal place for a weekend away. Or if you’re in the tourism business, think about the content to help create some solutions of why you might be a great place to visit rather than just talking about yourself and the commentary around the image.
- Eye Catching Photos and Graphics
Invest in some good visual content and this could be as simple as thinking about the composition of the photos you are creating and sharing. If you’re not a talented photographer, leverage some of the image sourcing sites like Dollar Photo Club, Istock Photo or Lightstock.
Make your photos stand out and potentially crop the images for more visual impact. The ideal size for pins is 735px w x 1102px h. The visuals are what will come up in the feed of people who are following you, and with thousands of pins created, those which stand out and are relevant are the ones that are most likely to be engaged with.
- Use a Compelling Description
Think about creating a conversation in your description – not just “nice shot of our winery or beautiful photo of our restaurant”. Think about how you can leverage the wording to get people to act and discover more.
Pinterest recently shared some tips on what Pinners are looking for in 2016. It’s worth reviewing what content people are engaging with most to factor into your plans. And don’t forget to leverage visual tools like Canva to help easily create the right size pins and utilize their design functionality. If you’ve not yet discovered Canva, read why we love this tool and how to use here.
