How to Leverage Pinterest for Your Online Store
Pinterest is a social media platform on the rise for online businesses. It boasts 135 million daily visitors, has more traffic than LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube combined, and is only second to Facebook in driving users to a company's website.
To encourage more companies to use its platform, Pinterest introduced business accounts with powerful analytics that track impressions, repins and clicks. Whether you are a Pinning master or just a newbie, we're showing you how to leverage Pinterest for your online store.
What is Pinterest?
According to Pinterest, they are "a visual discovery tool that you can use to find ideas for all your projects and interests." In laymen terms, it's a digital and social corkboard. Users (or in Pinterest speak, pinners) can collect (or pin) images onto curated web pages called boards. The social aspect comes into play when other pinners reuse those images by repining them onto their personal boards. Now that you've mastered the Pinterest language, the next step in leveraging Pinterest is with a great strategy.
Define your Audience and Message
The key to a successful strategy is knowing who you're talking to and what you are trying to say. Pinterest users generally fall within one of these demographics: female, 25+ years old and live in a suburban area. If your customers fall into one of these categories, you should already be on Pinterest. If you want to target that demographic, you should also start pinning.
Now that you know who you're talking to, figure out your message and how you want to deliver it. The power behind Pinterest is the ability to compile different images and ideas to convey a brand lifestyle. Be sure your voice, message, and overall content mirrors the lifestyle you promote.
6 Ecommerce Rules for Pinterest
Although you've set up your business Pinterest account, you're not quite ready to start pinning. First, we need to lay down some ground rules to maximize the effectiveness of your pins.
- Use relevant # to promote your pins.
- Create your boards with a combination of original pins and repins
- Pin at night, with peak pins at 9:00PM
- Select images that are long because they work best with Pinterest's layout.
- Allows customers to easily share your products with a Pinterest Share button.
- Stay active. Repin, comment, or simply like other Pinner's content to engage other pinners.
Original Content on Pinterest
Start creating your Pinterest business profile with this image size cheat sheet fromAuthorMedia.
- Profile images: 165 x 165 pixels (scaled from 600 X 600 pixels)
- Pins in feed: 238 pixels x adjusted to height
- Expanded pin size: 735 pixels x adjusted to height
- Cover image: 217 x 146 pixels
- Tiny thumbnails: 51 x 51 pixels
Next, brand original images with a watermark that includes your online shop's web address. Don't put it on everything, just on beautiful location shots featuring multiple products. When you pin product images from your website, always link them directly to the product for effortless shopping. Finally, write good descriptions – do not use product SKU's or files names like IMG_21231.
Ideas for Stunning Pinterest Boards
Get started with these 5 ideas and examples of Pinterest boards.
1. Products
Use a "Featured Products" or "What's new" board to keep customers updated about your products. Gretel Home, promotes their products with aNew at Gretel board.
2. Inspiration
What inspires you? Do you work with cool patterns or trendy muses? What Goes Around Comes Around NYC luxury goods reseller and they've curated some Vintage Luxury Ads to inspire their own photo shoots.
3. Color(s)
Pinterest is very visual so use that to your advantage by curating an entire Pinterest board dedicated to color. Choose one color, two complimentary colors, or even a rainbow. Check out Condura's Black & White board for some mod-inspiration
4. Collaboration
Ask customers to help contribute to your Pinterest boards.
5. Season or Holiday
Keep your pins current with seasons and holidays. As summer comes to an end, pin some ideas for last minute summer activities or look forward new accessories for fall. Last yearDonna Wilson, a merchant selling hand-knit goods, created a Christmas Gift Guide with the perfect gifts ideas for mum, dad and even your best friend.
Source: prestashop.com
