Pinterest is the hot, new social media site that relies on images to attract users. Anyone can set up an account on Pinterest and set up their own “boards,” like bulletin boards and then begin “pinning” images tot those boards. The visual appeal of the site is making it one of the fastest growing media sites since Facebook and Twitter.
Setting Yup Your Account
You need to be invited by someone who already has a Pinterest account as the site is still in Beta. Once you are in, you need to create an account. When you create your account for your business, choose to make it public so the search engines can search it.
The next step is to create an “About” section that is interesting and informative. Load your description with keywords pertaining to your company and its business. Include your location including your city and state. Don’t forget to include your company website URL. As the last part of your basic account set up, link you Pinterest account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Now you are ready to create your boards. Create one about your location, such as your city. Post pictures here about the city for visual variety and familiarity.
Next, set up a board with the name of your company and post pictures that relate to your business. You can expand on this if you want to have separate boards for categories of products or services.
Tips on Using the Boards
Users of Pinterest can interact with your boards in a variety of ways. They can “like” the images you’ve pinned. They can comment on them and share them. They can even choose to follow one or all of your boards.
Likewise, you should follow the boards of Pinterest users in your location and those of users with boards related to your business. As with other social media sites, many people will follow you back just because you’ve followed them.
Success with this media relies on high-quality images. They should be attractive and relevant to the market you are trying to appeal to. The better the quality of the pictures, the better the reaction to them will be. Describe each picture with keyword-rich text, especially those pinned to your local board.
In order to appeal to your local market, be sure to post pictures of local interest unrelated to your business. This suggests local community interest and appeals to local users. Local landmarks, historical places and other points of public pride are good images for this purpose. As you view the posts of other Pinterest users, be sure to show your approval of their photos by clicking the like button.
Pinterest can be a great way to get your company’s logo or out and shared with others. You can also link to any Flickr URLS you have to help boost your Flickr rankings too.
There are so many ways to put Pinterest to work for your business and by using images, you can create a mosaic that really speaks to people.