Pinterest PR Primer

The hottest tool to hit the social media scene is Pinterest, a digital bulletin board of sorts where users post theme-based image and video collections.  It connects everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting.  It’s fun, easy, visually appealing and highly interactive.  And it’s catching on like wildfire!

Pinterest has nearly five million users, and is rapidly growing. Nearly 1.5 million unique users visit Pinterest daily, spending an average of 15 minutes a day on the site. While the primary users are currently women who post lifestyle-based vision boards, some brands are beginning to use Pinterest as a heavy-hitting marketing tool.

How can your company use Pinterest?   Here’s a short PR primer to get you started:

  • Create a Pinterest account – don’t forget to include a photo, your company’s website address and a brief  description in the “About” section.
  • Create a variety of boards.  Remember, the more creative and interesting your board names, the better.
  • Connect your Pinterest account  to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  This is a great way to attract followers.
  • Post a Pin It bookmarklet on your website and social media channels.
  • Pin lots of stuff.  It’s better to do it in spurts to maximize your exposure and engagement.
  • Attract followers.  Pin visually interesting images, follow others, comment on other posters’ pins, “like” others’ pins, and invite your Facebook fans to follow you on Pinterest.
  • Variety is important so pin for a variety of sources. Make your collages interesting.
  • Occasionally pin your own blog posts and media coverage but be careful not to over-promote.
  • Check out the “popular” section to see what is trending.  This might give your organization some ideas for new content, new blogs posts and more.
  • Don’t forget to pin videos!  Especially if you organization already has some vids posted online. You might as well leverage what you have and create some additional back-linking to your video content.
  • Pinterest has an “embed” feature. Feel free to use it in your blog posts but don’t forget to tell your visitors to click on the image so that they are taken to the board where they can find similar content.
  • Add a Pin It! Button to the bottom of your blog posts so that readers can share your post quickly and easily.
  • Create a board that tells the story of your company and communicates your core values.
  • Upload fun and interesting photos of your company.  Stay away from stuffy, corporate, boring grip-and-grin shots please.

The above tips provide a basic foundation for you to get going.  It sounds like more work than it is! Pinterest is highly addictive and a great way to engage with new audiences. If you haven’t given it a shot, try it out for a while and let me know what you think.

Here’s my Pinterest: Maria Loscerbo Boards and Pins.

And here are seven ways to promote your business on Pinterest by Jeff Bullas