10 Top Pinterest Marketing Tips 2013

Completing our series on social media marketing updates for 2013, below you’ll find ten quick tips and tricks for that most visually appealing of social networks – Pinterest. From rich pins to influencers and infographics to ebooks, there’s something here for every content marketer.

1. Pinterest for Business | Create a Pinterest for Business account. You’ll have access to tools that make Pinterest all the more powerful for businesses, such as analytics and rich pins (new for 2013).
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2. Always use an image | Make sure content on your website or blog has an associated picture. This isn’t new for 2013, but is vital so bears repeating. No-one will be able to pin your content – including you – if Pinterest can’t find a picture. Don’t forget that it’s a platform geared toward sharing images.
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3. Use rich pins | New this year, these are pins but with additional rich content – pins of food pictures can have ingredients associated with them, and films can have showing times. Importantly, products and services can carry price tags. At the moment it’s slightly complicated to get rich pins working with your website, but it should be worthwhile if your Pinterest boards are getting some attention.
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4. Pin your ebooks | Create a board where you’ll post thumbnails of your ebooks and other downloadable resources. It’s up to you whether you post resources from other sources there too – we would recommend you do, keeping your own content to no more than 50% of all pins. Pinterest isn’t so much about self-promotion, and more about sharing among like-minded people. Don’t taut your own content too much – create a board with varied and interesting content that people will want to follow as a valuable resource in itself.
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5. Use product pins | There are actually three types of rich pin – product, recipe and movie pins. They differ somewhat in their enhancements. Perhaps the most interesting marketing-wise are product pins, which will automatically notify pinners when prices drop. In other words, when someone repins one of your product pins with a price tag, they will be notified of any pricing changes by Pinterest. A simple-but-powerful tool if used creatively.
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6. Keep an eye on Louise Myers | Follow designer and Pinterest enthusiast Louise Myers. She’s has some great boards which are very ‘now’, and really make full use of everything Pinterest has to offer. Pay attention to her Facebook, Twitter, blogging and of course, Pinterest marketing tips.
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7. Use the enhanced analytics | Pinterest recently increased the capabilities of its built-in analytics. Now you can see not only how many people are pinning your content, but also repins and popular pins. Here’s a good introductory video from Pinterest.
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8. Pin infographics | Taking further cues from Louise Myers (see Tip 5), pin infographics but keep them categorised within relevant boards. Pinterest and the infographic is a match made in marketing heaven.
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9. Check out some Pinterest case studies | To start you off, read up on some success stories direct from Pinterest. This list of Pinterest case studies should provide some inspiration for your own pin board efforts.
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10. Follow the Pinterest for Business blog | This is where Pinterest will make all the most relevant announcements for businesses, as well as regular tips and advice on how to make the most of the visual platform.
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