Have you used Pinterest for business yet?

If not, you might be missing out on an entire audience for your brand. Pinterest is a social platform built around sharable images – opportunities for shopping come sleekly disguised as recipes, DIY projects and a whole lot of photos of puppies. For consumers it’s a place to gather ideas – for brands, if used properly, it could be a goldmine. Data has shown that Pinterest is huge in terms of social traffic. Plus, the value is long term: 50% of visits happen after more than three months, opposed to Facebook and Twitter where content basically disappears in the near real-time shuffle.

Now you can help your Pinterest business marketing grow with these simple and helpful tips.

• Use Rich Pins

Have you heard of Rich Pins? It basically means they contain extra information inside the pin, giving your customers the benefit of Product Pins which include stock availability and pricing. Some other benefits: if you reduce the price of your product, any customer who has Repinned the image will receive an email of the price drop with a prompt to purchase.

• Smarter Pinning

Most of this is simple: engage frequently, pin all of your new products, and pay attention to patterns. For example, images without faces get Repinned nearly 25% more than those with faces; more colorful images are Pinned more often, and red usually attracts eyes.

Pay attention to what really engages your audience: 2-4pm and 8-11pm are usually the best times to Pin, and the times with the best odds of getting your images viewed. Using a blog also helps, giving you a place to create and link content for your Pinterest boards.

• Sell a Lifestyle

Don’t just sell to your audience – inspire them! Pinterest allows you to create boards centered around lifestyle themes that include your products. Subtly include your products on lifestyle inspired boards with genuine useful content.

• Don’t Be Afraid to Piggyback

It always helps to pay attention to the most popular pin types that your audience is engaging with. If you’re catering to predominantly men, create pins in the categories of art, photography and design. If you’re selling food or beverages, develop easy recipes that use your products; if you’re focused on fitness or beauty, Pin inspirational content using quotes and photos.

• Get Interactive

Contests are a great way to get your audience engaged on Pinterest. That’s a huge part of marketing, so you should be tapping into it. Now, spamming isn’t permitted and Pinterest does have contest guidelines. If you pay attention to those, you can drive sales and traffic for your site easily. Be creative! Look at how other brands are running contests and see what would work best for your audience.

• Leverage Influencers

Like any social media, Pinterest has influencers and bloggers who their users pay attention to. Partner up with them to make your brands more accessible and viewable to wider audiences. Invite Guest Pinners to create boards on your account to drive up interest, and try to work with other Pinners who share your audience.

• Engage!

Start using Group Boards to allow multiple contributors – it builds community and allows your audience to feel more inclusive. Plus, you can see what they’re interested in through what they pin. Another useful tactic is encouraging customers to share images of themselves using your product – this is a great way to gather photos of real people wearing or using your brand.

If you follow these tips, you’ll do wonders for your brand online. Tapping into your audience and using clever ways to hold their attention will help further awareness of your brand.

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