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When you think of Pinterest you may think of a bunch of twenty-something females saving wedding ideas or hairstyles, but the social networking site has actually transformed into a fairly powerful SEO tool for small businesses. These days, everyone from truckers to scientists are present on Pinterest and it’s worth it to take advantage. Still, you’re probably wondering how to translate those pins into something meaningful. Luckily, you’ve found this guide to help.
It’s important to understand that being active on Pinterest will help your SEO, meaning it is likely to boost your rankings in search engines like Google or Bing. In addition, Pinterest provides you a new platform to market yourself. Every business-related pin provides your followers with the ability to share your products or examples of your work. Lastly, you’re interacting with the Pinterest community on a personal level — something future customers may remember about you. This is your opportunity to ditch that stuffy, professional persona and be seen outside of the work place.

Getting Started

Create Board
Creating your business profile is simple enough– just follow the site’s prompts. You’ll have the ability to add a company logo, provide a description, and even link back to your website (very important for SEO purposes). Once you’ve verified your domain, you’ll even get access to web analytics. Too, you can make images on your website “pinnable” to others. Next, it’s time to organize.
Create a board for each theme you’re likely to pin to in the future. These can be customized to your products or industry. For example, a remodeling company may have a “kitchens” board, and a separate one for bathrooms. The possibilities are endless, but be sure to choose a category for that board. This is one of the ways users will be able to find it later.

The Perfect Pin

Upload-Pin

Now you’re ready to pin — but what? A great strategy is pinning things from your company’s website. However, you want these pins to look attractive. Pinterest is a mainly visual platform, so users tend to repin the more aesthetically pleasing images. Below are some common business pins:

  • Product or Video
  • Blog Post
  • Infographics
  • Logo

If the page you’d like to link doesn’t have an attractive image, don’t worry. You can upload a high quality photo from your computer, then edit the pin to link wherever you’d like.

Though, your Pinerest profile shouldn’t be so self absorbed. Share pins from your followers or peers as well. Interaction with the Pinterest community is an excellent way to get noticed. Others are more likely to repin your images if you’re doing the same — and your content is seen by new followers each time the image is shared. A simple way to attract more customers, right?

Promote, Promote, Promote!

Pinterest_Sticker_IconGetting your Pinterest profile seen is not so difficult. A good place to start is linking between Pinterest and your other social media profiles. This means tweeting some of your pins, or choosing to share your Pinterest activity on Facebook. Many small businesses benefit from holding Pinterest contests as well. Even if the prize is something as minimal as movie passes, require users to follow you and share your pin in order to participate. Obviously, the number of shares will grow with the quality of your prize.
Once you’ve got some activity, make sure you organize your profile so your most popular boards are in the top row. You can even invite followers to contribute to your board through the editing option. If they choose to contribute a pin, your board will appear on their profile and potentially increase your exposure.


After you’ve got a successful profile, be sure to maintain. You should be continuously adding more pins so that your profile is updated. Follow people or businesses with similar interests to build up your network. Another good tactic for improving your exposure is repinning and commenting on pins in the “popular” category. Get more tips from the Pinterest Business Blog.
Keeping up with Pinterest can seem like a full time job, but it’s a simple way gain mass exposure online. However, you could always seek help from a search engine marketing company to manage your social media (wink).
Do you have anything to add to the guide? We want to hear from you!

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