13 marketing strategies to get your Brand started on Pinterest

Now that Pinterest is fast becoming one of the top traffic generators online it is time to take a real good long look at it to see how your brand can start reaping the benefits of it.

The first thing to do with any traffic or marketing strategy is to plan out your strategy.

Here’s 13 top things to consider when getting your brand started on Pinterest.

1.  The first thing to do is to get your brand set up correctly on Pinterest.  This means including key features in your profile just like you do on the other social media channels including:

• Fill out your profile completely including linking your page to your website, Twitter, and Facebook so that the icons show up right below your profile picture
• Provide an enticing description about your business/brand using some keywords in the description
• When you set up your Pinterest account (if you haven’t already) do so by logging in with your Twitter account so that it will automatically pull in your Twitter avatar as the profile image to use (if you already have your business custom branded on twitter)
• Use your business name as your username or you can also change your profile name to your Business name after you have already created an account

2.  Integrate the social media aspects of Pinterest with your website:

• Integrate your Pinterest account with Facebook’s timeline feature(if you use your personal profile for business networking) and your Twitter account, so can you post content in both places at once saving time and effort.
• Add the “Follow me on Pinterest ” button to your website by getting the code herehttp://pinterest.com/about/goodies/
• Place the Pinterest RSS widget in your WordPress sidebar by using the Pinterest rss widget wordpress plugin to feature your recent pins on your blog.
• Use a share plugin like the “Really simple Facebook Twitter share buttons” plugin that includes Pinterest as an option so that your readers can easily pin your content on Pinterest right from your blog

3. Start following niche related people already on Pinterest to start to grow your connections (Pinterest is a lot like Twitter in that when you follow someone they will usually reciprocate by following you back)

4.  Use #hashtags of your keywords with your pins so people can find them when they search for a specific topic

5.  When creating your strategy ~ test what works by finding out who’s been pinning your stuff? To do this go to http://pinterest.com/source/putyourwebsiteurlhere and evaluate who has been pinning you and also what types of content have been pinned the most

6.  Use high quality pictures in all of your blog posts and website content to make it easily shared by your readers on Pinterest.

7.  If you sell products then you will want to also add the prices to your pins. To add a price to a pin, type the $ symbol with the amount in the description once you save it it will show the price across the top of the image. When you add prices to your pins, they might have the opportunity to be featured in Pinterest’s “Gifts” section for more added exposure.

8.  Create a board showing photos of your company to showcase what you do, what your location looks like, etc … Try photos of your products, photos of your staff, photos of how you make your product, or how you deliver your service, anything that can help the pinner relate to you and your business!

9.  Become the go to person in your niche on Pinterest. Just like all of the other social media channels you don’t want or need it to be all about you, sharing other top information about your niche is an important strategy.

10.  Create “guest pinner boards” for your colleagues to post helpful information similar to how a “guest Blogging situation” would work. They can add videos, blog posts, and photos to support your efforts in your niche. Here’s a great example of thishttp://pinterest.com/modcloth/guest-pinner-gallery/

11.  Create a “Testimonials board” that you can allow your customers to share their praises of you by posting their testimonial.

12.  Create visually appealing coupons that will catch people’s eye, and add them to a “Deals or Coupon board”.

13.  Create a “Staff Board” to feature your company’s staff. Here’s a great example of how to do this by Time Magazine http://pinterest.com/time_magazine/time-staff/ See how they use the description under each person to give a brief  bio of each person.

These are just some ideas to get you started.  Remember with any social media channel you need to keep it social and always include the “share” aspect of things by sharing what interests your market.  Always have a good combination of quality content using yours and other people’s content.  Being social is not all about you … just like in everyday life … no one likes someone who only focuses on themselves … You have the best relationships when you give, share, and … then receive, and remember to do it all while being interesting!

Happy Pinning!