Piquing Interest through Pinterest
February 25, 2015 - David Hall
Category: Social Media Marketing
Pinterest has been on the back burner of Social Media Marketing for some time now. Once thought of as only a place to find funny memes and recipes for Christmas cookies, Pinterest has taken on a new light in the advertising world. Leadership from Ava Launch Media, a content marketing company from Utah, discovered that Pinterest “Pin It” buttons surpass Facebook “Like” and Twitter’s “Tweet This” buttons as the most popular addition to a brand’s product page. This means that Facebook’s 1.23 billion monthly users towers over Pinterest’s 70 million users, but only in numbers. The number of users on a site doesn’t reflect the amount of activity each user will commit to each time they log on. The majority of Pinterest users being females, it was estimated in 2014 that each Pinterest user pins about 158 times, each time they log on (The Social Times). This is a significant amount of activity in comparison to Facebook, where 158 posts would be rare, especially considering that 83 million of the profiles on Facebook are fake (Zephoria). In addition to the incline in activity, Pinterest’s new and improved location pin feature is seemingly much more advanced than the similar location services from Facebook. While Facebook can also tell where a user is posting from, Pinterest actually tags whatever pin is posted to a specific geological location, making that pin easier for businesses to advertise to a local audience, rather than an entire city. 
In utilizing Pinterest for yourself or your company, here are 5 essential tips for the success of your account.
1. Be original in your content. Repinning and reposting what similar companies have already used thousands of times will leave your boards looking tired and unoriginal. Creating your own pins with pictures that you have taken, found, or even made on your own will inspire people to repin your never-before-seen images, giving your content a larger boost.
2. Follow boards from companies related to yours, but shy away from promoting your direct competitors. Along with this, make sure that you are interacting with these related companies. Leaving comments on specific pins will show your logo next to your comment, encouraging people interested in that pin to click on your logo and read about your related business.
3. Don’t self-promote on every pin. This one really is just a rule of the trade for almost all social media sites. As Toby Keith put it,”You know talking about you makes me smile, but every once in awhile…” The same goes for the Pinterest community. Once you have talked about all the inspiring roots of your company and what you do, there will be nothing left to keep your profile engaging to active users. Pinning things in the realm of your business is much more effective than only posting about what you do. An example for dentists could be to pin an article about the benefits of whitening, rather than just posting a picture of your promotion for your office’s teeth whitening specials.
4. Pin quality over quantity. Any active Pinterest user, or any human being for that matter, will shy away from grainy, misspelled, or offensive content. Pinning a funny picture that is a screenshot of a screenshot taken from a picture off someone’s iPhone will spoil the professionalism of a profile faster than you can say “oops.” Just as morally wrong, pins that have interesting pictures, but when clicked on have broken or nonexistent links will leave your followers angry, or at the very least feeling betrayed.
5. And finally, our shibboleth here at Infinity Dental Web, Respond to people’s engagement. It is courtesy in real life to say thank you when someone does something kind for you, and interacting with people over the Internet should be no different. Notifications that someone has left a comment or shared a link with you on your board must be met with a positive sign of recognition. One of the biggest mistakes a company can overlook is their response to an individual. A pinner who compliments your product or leaves a good word about you is one of your best assets. You want to keep people commenting, engaging, and saying nice things about your company. It is absolutely vital to acknowledge and appreciate those who reach out. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest!