How to start selling your products on Pinterest
How to start selling your products on Pinterest
Pinterest vs Instagram.
As a creative business owner, you know that the right marketing strategy will lead to more customers and sales.
The value of marketing on Pinterest can no longer be denied, with an active user base of over 200 million individuals every month who are looking for inspiration and are ready to shop. But how do you convert those users into valuable customers?
In this blog post, we will look at how Pinterest can help you sell more, by creating the perfect Pinterest strategy to capture your target customer. We will explore the value of business profiles, provide tips and tricks on improving both your profile and your pins, and also identify the value of group boards and Pinterest ads. So, lets get stuck in.
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN:
What is Pinterest.
Creating a Pinterest Strategy that will increase sales.
How to attract your ideal client.
How to get a business account.
How to improve your profile.
How to optimize your pins.
Creating relevant Pinterest boards.
What is Pinterest.
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times. Pinterest is not just another social network intended to share filtered and idealized photos of destinations, puppies and gravity-defying cakes. Pinterest is a tool that, when harnessed correctly, can lead pinners to discover your brand and products through organic searches linked to areas that they are interested in. Essentially created like a sociable search engine, marketing on Pinterest is built on inspiring users to shop with you by sharing beautiful images and valuable content.
Let’s break it down further.
Creating a Pinterest Strategy that will increase sales.
A Pinterest strategy is one of the areas that you will only learn more about through experience, trial, and error. Organic marketing on Pinterest is very much a long game, and it is crucial to remember that often, you will not reap many immediate rewards at all. In fact, of those great images and enticing landing pages that you are working on now, many only convert to site visits a few months down the line. Be patient, and work on a strategy that introduces users to your brand gradually, through varying content, different styles of Pin and fabulous images. Would you like to speed things up? Then you should look into our Pinterest advertisement guide.
How to attract your ideal client.
Do you know what your ideal clients looks for? Understanding the way that your customers use Pinterest is key to knowing what kind of content they will find valuable, and which Pins they are most likely to share. If you haven’t yet had a chance to invest time in discovering who your target audience is, first think about this:
The majority of Pinterest users are female, and 97% of searches made on the platform are open searches – that is, the user is not searching for any specific brand. That tells us that Pinterest users are open to discovering new things, and haven’t yet made a decision about where they want to make their purchase. The value for you? That’s your chance to get your product and brand in front of them! How? By using keywords that your ideal client is searching for. For instance if you are a wedding florist specialized in dried floral bouquets. Then first you need to figure out in which niche dried florals are popular. When you search on Pinterest for dried floral bouquets you will see that it’s popular in the so-called “boho wedding” niche. Then keywords like dried florals/ bohemian weddings/ boho wedding flowers are valuable for you. Because your ideal client is interested in a boho themed wedding and is likely to click on your pin.
Get a Business account
We have a number of blogs that explain the value in business accounts compared with personal accounts, particularly when you’re seeking the extra features offered to small businesses through business accounts. When it comes to marketing on Pinterest, a business account will give you access to Pinterest Analytics, Pinterest ads and plenty of other features that help you track the success of each Pin and understand not only who is viewing them but how they are interacting with them.
To get yourself a business account, you can either convert your personal account to a business one or set up a brand-new account intended for your business profile.
TIP: When setting up your business account, use your real name to register rather than your business name, as this allows the Pinterest fairies to identify and validate you more easily.
Improve your Pinterest Profile
Easy to say, but how exactly do you enhance your profile and turn it into a tool to help with your conversion rates?
Well, the first step to a great Pinterest profile is making sure every pinner can tell immediately what you are offering, and the best way to do this is through your username. Including using keywords in your username will provide users with an introduction to what you do quickly and easily. For instance if you are a wedding photography always use your business name followed by wedding photography.
Your cover photo is an important visual introduction to your brand, and linking your business website will give your products and content the best chance of appearing on relevant searches.
Your bio should say clearly what you do, who your ideal client is and where you are based and available.
Example: Fine Art Wedding photography for .. (ideal client) based in .. (location).
Improve the quality of your Pins
You’ve got your profile sorted… now let’s optimize your Pins. Marketing on Pinterest is all about Pins – making sure the image is attractive, keeping the description and content relevant and interesting, and using keywords that will attract the right audience who are searching for your kind of product. You can use Pinterest’s keywords tool to discover related keywords for your products.
No idea how to include keywords in your pin description? Read all about them in our Guide.
Another way to use Pins specifically to sell more through Pinterest is to engage with relevant holidays and seasons and make sure your Pins are in context with what’s going on at the time. Christmas coming? Offer some festive content or deals! Adding some new products to your range? Make sure you tell people about them in the description!
Create multiple pins of each blog post to allow you to increase the distribution of your Pins in different ways so that it could ultimately appeal to different audiences.
Creating Pinterest Boards.
Pinning your content to boards is a great way to keep a level of consistency between different messages. You should start with one overall product board that is essentially a showcase for your brand. Not only will this keep it easy for you to access all of your Pins quickly, but it will become a unique resource on Pinterest for your brand.
Once you’ve got that big showcase board sorted, you should then create a number of boards that deal with your different niche’s – for example, different product lines you offer, seasonal board, themed boards and relevant product style boards. Then when you add a new Pin, you can share it to both the niche and more relevant board to aid search results, as well as the showcase board.
Group boards and Tribes
Group boards are a great way to get your content in front of a huge network of pinners who may not otherwise have come across your brand. While you can only join group boards that are relevant to your area of work, and you have to be accepted by the owner before you can post and access their networks, this is an investment that is well worth your time.
Tribes are groups of like-minded small business owners who, much like group boards but then on the platform Tailwind. As a form of marketing on Pinterest, it’s a friendly collaborative approach that really allows you to lean on others and help each other out.
Advertising on Pinterest
Finally, we come to advertising on Pinterest. Remember when you signed up for that business profile? By doing that, you allowed yourself access to Pinterest ads, and can now use promoted Pins to increase your audience as well as Pinterest analytics to see how many of your users are heading to your website. Make sure you track your ads to see how well they are performing, including sales linked to each ad and what the different results actually mean.
If marketing on Pinterest is something that still leaves you unsure and a bit panicky, I’m here to help. My Pinterest management package has a strong focus on strategy and working in line with your existing business plan, to enhance rather than obliterate your current marketing plans. Get in touch today for more information on how I can work with you to increase your sales through Pinterest!