This is the first in a four-part guest post series by Caylie Price about how to use Pinterest to effectively market your business.
Are you still relaxing after the New Year or back into the full swing of things? Wondering how you will ever get it all done? Couldn’t take on another thing? If you are that’s brilliant. It says you’re producing fantastic work.
The crazy festive times are starting to settle. The pre- festive rush is past and you can catch up on some well-deserved rest. There’s nothing as wonderful as chilling out with family and friends in the New Year.
BUT…
Be very careful not to lose all the momentum you’ve worked so hard to create in your business. The last thing you want to hear is crickets as all goes quiet in your business.
Pinterest is perfect to keep the momentum without huge investments of time when you are flat out filling orders or recovering from the rush.
The beauty of Pinterest is its visual AND viral nature.
You can really showcase what your brand stands for and share your creations with audiences far and wide.
With Pinterest it’s super easy for potential customers to search for images by topic and find the original source (unlike Facebook).
To make the most of the opportunities Pinterest presents (with minimal effort) there are a few things you need to do:
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Get your images right – probably not in the way you are thinking.
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Optimise your boards and descriptions – not nearly as scary as it sounds.
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Use the tools available to streamline your efforts – it makes good sense.
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Evaluate and refine – continual improvement garners the best outcomes.
Let’s start with images.
When preparing any image for pinning you want to make sure it tells your peeps a story and the action you want them to take. Is it a new product? A special? A giveaway?
Here is an example, using a competition I ran for Jess’ ebook How to Run a Rockin’ Mailing List (This site/resource is no longer available.) a while back.
I could have just used and pinned this image:
Yes, it’s a nice enough image but what is it telling us to do? What is the article it relates to all about?
Now have a look at this:
You can see the correlation between the clock tower and the story you’re telling. You could also include a copyright icon or web url.
To improve it further you could add “Click To Enter” or a similar call-to-action like this:
Now you might not be able to afford Photoshop to improve your images but don’t worry. (I don’t have Photoshop either).
Let me introduce you to PicMonkey!
Being creative peeps you might be using it already. If not, oh boy you will love it. I am completely addicted! PicMonkey is a FREE image editing and collage creating tool. It is very simple to use and offers a variety of design functions. {Jess’ note: I use Google Picassa for a lot of my image editing, which is also free and awesome. Also, if you want to get a bit more serious – try GIMP, it’s basically the free version of Photoshop.}
You can turn drab to fab!
Action: This week spend as little as fifteen minutes improving images in PicMonkey. Make sure you tell a story and include a call to action.
Once you’ve got your image, upload it to Pinterest as you normally would, add a description (including a link that you want your peeps to follow) and pin it.
Mission critical is the next step!
Now your image is uploaded, click on the image’s edit button. You will see a box like the following appear:
See how the link box is empty. If someone clicked on your image currently they’d be shown a bigger version of the image. You want to direct them to a specific location instead. Maybe your mailing list opt in, your store, a new blog post, to enter a competition.
Wherever it is make sure to add the specific link in the box and save the pin. When someone clicks the image they will be taken directly to your chosen destination. This is what you want – after all, you are using Pinterest to drive momentum for your business.
Let’s recap!
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Pinterest is an awesome tool to maintain or build momentum for your business.
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Always make sure your image tells a story and includes a call to action. (PicMonkey rocks!)
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Edit the image once pinned and add a direct link that takes your peeps where you want them to go.
Easy isn’t it! You’ll love the results!
Action: When you’ve completed your first image in this manner leave a link in the comments so I can have a look.
Next week’s Grow Your Business With Pinterest post will focus on verifying your account and how to convert to the new business accounts.
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Caylie Price is the founder of Better Business Better Life.
A social strategist, copywriter, SEO consultant and all round great chick, Caylie helps you blast your business to success so you can live the life you want.
Sign up now to be first to know when she releases her new Pinterest For Business ebook!
