Our community members are excellent Twitter users. They know how to make use of their time online, participating in Twitter chats, sharing ideas, having fun, all the while learning exceptional tips and tricks from the best in the business.
But, Pinterest?
It’s that pinkish gleam that catches anyone’s eye even if only a small tab among ten others. Most of us use Pinterest for our personal interests—to find recipes, DIY home decor, tile styles, furniture, fashion ideas, and such. However, the platform offers much more than what you see right away. We were curious, so we asked Pinterest expert, social media consultant, and the author of How to use Pinterest Promoted Pins to Increase Traffic, Leads, and Sales to walk us through some of the less-known elements of Pinterest. We invited Alisa Meredith, the all-rounder.
Here’s a summary of our chat.
Topic: A Twitter User’s Intro to Pinterest
Guest: Alisa Meredith
Format: Eight questions directed to the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
When you look at Pinterest, you see boards upon boards of images, quotes, and videos that catch your eye. Imagery that makes you want to save so you can return to it afterwards. That’s what Pinterest is all about—a place to discover content you want to keep. According to our guest, even though Pinterest has certain features that promote interaction between users, it was never meant to be a social platform. Instead, it’s for everyday things we cherish. Travel, beauty, fashion, and home decor are some of the most popular industries that thrive on Pinterest.
A1 – Was never meant to be social – it's a visual search and discovery engine #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Best thing, though: it’s so versatile that anyone can make it work for them, if they put in some effort.
A1: ? The most popular niches are travel, beauty, fashion, and home decor, but nearly anyone can make it work #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Most importantly, as Rhianna from Olesco pointed out, make sure your intended audience is on Pinterest. If they are, then you can easily link up all your visual content and blog posts, generating genuine traffic year round.
A1: Companies that rely on a lot of visual content, as well as having blogs to link to. You can use it for many functions but you have to make sure your target audience is on there, otherwise, there might not be much point! – Rhianna #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/tIx8bf1mxZ
— Oleso (@olesosocial) August 1, 2019
To put it in simple words, the best use of Pinterest is showcasing. Because the platform is intended for visual grandeur, you can use it to introduce products, ideas, and anything else you can photograph or capture in an infographic. Every post you pin will generate immense traffic back to your website, boosting your reach and contacts.
A2: For introducing your product, service, or ideas to an audience of people who are open to discovery. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A2: Practically speaking, it can also generate a large amount of website traffic and help you grow your email list.
#twittersmarter— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
It’s also an ideal way to create clicks on evergreen content on your website, as Maura said. Since pins don’t stale and search is the primary way of engaging on Pinterest, you’ll see hits months or even years afterwards.
A2: Traffic driver!! I think Pinterest is a great long-term tool because you can get traffic from pins months after you posted it. Perfect for evergreen. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/xiXSVsc7Kr
— Maura Hughes (@Maura_Hughes_) August 1, 2019
Of course, like Gaby from Bentley University pointed out, there’re many other great uses as well. Consider Pinterest a way to build brand recognition—create images that establish your tone and style, observe how others use the platform. If you watch long enough and carefully enough, you’ll notice that some types of content surface again and again—like a Mac and cheese recipe. These insights are invaluable in identifying trends in your industry.
A2.
What's the best
use of Pinterest??Community building
?Social listening
?Content distribution
?Collaboration
?Ideation
?Content curation
?Inspiration
?Share voice
?Grow reach
?Build awareness
?Generate traffic
?As a learning tool#TwitterSmarter— Bentley University (@bentleyu) August 1, 2019
This is a trick question.
A3: Where Pinterest is for discovery, Instagram is the place to go to find out how people are using the product #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Even though Pinterest works well as a standalone platform, more often than not, we combine it with other apps to leverage its potential.
Like Instagram, Alisa mentioned. You can use Pinterest for brand awareness and product discovery and pair with Instagram to showcase yourself as an individual and the others involved in your business. It’s an excellent way to combine business and the humans behind it.
A3: , what people are saying about it, and to learn more about the people behind it.
#twittersmarter— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Gigi made an excellent point: Pinterest is wonderful to find new products, but it doesn’t have a way to purchase those products. When you combine it with an ecommerce store or a mailing list, you immediately create a sales funnel—a more efficient use of your presence on Pinterest.
A3 for the mere reason that you can't buy anything directly on Pinterest, it needs to be combined with something else to move people through to a conversion. #twittersmarter
— Gigi Peterkin ✌?♥️? (@Gigi_Peterkin) August 1, 2019
As some of our #TwitterSmarter members, you can use integration tools like IFTTT (If This Then That) and Zapier to connect with other apps you use. Or, better yet, like Tim said, use Pinterest data to display retargeting ads to potential buyers.
A3: It's the most standalone out there. But remember you can retarget visitors from Pinterest using Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn ads depending on your business type. #twittersmarter
— Tim Lewis @Stoneham Press #indieAuthorChat (@StonehamPress) August 1, 2019
Twitter is a place for engagement, to share ideas, learn new strategies, make suggestions, and debate opinions. As a social platform, Twitter’s primary motive is to foster conversation. Pinterest, on the other hand, is for inspiration.
A4: I haven’t spent a lot of time analyzing Twitter users, but Pinterest users are on the platforms for themselves. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A4: They’re not having conversations and they’re definitely not getting swept up in negativity. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
People go to Pinterest to relax and feel motivated. As Alisa put it, it’s a happy place for most—they’re not there for serious debates, but instead to treat themselves. Negativity and hatred have no place in Pinterest users’ minds.
A4: Pinterest is a place for discovery and inspiration – many people think of it as their happy place. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Our friends from Give had an interesting way of saying it: Pinterest users do silent research, whereas Twitter users voice their ideas in a fast-paced conversational environment. Which makes them, as Taylor mentioned, more tolerant to blocks of text—unlike a Pinterest user.
A4: Twitter users are looking for conversation and engagement, which makes it more fluid and fast-paced.
Pinterest users are developing collections of ideas, research, inspiration, etc. over time.#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/pspieWPWqq
— Give (@GiveWP) August 1, 2019
A4: #TwitterSmarter I think Twitter users are more tolerant to text. We can tweet 200+ characters and it can resinate with our followers, but if an image on Pinterest had 200+ characters…. pic.twitter.com/Vv8xjH4UdT
— Taylor Sarkisian (@TaylorSarkisian) August 1, 2019
Ever noticed how videos are always on the top in your feed? Turns out, Pinterest prioritizes videos. However, as our guest suggested, don’t just stick to one format. Try a variety—short form and longer form, try how-tos, courses, or teaser videos for your products and services.
A5: Pinterest really wants us to upload video, so they give it priority spots in the feed 🙂 #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A5: Use it to demonstrate what your product can do – teach a new skill or show a new use. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A5: Teaser videos can encourage people to click through, but try a variety of formats – full length and shorter. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Melissa also shared a good tip: convert blog posts into videos or teasers. And if you have a YouTube channel you regularly update, you can also cut your longer educational videos to create a ton of shorter tips and tricks-like videos for Pinterest.
A5: If you are B2B and more content-oriented you can turn blog posts into videos. Example: https://t.co/mCBokgcQvw #TwitterSmarter
— Melissa Jones ✨ Lead With Excellence (@theCEOffice) August 1, 2019
When a whopping 50% of surveyors attest their purchases to Pinterest, you know it’s got something worth spending on. That’s why Alisa supports it—she even said she’s seen results from sponsored posts after she’s stopped paying for them. Now that’s a brilliant long-term investment.
A6: Extremely. 50% of Pinners say they’ve purchased something because of an ad they’ve seen on Pinterest. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A6: One thing I love about them is that after you stop paying for the ad you still get results #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A6: I run a lot of Pinterest ads and they can be extremely cost effective. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Also, don’t forget, Pinterest ads meld beautifully with the content. As Taylor put it, because they’re not “in your face,” they’re far less annoying than ads on other platforms like Facebook.
A6: Pinterest has the unique advantage of their ads blending into a user's feed pretty seamlessly. They're not as "in your face" as ads on Instagram are.
When they match the aesthetic of what's being searched for, they can be easily mistaken for a regular Pin. #TwitterSmarter
— Taylor Sarkisian (@TaylorSarkisian) August 1, 2019
With the audience right there, open to seeing helpful ads, and purchasing as a result, you have hardly a chance of going wrong.
Like most social and online platforms nowadays, Pinterest also loves videos. Even though plenty of people post videos, there’s still a lot of room for you to stand out with video pins. They play automatically and immediately grab the viewers’ eyes in a continuous feed of otherwise static images.
A7: Try video! It’s getting a special spot in search results and auto-play video really is eye catching. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Posting videos is one thing, but another, more important tactic, is using proper SEO practices. Pinterest, though largely image-based, still has a lot of elements you can use to boost discoverability. Try little things like categorizing your pins in appropriate boards, keeping boards publicly accessible, adding complete and meaningful descriptions to your boards and pins, and using relevant titles.
A7: And getting your content found – use smart SEO tactics like keywords in text on image, in description, in Board titles #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
A7: That said, It’s not so much about standing out – it’s really about how you can make other people feel. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Some other things you can do, as shared by Jake, Justin, and a few others in our community:
A7:
-Make total use of your bio
-Pin your own stuff don't just repin
-Give your boards specific & keyword titles
-Follow similar boards
-Organize and make boards easy to find #twittersmarter— Justin Bienvenue #ModernDayPoe (@JustinBienvenue) August 1, 2019
A7: Things in my feed rn:
– The website always goes at the bottom
– Image is slightly transparent with text above at the top
– Text mainly cursive, light and airy fonts
– Pinks and creams – colours that blend inSo don't do the usual above#TwitterSmarter
— Jake Symons (@jakeswrites) August 1, 2019
We already spoke about the importance of descriptions in the previous question, but it doesn’t stop there.
A8: You have to add a description ? #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Firstly, not having a description is a sign of sloppiness. It shows you don’t care enough to explain your content.
A8: More than that, it gives Pinterest context about where to show your Pin in search and elsewhere. #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
Secondly, like Alisa mentioned, a description isn’t just for your audience, but it’s also for Pinterest’s algorithm. Text on your images aren’t searchable, and so to compensate, you need a proper description that can educate the system when and how to display your pins. Most of it might be hidden, but by rearranging the more important parts—like your business name in the title—can help build awareness.
A8: and while most of the description is hidden in feed, using your brand name in the first sentence can build awareness #twittersmarter
— Alisa Meredith #SMMW19 Speaker (@alisammeredith) August 1, 2019
The description is also a place to show off your personality, a great idea by our friends from Synthesio. Use it to share why you pinned a post, what it means to you, and how you plan to use the information in it. This will help viewers connect with you as a person and boost your popularity.
A8: Very important! You can take advantage of this space to share updates and add some extra personality for your brand. Also be sure to add keywords that help with SEO #TwitterSmarter
— Synthesio, an Ipsos company (@Synthesio) August 1, 2019
That’s all for now, folks. I hope this summary gave you some ideas on how you can use Pinterest in your business. If you’re looking for more insights on this topic, check out this Twitter Moment that Kyle Hetrick put together.
Feel free to hop in on our next chat on Thursday at 1pm ET.
About me, Narmadhaa:
I’m a writer of all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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