Optimizing Pinterest for Your Online Business

Pinterest is hotter and more contagious than a California wildfire. If you haven’t paid attention so far, you should start and it should be optimized for the business that you do online so that it brings great rewards to you.

According to statistics, Pinterest is now generating more traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+ combined. Numerous retailers are involved and are offering “Pin it” buttons on their websites. Bear in mind that until quite recently, most people didn’t even know that Pinterest even existed. It is not only important for business owners to understand the basic principles of Pinterest and how it works but also to leverage it to its greatest potential by taking full advantage of all that it has to offer. The following are some tips that will help you to take advantage of Pinterest for your business:

Initiation

Just in case you don’t feel that you have enough understanding of Pinterest to actually use it for your business, the basic are quite simple.  People share graphic images through the site. That is how they bond and find out what they have in common. As a user, you gather images and “pin” them to one of the many boards that you have created. Users are able to create many different boards and they can arrange them by themes. Other people who are Pinterest users can then follow those boards based on their interests and can share their favorite images by “repinning” them, “liking” them and leaving comments. The images can link back other people’s businesses, which is exactly why Pinterest is such a powerful tool for your business. Because of that feature, the people who reach out to you professionally are prequalified and preselected simply because they have opted in. Those people are intentionally choosing your brand and your offerings and thus will be likely to share your information with other people whom they know.

Add “Pin it” button to your website

Many business owners have already added this button to their website but it is expected that many more will be doing this in the near future. Users of Pinterest will be saving “Pin it” bookmarks in their Favorites in their computers’ browsers. Adding this button will definitely serve to increase business dramatically for people with products and/or services to sell. This brings  your visual capability to the next level.

Show creativity with your images

If you are at a point where you are thinking about updating your catalog or website, there is no time like the present to do it. Pinterest makes it very easy for you to share your images with your community. It is very important that you use the best-quality images so that you hold the interest of your online connections. It is very important that you give your connections a generous selection that appropriately demonstrates your professional capabilities. All of your images should be innovative, exciting, compelling and magnetic. Another good idea is to come up with creative names for your various boards. Make sure that they are clear representations of your branding and your business. It is important to stay away from copyrighted material when building your boards so that you don’t run into any complications and end up having to pay. Your objective is to attract people to your presence and to interact with them so that you establish a relationship that will span the test of time.

Don’t be shy

If you want to use Pinterest in a way that helps your business to become even more successful than it is now, you need to really work it and not to consider it only as a marketing tool. You should get to know it really well and have fun interacting with others online. You need to make a commitment to using it regularly (a consistent number of times a week) and at regular intervals. If you don’t do that, you won’t be able to really be a part of any community through Pinterest and being a part of a community (or communities) is critical to your success. A great way to build a community on Pinterest is to try to encourage  your clients to join and then interact with them. If your clients are not sure (and, therefore, not comfortable) about using it, you can step in and show them exactly what to do. However, please be warned that it is addictive and once you start, you may not want to stop.

Keep at it

Pinterest is here to stay for a very long time. The more you use it and encourage others to do the same, the more exciting and useful it will become. Your consistency and persistence are key in this situation. The more you work it and the more consistent you are able to be, the better your results will be.

Conclusion

Pinterest is an amazing site that brings people together online in a unique and fascinating way. It is well worth the effort for you and  your business. Once you start to use it, you will wonder how you ever conducted business before Pinterest ever existed. Your business will thrive and there will be a new element of excitement that you can jump on with both feet.

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