Whether you’re an established fashion business owner or an aspiring one, the one platform you don’t want to miss out on is Pinterest. Because it’s more of a search engine and less of a social platform, Pinterest has a tremendous ability to drive pre-qualified traffic to your website and build brand exposure.
But Pinterest can also fall a little flat if you don’t put intentional effort into growing your exposure on the platform. Luckily, the steps required to make the most of Pinterest are easy to implement. Here are twelve Pinterest tips to help grow your following and increase your website traffic:
Understand the Purpose of the Platform
First and foremost you need to wrap your mind around the idea that Pinterest is not a social media platform. It’s not just another Facebook or Instagram. It’s actually more like Google in both its functionality and its purpose.
If you start treating Pinterest as a search engine, you’ll have a better mindset going into the optimization and strategy side of the platform.
Gather Your Useable Visual Assets
While Pinterest is primarily a search engine, it is similar to Instagram in that it is a very visual platform. As a fashion brand, you most likely have plenty of photos of your products so gather those assets in one folder or location on your computer.
This will allow you to maintain a consistent pinning schedule (which we’ll talk about next) and help cut down the total amount of time you’ll need to devote to the platform.
Create a Consistent Schedule for Your Content
Like many other social or search platforms, the more consistent you are with posting and engaging, the better chance you’ll have to be visible for your ideal customer.
Pinterest doesn’t hide the fact that daily pinning of your own, unique content is the key to success on their platform, so utilizing a tool like Tailwind can help boost your visibility and save you time.
While this is far from an advertisement for Tailwind, it is one of the best Pinterest scheduling platforms on the market right now. Tailwind allows you to create a schedule for your pins and will automatically post them at the specified time. Starting out with 5-10 pins per day is ideal, but you’ll want to grow that to 25-30 over time.
Link all Pins to a Value
For each original pin you create, you’ll want to link it back to a page on your website that makes sense. For instance, if you’re pinning an image of a dress you’ve created go ahead and link it to the product page where your audience can review the details of the dress and either make a purchase or save it for later.
According to some of the latest statistics released by Pinterest, 48% of US Pinterest users get on the platform to shop. By providing a clear and well-marked path from an image they like to the product on your website, you’re opening your products up to a much larger audience.
Optimize Your Pins, Boards, and Profile
Because Pinterest uses an algorithm to show relevant pins to users, keywords are just as important on the platform as they are in Google. For every pin you create, make sure you’ve conducted some level of Pinterest-based keyword research and work it into the pin description.
Thankfully, keyword research for Pinterest is as easy as typing in a product-related phrase in the search bar and seeing what words Pinterest auto-fills.
Work those same keywords into your relevant Boards as well as your profile description. Use a location-based keyword in your bio if you have a brick and mortar store and be sure to link your website to your profile so interested users can go directly to your home page.
Claim Your Business Account
Because you’ll be operating your Pinterest as a business, not as just a casual user, you’ll want to claim your profile as a business. This allows you to create rich (shoppable) pins, gather greater insight into your analytics, and offers a few other key benefits.
Pinterest makes this task very easy. Simply navigate to the Settings button in your profile and the Claim tab will walk you through the steps.
Use Analytics and Keywords to Determine your Content
Once your business is verified you’ll have a greater picture of what content resonates with your audience. You might find that your audience loves when you share pins showcasing how to style your pieces. If that’s the case, take note to share more outfit-based pins.
Likewise, if your accessories are a big hit on the platform, adjust your pin schedule to accommodate 2-5 accessories pins per day to give your audience what they want to see.
Delete Boards You Don’t Consistently Pin To
If you’re migrating your personal account into your business one, it’s likely you’ll have boards that don’t have any bearing on your business. Go ahead and delete or hide those personal boards to help increase your engagement stats and keep your audience engaged with your business pins.
Keep Your Pins Regulation Size
Pinterest favors a few different sizes of photos and graphics. It’s primarily a vertical platform so aim to pin photos with a vertical orientation. Recently, Pinterest also opened up their recommended sizes to include longer vertical graphics and images.
If you’re creating your own Pinterest graphics in Canva or Photoshop, try out these recommended dimensions:
- 600×900 px
- 1000 x 1500 px
- 600 x 600 px
- 1000 x 2100 px
Invest in Good Imagery
It’s no secret pins with the best graphics and images gains the most attention. It’s a 100% visual platform so it makes sense to put your best foot forward with professional photos.
We’re a society moving beyond iPhone photos for professional use, so investing in a photographer to capture your products is going to help you both for Pinterest and every other marketing initiative.
A/B Test Your Photos and Graphics
There’s a lot of great studies that talk about what types of visual content perform the best on Pinterest. Many people say photos with warmer colors, no faces, and text on the images attract the most pinners. But really when it comes down to it, you have to figure out what will attract your target audience.
Do a little A/B testing and use the analytics associated with each pin to determine which photo or graphic is attracting more attention. Once you figure out which one is resonating with your audience, keep that pin in rotation – pinning at least once per week.
Create a Pinterest Ad Campaign
Last but not least, a great strategy to employ is a Pinterest ad campaign. If you’re looking to launch a new line of products, promote your website, or raise awareness, Pinterest is one of the most cost-effective social platforms to run an ad campaign on.
You can set your budget, targeting, and creative just like a Facebook ad, but Pinterest will actually keep showing your ad even after a campaign has ended, especially if the pin has gained a lot of attention.
If you’re looking to invest time into learning the strategies behind a social platform, Pinterest is only going to help boost your brand and visibility. As a fashion brand with beautiful and visual products, you’re going to gain more attention on Pinterest than even Instagram or Facebook.
We hope you found these Pinterest tips helpful! Use this as a starting point to help determine your pre or post-launch Pinterest strategy. And if you’re interested in learning more about Pinterest as a search engine, dive a little deeper with our Pinterest SEO Tips resource.