Your website looks great, your process is down to the t and now you just need more leads to grow your business. We have all been there and generating quality leads is often the most challenging part of growing a creative agency. Now to the good news, you are in the business of creating beautiful content and people go to Pinterest specifically looking for inspiration. Win win right? I know the last thing we want is another platform that takes up our time, but Pinterest is often the forgotten cousin of Instagram but can be more effective at generating leads. A key benefit of Pinterest is the ability to directly link to your website or landing page from a pin. I will take you through different ways of generating leads from Pinterest so you can find one that fits your goals.
OVERVIEW
How does Pinterest work?
What to pin
Build your email list
Aim for rich pins
Create evergreen content
Boost your personal brand
The Pinterest plugin
How does Pinterest work?
If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, you can think of it as the traditional cork board meets the internet. Users on Pinterest can create a “pin” which is composed of a photo, a description and a link to a website. Once the pin is added, other users can include the pin in their boards. A board typically has a theme, like typography or illustration. Users find new pins to add to their boards by searching the site. This means you want to make sure your description contains the right keywords and hashtags for your target audience. The goal of lead generation through Pinterest is to a) have other people add your pin to their board and b) follow your page. Both of these actions will generate traffic to your website so we will now look at how to make this happen.
What to pin
Pinterest is the perfect place to grow your brand by creating boards with content that compliments your own product or services. If you create videos for travel companies, curate a board full of great travel tips. If you design packaging, pin other brands with a similar aesthetic or maybe create a board showing the inspiration behind your design.
The key is to create boards containing your design and a range of other pins that tell the same story. This means you can pin more often which is crucial since the ideal number of pins per day is 15 according to Marketing Daily. In addition to pinning multiple times a day, you also want to avoid pinning all your images at once. To make this easier, use a social media scheduling software like Hootsuite.
Keep in mind that the ideal format for Pinterest image sizes is 2:3 ratio with a pin being taller than it is wide. This means you want to custom make your Pinterest posts since most portfolios use a landscape view.
Build your email list
A great way to generate leads is to build out your email list. You can do this by offering a valuable resource such as an online course, free templates or coaching in exchange for an email. When creating a pin to promote this, make sure you include the title of your offer and a quick description of the benefits. Remember that most people focus on the images rather than your description when they browse Pinterest. This is why it is important to add a short description directly on image.
Create rich pins
A rich pin has more information than a typical pin and can help you give more context to your pin, even before someone clicks to see more. There are four types of rich pins; Product pins, Recipe pins, Article pins and App pins. If you sell an online course or make prints, the product pin will show the price and where someone can buy your product. For the App options, users can download the app without leaving Pinterest.
Create evergreen content
Pinterest is different from many other platforms such as Twitter since a pin can virtually live forever as long as people enjoy the content and keep adding it to their boards. This is where evergreen content comes in. Evergreen content is information that does not become dated. For example, if you create a blogpost with "design trends of 2018", your tips will become less relevant in 2019. However, if your topic is "5 steps to create a versatile logo" your tips will be useful even as trends change. If most of your content is not evergreen, try to go back every 6 months and see if you can update your information. This is especially important if you write about topics related to marketing where new platforms and ways of communicating can change over night.
Boost your personal brand
Many creatives are their own brand, especially if you work freelance. This is an opportunity to open the hood and show people what inspires your work and perhaps even personal life. If you already have a following on a different platform such as Instagram, Pinterest can be an opportunity to show a different side of you. Make sure your boards have clear themes and tell a story people are interested in rather than pinning unrelated photos you like.
The Pinterest plugin
To make life easier, the Pinterest browser plugin lets you pin any image directly from the source without visiting Pinterest. It automatically populates the website address for you so all you have to do is add a description.
For a quick recap and checklist:
Make good use of descriptions by adding key words and relevant hashtags
Pin often and mix your own images with ones that tell the same story
Use a 2:3 (tall) image ratio
Use an image with text to drive email signups
Use rich pins for products, articles or app downloads
Create new evergreen content or update current ones to last
Use Pinterest to showcase what inspires you (a peak behind the scenes)
Use the Pinterest plugin or a social media scheduling platform to make life easier
Good luck pinning and if you have a great tip we missed, join our Facebook community and spread the wisdom!
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