Pinning Your Business All The Way To The Top

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Today’s Agenda:• What is Pinterest? Why should I make it a priority?

• Pinterest friendly website

• Boards

• Etiquette/commenting

• Marketing strategies:– Online presentation board

– Contests

– Promoting

• Increase referral traffic/SEO

• Measure Results

• Q & A(c)Betterorganizedliving/Michele Cole

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Are you using Pinterest?

Who is familiar with Pinterest?Who has a Pinterest account?Who has a personal account?Who has a business account?

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What is Pinterest?• A Virtual Pinboard• A way to organize and share what you find on the web in a

visual format.• Create your own boards - browse and follow other people’s

board(s). – Examples: recipe, wedding inspiration, and travel ideas

• Connect via Twitter or Facebook• Add Photos

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How to “Pin it”• Upload photos or pin them to

your board via a “Pin it” button on a website or in your toolbar.

• “Repin”, “like” or comment on a pin.

• Create & name your own boards.

• Choose which board(s) you want to pin to.

• Pinning links the photo and website.

• Choose which photo on the site you want to pin.

• Specify contributors.(c)Betterorganizedliving/Michele Cole

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Make Pinterest a Priority

• Launched March 2010 / iPhone app in March 2011

• English, Spanish, Portuguese

• Fasted site to reach the 10 million user mark.

• As of Jan. 2012, more referral traffic to retailers than Twitter, LinkedIn,

YouTube, and Google+ combined with 11.7 million unique users.

• In March 2012, Pinterest became the 3rd largest social

media network.

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• In August 2012, Pinterest drove more traffic to websites than Bing and Yahoo combined. (Shareaholic)

• Now there are over 23 million registered users.

• As of August 10, 2012, you no longer need an invitation to join.

• 83% are women • ages 25 – 44 • in the U.S. • with some college education and • $25,000 - $75,000 annual income

• Pinterest in the Presidential Election

Make Pinterest a Priority Cont.

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More Pinterest Statistics

• 21% of Pinterest users have purchased an item found on the site. - Pricegrabber survey 2012

• Additional 37% of social media users saw items they wanted to purchase, but did not. - Bizrate Insights

• Women make/influence >85% of buying decisions & >75% of online buying decisions. - Searchenginewatch.com

• This summer MarthaStewart.com & Marthastewartweddings.com received more referral traffic from Pinterest than from any other social media site.

• More men are using Pinterest due to Sports and Technology Boards.

• Add’l Sources: She-Economy, Ms Smith Marketing, StartUpNation, Clickz, Inc.com, Girl Power Marketing, Catalyst, Forbes

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Pinterest Promotes

•Increase brand awareness

•Online Store front for your products

•Online Presentation Boards

•Drive traffic

•Increase sales

•Get to know your customers

•Conduct contests(c)Betterorganizedliving/Michele Cole

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Prepare Your Site for Pinning• Photos

• Photo quality

• Graphics

• Video

• Banners/badges/buttons

• Watermarking

• “Pin it” button

• “Follow Me” button

Which photo would you

pin?

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Create Boards• Boards are more

important than pins

• Variety

• Clear headings

• Inspiration boards not billboards

• Don’t go Pin Crazy!

• Time your pins– Pingraphy.com

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Pin-ettiquete• Give credit where credit is due

• Follow your followers• Be respectful• Report Spam

• Terms and Conditions

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Comment to make friends• Be polite

• Positivity

• Engage

• Give thanks

• Mention a pin

• Delete spam/offensive comments

• Respond to comments

Good comments:– Love it!– Nice.

Better comment:This recipe looks delicious. I can’t wait to make it! Do you think I could substitute the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour?

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Marketing Strategies• Promotional Videos• Behind the Scenes Board• Staff Board• Events Board• Info/stats Board• Board for each branch of

your business• Boards for your charities• What your business

represents – families, etc. • Post PowerPoint

presentations from Slideshare

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More Marketing Strategies

• Contests• Ask customers to post photos of

themselves with or using your products• Send link to Pinterest in newsletter &

ask for comments• Price tag ($5.00 in description)

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Promotions/Contests• Contest Board• Cross promote

– social media/newsletters

• Examples:– Carnival Cruises– Southern Living

• Use Curalate – Likes– Repins– Comments– Impressions, etc.

• Trial & Error

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Boost your SEO• “Pin it” button

• “Follow me” button

• Pin from your webpage

• Pin your business

• Follow big name businesses

• Cross promote Pinterest– through Twitter &

Facebook

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Boost SEO Some More• Google now turns up Pinterest boards

• Keywords/tags are important

• Hashtags (#) to match Twitter

• Link to your site in the description tag

• Don’t hide your profile from search engines

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Track Pinterest• Google Analytics gives you more

information from Pinterest than from Facebook

• pinterest.com/source/username/ • Curalate.com• Pinerly.com

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Additional info:• Recommend a Pin to a Pinterest User

– Follow one of their boards– Type @username to find a user; then mention the pin in a comment

or repin description– The user you mention will receive a notification

• Top Businesses to Watch on Pinterest– HGTV, Real Simple, Martha Stewart, Starbucks, GE, Lowes, Whole

Foods– These websites promote lifestyles over specific products

• Top Pinterest Pinners– Jane Wang - #1 (mother of a co-founder)– Jennifer Chong - #2 ( 2 million+ followers)

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Where is Pinterest Headed?• New members leveling off

• Excitement is waning

• Here to stay

• Niche markets

• More men are joining

• Future Competition

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Helpful websites• Mashable.com• Socialmediatoday.com• Socialmediaexplorer.com• Socialmediaexaminer.com• Prdaily.com• Techcrunch.com• Searchenginewatch.com

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Contact Me: Michele Cole

michele@betterorganizedliving.com

@betterorglivingPinterest.com/betterorgliving