Anyone paying attention to social strategy knows that Pinterest didn't spend its "offseason" resting on its laurels and relaxing by the pool. Instead, the company was hard at work all summer bolstering its business features, especially for the ecommerce industry. For this reason, Pinterest could prove to be the most profitable social network for retailers this holiday season.
In order to get the most out of this network, however, Web professionals must optimize their presence on the social network. Learn how to strengthen your brand's holiday Pinterest strategy with these seven tips:
The first step for any Web professional is to make sure his or her site is Pinterest ready, which means, at the very least, including "Pin This" buttons on the most important pages, such as product pages and article pages. This tip might seem like a no-brainer, but its importance cannot be stressed enough, as 70 percent of Pinterest engagement is driven by fans according to a Digitas study.
Aside from making the content on a site easy to share, it is also important to ensure this content includes detailed information when it is pinned. Earlier this year, Pinterest introduced Rich Pins, which are pins that include more information on content like products, recipes, movies or articles. Product pins, for example, are updated daily and display pricing and availability for retail items, while article pins include links to the article's source.
Retailers in particular should be leveraging Rich Pins because product pins should prove to be very valuable this holiday season. In fact, after its initial launch of Rich Pins, Pinterest announced a "Price Update" feature, which sends pinners notifications when the products they have pinned drop in price. This feature essentially provides merchants with free advertising, and can help to increase conversions on sale items.
Once an Internet retailer has integrated Rich Pins into his or her site, it is time to focus on the actual boards. By creating holiday boards before the official holiday kickoff, people are more likely to find content when browsing Pinterest for holiday ideas. This is especially true when leveraging keywords and #hashtags on pins. While the type of holiday board(s) will vary depending on a company, there are a few generic themes that will work across a variety of industries, including "Gifts for Her", "Holiday Style", "Wish List", "Gifts Under $25" and "DIY Holiday Decorating".
Social media marketers can break up the hustle and bustle of the holidays by launching a contest or a giveaway. This strategy can help a brand acquire new followers, as well as help it obtain more pins and repins (resulting in increased visibility). For example, a merchant could launch a contest that requires followers to build their ultimate wish list that includes products from his brand, or simply ask followers to repin a product from one of his holiday boards for a chance to win a prize. Retailers can consider using a platform like Curalate or Piquora to create Pinterest specific promotions.
Pinterest is currently "experimenting" with promoted pins, which is the company's first ad format that was announced in September. Only time will tell when this feature will be out of its experimental stage, but brands can sign up to receive information and updates about the feature on the Pinterest for business website. In signing up, businesses may also have a chance to become one of the first advertisers once the product is open to the public.
After putting resources into optimizing a Pinterest presence, it is important for a marketer to promote their efforts. One should share their contests or favorite boards with their audiences on Facebook and Twitter, as well as on websites and blogs. This can help brands gain more followers, as some audiences may not be aware that certain companies are active on the pin boarding site.
As with any other social network, it is important for brands to monitor their performance on Pinterest. By keeping an eye on Pinterest metrics, businesses can identify the most pinned content items from their websites, their most repined items and most clicked items, and then use these insights to adjust their Pinterest strategies accordingly. While Pinterest offers analytics to business users, they can also consider leveraging a platform like the aforementioned Piquora and Curalate, or a solution like Tailwind, which provides users with information like the optimal pinning times and top brand advocates.