Are you struggling to get results out of Pinterest? Do you hear others tout the power and magic of Pinterest but it’s just not working for you? Well, my friend, you’re in luck! This post is part three of the 5-part Pinterest Boot Camp series. In this 5-part series, you will learn how to optimize Pinterest into a traffic generating machine for your blog. If you missed the first two posts in the series you can check them out here:
1. Is Pinterest Right for My Business: 14 Niches Perfect for Pinterest.
In this post, I answer the question, “Is Pinterest right for my business?” I walk you through how to determine if your should be marketing your business on Pinterest.
2. 4 Mistakes You’re Making on Pinterest
In this post, I share four common mistakes people make with their Pinterest Account and how you can avoid them. I also show you how to set your Pinterest account up for success in four simple steps; generating traffic and leads for your business. Ok, time to tackle part three! In this post, I teach you how to use keywords to optimize your profile and your content – allowing your target audience to find you! Are you ready to have some fun?
Social Network or Search Engine?
Are you confident about marketing yourself on a social network such as Instagram or Facebook? Or maybe your skillset is SEO and you’re good at ranking on Google and YouTube. Or possibly, you’re new to all of this and the previous two sentences made you want to hide in a hole and cry. No matter your skill set, or lack of, I promise you that Pinterest is much easier to master than you think. I can’t tell you how many people comment that Pinterest is the one social network they know the least about. No matter your skill set, or lack of, I promise you that Pinterest is much easier to master than you think. The reality is, Pinterest doesn’t actually behave like other social networks. It behaves more like a search engine, and that scares the crap out of marketers and small business owners. If that’s you, it’s time to put your fears aside, step out of your comfort zone, and leverage the power of Pinterest. When you marry a social network with a search engine, something truly amazing happens! The content shared on the platform is discoverable forever. Those precious blog posts and videos you work your butt off to create can generate traffic to your website for years to come.
When studying the half-life of social media posts, Stone Media Consulting discovered Twitter posts have a half-life of 24 minutes, Facebook posts are 90 minutes and Pinterest Pins are 105 DAYS! However, I would challenge that data and argue that if you use keywords appropriately, there is no half-life to your Pinterest content.
Pinterest Smart Feed
Even though Pinterest also behaves like a social network, you don’t need thousands of followers for your content to be seen. In fact, when I first started using Pinterest it generated nearly 3,000 visitors to my blog and I only had a couple hundred followers at the time. How is this possible? Essentially, three different factors contributed to all that traffic – group boards, Tailwind Tribes, and the Pinterest Smart Feed. In this post, I’m going to focus on the Smart Feed and keyword optimization, but if you’re itching to learn more about group boards and Tribes check out these posts:
- How to Find and Join High-Quality Pinterest Group Boards
- How to use Tailwind Tribes to Explode Your Web Traffic
What is this mysterious Smart Feed?
The Smart Feed is a sophisticated algorithm Pinterest developed to deliver better content and enhance the user experience. Before the Smart Feed, your home feed (pictured below) would display Pins from the people you followed in chronological order of when it was pinned. This made a large follower count very important. Enter the Smart Feed and follower count is not nearly as important. The quality of your Pins, the description, and the headline are what matter to the Smart Feed. The Smart Feed pulls content from three sources: repins made by people you follow, related Pins, and Pins from interests you follow. The Smart Feed works hard to display the best content to Pinterest users. If you’d like to know all the in’s and out’s of how the Smart Feed works, check out this post from Pinterest: Building a Smarter Home Feed. Now that you know how the Smart Feed works, how do you use it to your advantage? One word: KEYWORDS! You need to optimize your account and all your content with keywords so your Pins show up in people’s Smart Feeds. So, where do you put these precious keywords? Essentially, you put them everywhere you can! Not only do you want your pins to show up in the Smart Feed, but you also want your profile and your boards to show up in search. However, “put them everywhere” isn’t very helpful so I’ve outlined 6 ways you can optimize your account with keywords. These keywords will allow your target audience to find you – producing maximum results.
1. Business name
Do not put just your name or the name of your business in the “Business Name” section of your profile. This is the most valuable piece of real estate on your profile. In addition to your name or your business name, be sure you include your top keywords so people can find you!
2. “About You” profile description
Work those precious keywords into your description about what you do and who you help.
3. Board names
When naming your boards, keep them short and sweet and keyword heavy. Resist the urge to get really creative or use clever puns.
4. Board descriptions
Pinterest allows you up to 500 characters in your board descriptions so fill those puppies up with keywords describing the type of content you pin to that board.
5. Image name
When you create an image you want to pin, be sure to include keywords in the name of the image when you save it to your computer. Check out the screenshot below from my Google Drive for my previous blog post. I always save my Pin images as the headline of the blog post.
6. Pin Descriptions
This just might be the most important place on Pinterest to insert keywords. When loading a Pin, take some time when writing your pin descriptions. A well written, keyword rich description can get your Pin into the Smart Feed and generate returns for years to come!
Important Tip: Hashtags can help your pin be found by more people! Add 3 – 4 descriptive hashtags to your pin description.
–Now that you’ve learned about the Smart Feed and keyword optimization, it’s time to optimize your own Pinterest account with keywords! And be sure to check back next week for part four of the Pinterest Boot Camp series: Why Pinterest Isn’t Working For You and How To Fix It. I show you what a strong Pinterest foundation looks like so you can take your Pinterest game to the next level!
ACTION ITEMS:
I’m a woman of action, so each post in this 5-part series will list specific action items you need to complete before the next post in the series.
- If you haven’t yet, read Part 1 and Part 2 of this Pinterest Boot Camp series.
- Keyword optimize your own Pinterest account! Not sure which keywords to use?
- Sign up for the Pinterest Traffic Trifecta Masterclass for even more Pinterest tips!
Keep reading >> Check out the next post in this series: Why Pinterest Isn’t Working For You and How To Fix It.
