Pinterest: 10 Quick and Easy Tasks You Can Do Right Now
If you’re confused by Pinterest, there’s no need to be. You can start pinning for yourself or your business right away. For this post, I’ll skim over a few basics, and then get into some tasks you can do immediately. And I’ll make it as quick and easy as possible!
Set up a Business Account
Set up a Business Account
If you haven’t set up a business account, go to Pinterest’s blog for the easy setup. Don’t forget to verify your business account, too. Skip this step if you’re on Pinterest for fun, of course.
Your Action: Set up your business account.
Create 5 Boards
Create Five Boards
Yes, you could create more, but start with five boards with five pins each. That’s quick and easy, right?
Your Action: Set up boards with simple names to reflect your business interests. For instance, if you sell windows, you could have boards about Glass, Architecture, Shades, Window Boxes, and Trim.
Make ‘Em Pretty!
Make ‘Em Pretty
Your board covers need to be pretty! Guys, that includes you, too!
Your Action: Choose the best of the five pins and make that your board cover. Here’s a post that includes how to create better board covers, by the way.
Pin Descriptions
Pin Descriptions
Of the pins that you pinned, are they filled with keyword-rich words?
Your Action: Put yourself in the shoes of someone searching on Pinterest. Would they find your pin?
Pin At Good Times
Pin At Good Times
If you’re only pinning in the middle of the night, you’re going to get middle-of-the-night results!
Your Action: If you only have a few minutes, pin at 6 pm. That’s when most people are on Pinterest.
Find Your Analytics
Find Your Analytics
Click the little gear at the upper right of your Pinterest account.
Your Action: Spend 10 minutes getting cozy with your Pinterest analytics.
On the first page of your analytics, you’ll see the above screen, or something like it.
Check Your Own Website’s Impressions
Pinterest By the Numbers
In the screenshot above (Find Your Analytics), you can see some of the ups and downs of the numbers. If you hover over what interests you, you can see more details. Here I’m interested in activity from my website. Check the impressions from your own website. Go to the top right (third panel, above) and click More. You will see impressions from the past week, by default.
Your Action: Check the impressions for a pin that got repinned and see what you did right! What was the subject of the pin? (To check when a pin was pinned, simply click on the pin and you should see how long ago it was pinned to the top right.)
It’s All in the Details
It’s All in the Details
Check the details. I’m interested in the spike shown on April 10, above.
Your Action: Choose a pin and check the details. See the impressions, clicks, repins, and likes. Below the Top Ten Impressions, there’s a list of places where your pins got repinned. Skim over it–don’t spend a lot of time.
Follow One Pin with the Highest Impressions
Follow One Pin with the Highest Impressions
Here’s where it gets interesting. One repin onto a board with very high traffic caused all of the 4565 impressions, above. Pretty neat!
Your Action: See where your highest pinned pins got those impressions. Above, you can see that one repin caused a number of clicks. Is that something that you could replicate?
Be a Tortoise Not a Hare
Be a Tortoise Not a Hare
Pin steadily. Don’t worry too much about daily fluctuations in analytics.
Your Action: Commit to pinning five minutes per day. If that’s too much, maybe five minutes three times a week.
Bonus!
Bonus Tip
Once you’re a regular pinner, you may want to do more.
Your Action: Create one board of your highest ranked pins. Use your analytics to find, say, your pins that got more than three pins. Or five pins.
What Would You Recommend?
What quick and easy tips have helped you? Let me know in the comments! Thank you!
Pinterest: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)
Top Ten Pinterest Tasks
You may have seen my previous post on Top Ten Twitter Terms. Here are the first tasks you should tackle on Pinterest. If you’re more advanced, skip to the “Power Tips.”
Set Up Your Profile
Fill out your profile. Go to “Settings” on the top right, scroll to Profile, upload your picture or avatar and fill out the “About You.” Connect your Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can invite friends at the top left of your home page. If you plan to sell on Pinterest, you’ll need to set up a business account.
Power Tip: Use Location for a short descriptive sentence, if you prefer. Make sure to click “save settings.”
Create Boards
Boards are how you organize pins on Pinterest. Choose an easy name for your boards—nothing fancy. For instance, Blogs, not Words Words Words, will be found easier. Create a category and description for each board. And, since Pinterest is a visual medium, make sure your board covers are pretty!
Power Tip: Create at least 5 boards of 5 pins each before you start following anyone. People want to know what your pins are like, and what your interests are before they’ll follow you.
Add Pins
A pin contains an image and description. Upload an image from your computer using the red plus icon at the top right of your Pinterest account, or use the Pinterest browser button, available from Pinterest.
Power Tip: Fill out each pin’s description completely. If you’re repinning, change the description to make it yours. Think about how people would search for that pin. For instance, if you’re pinning a watercolor painting, you could use the words, water color, painting, and art. You might also add the dominant colors and the topic, since people sometimes search that way.
Find Others to Follow
Pinterest is visual, so make your boards pretty!
Click on the icon–which turns red when you hover over it–in the top left corner and you’ll see all kinds of categories. Explore your interests and find boards and pinners to follow.
Power Tip: You can follow a single board or an account. If you don’t like one or two boards, follow all, then unfollow the boards you don’t enjoy.
Repin
When you find a pin, either through search, or through discovery in your own stream, you can repin it. When you repin it, change the comment.
Power Tip: Click all the way through a pin to discover where the pin leads. If a pin leads nowhere or to spam, don’t repin. You can report spam and Pinterest is pretty good at removing it.
Like
A “like” is not as strong as a repin. You might “like” a pin rather than comment, if it’s outside your niche.
Comment
People rarely comment on Pinterest. It’s a very powerful way to be noticed by influencers.
Power Tip: If you want to be noticed, comment. You can ask questions or tag others in a comment, too.
Give Credit
Pinterest usually gives credit to the destination of the original pin. Authors and artists also appreciate getting credit.
Power Tip: If you don’t know whose image you’re repinning, you could ask your followers right in the comment of the pin, such as “Does anyone know whose image this is or have any more information?”
Know Your Audience
As with all other social media platforms, know what people are looking for. For instance, if you’re a spa owner you might also pin tips on relaxation, how to get good sleep, smoothie recipes, etc.
Power Tip:After awhile, you’ll get a feel for what your audience likes by what gets repinned. Repin more of the popular content.
Clean Up Boards
Occasionally, you can delete pins that don’t get much traffic.
Power Tip: At first, none of your pins may get much traffic. If you believe something will get traffic (but wasn’t seen the first time you pinned it), you can repin it to the top of the same board, and delete the one further down.
Did I Forget Anything?
Please let me know in the comments! Thanks!