Photo credit: Chantal Pare (Flickr)
- Distinguish between personal and professional Boards
- Identify your Boards’ draw and never remove it
- Follow other Boards relevant to your targeted niche
- Be specific when declaring your industry
- Find references when deciding your board’s colors and layout
- If you represent a company, show a peek inside
The following is a guest post by Courtney Gordner. Her bio is at the end of the article.
Pinterest boards can be about anything. You name it: food, sports, technology, a specific fashion style… anything. There are also no restrictions as to how little or much cohesion must be upheld on Pinterest boards. Much like a pin board, whose style Pinterest borrows from, the direction and style is entirely up to the designer. In Pinterest’s case, this is you, the user. This leaves you with a very important question: How important is it to keep a Pinterest boards specific to one industry?
Distinguish between personal and professional Boards
The first distinction to make is this: Is your Pinterest board for personal hobbies, or is it for a specific brand? If you are creating Pinterest boards for pure fun, just to share interests with friends and followers, then industry cohesion should not be a concern. A hobby-based personal Pinterest board has no incentive to be industry specific. However, the majority of Pinterest marketing strategies are sought by brands, both of the established and upstart variety. When determining whether or not a brand’s Pinterest board should be industry specific, the difference between personal and professional is a very important distinction.
Identify your Boards’ draw and never remove it
Success on Pinterest is contingent on others following your boards. For sustained success, it’s best to recognize your board’s strengths and weaknesses. In essence, you should ask yourself what it is about your boards that attract followers. It may be original photos, witty captions or how well you engage with your followers. Regardless, whatever is currently generating recognition should not be altered, as there are plenty of other ways to tinker with Pinterest to maximize your audience.
Follow other Boards relevant to your targeted niche
Regardless of whether your board is industry specific, you should make an effort to follow other Pinterest users that are relevant to your targeted niche. You can discover which niche to target by asking the question in the previous paragraph: What is it about your boards that attract followers? If your Pinterest specializes in gourmet Latin food, and you notice that your ‘Recipes’ board is gaining the most traction, you should follow other quality Pinterest boards that deal with food recipes. By engaging with these other boards, you can bring more attention to your own.
Be specific when declaring your industry
Although Pinterest has an emphasis on photos over text, it’s very important to distinguish your board’s exact niche via headlines and captions. For example, if your Pinterest board explores quality examples of web design, separate the various types into boards, like Christmas Web Designs, Summer-y Web Designs, Sports Web Designs, etc. This increases the chance of your Pinterest board being prominently listed in search engines for each keyword. Also, the overall separation appears as a lot less clutter to potential followers.
Find references when deciding your board’s colors and layout
The niche-related boards you’re following will also come in handy when deciding the colors and layouts of your boards. Look at your favorite Pinterest boards in your niche for inspiration. Avoid repeating colors, as colorful layouts often result in a better response than those that are uniformly colored, like Pizza Hut’s bland-looking Pinterest account. Opt for something more like the New York Times’ eclectic design, which echoes the colorful nature of New York City in its display of everything from street food to hair styles.
If you represent a company, show a peek inside
A company Pinterest board can be a great way to connect with customers. In-office pictures of employees collaborating together can provide a company with a very positive image. Corporate identity can be a tricky thing to implement, especially with a startup, but uploading fun company-centric photos can be a great start. It’s also one of several ways you can create a quality Pinterest for a brand without being entirely industry specific.
Courtney Gordner is a blogger with a passion for all things internet, social media and blogging! Read more from her on her own blog, www.talkviral.com