How to Generate Leads with Pinterest

Not a trend, Pinterest is here to stay…at least for a while. Here are some facts to back the hype for using Pinterest for your business and quick how-to for getting started on generating leads through this social media platform:

• As of September 2013, there are 70 million users on Pinterest
• There are about 500,000 Pinterest business accounts.
• 80% of total Pinterest pins are repins.
• Pinterest has approximately 2.5 billion monthly pageviews.
• Amount per order that Pinterest shoppers spend: $140-180

Share Multiple Types of Content

First, it’s a great idea to share different types of content on your Pinterest account, because there are essentially two types of leads you can generate through Pinterest content: direct leads and indirect leads. Direct leads point users to a landing page on your site where they can enter their information in exchange for your content (such as a newsletter or coupon). Indirect leads are when you share a piece of content on Pinterest that points users to valuable information but is not the final destination landing page where they share their personal information.

Board Variety, Range and Simplicity

Second, create a wide range of boards that your potential customers will want to discover. As a tip, Pinterest users love practically anything that is Do-it-yourself, so if you can think of a way to provide content that shows people how to create or do something valuable related to your industry you’re off to a good start.

Also, don’t overcomplicate your board names. Keep them simple and catchy so they can be easily found when users search for specific topics.

Image Pinning Best Practices

So, what about the types of images you should be pinning? While there is no exact science to pinning quality content, there are some tips you can follow based on recent Hubspot data, such as:

• Tall images get re-pinned more
• Red/orange images get pinned more than images that are primarily blue
• Brand images without faces get 23% more repins than those with faces
• Bright/light images are re-pinned 20x more than very dark images

Next, it’s important to use the description box wisely. You should describe the pin in a sentence or two and also include a shortened URL with tracking parameters so you can measure the success of your Pinterest campaigns. Also, add a hashtag or two if relevant to your image so that people can discover your pins more easily.

Promotion and Distribution

Finally, promote your pins across other social media channels and be sure to monitor the success of your Pinterest marketing efforts with the use of Google Analytics and other marketing tools.

Happy Pinning!