New to Pinterest? Where to Start

When you think social media, your mind automatically skips to the giants Facebook and Twitter right? Though they are growing moguls, Pinterest's third place finish isn't something businesses should overlook. Though the learning curve is still steep, businesses are working to create their own Pinterest accounts, pin boards, and are uploading pins as a way to grow and promote their business.

Karen Leland, author of Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business, created none other than a "pin" to promote the ten ideas she recommends businesses use if they're trying out Pinterest marketing for the first time, or are looking increase their Pinterest followers.

Of the ten ways listed, cross promoting your businesses's Pinterest page with other types of social media applications you already have in place would be my greatest recommendation. Linking Pinterest to your business's blog, tweeting pins or showing the items you've pinned on Facebook are simple ways to drive traffic to your Pinterest site. In my mind, the rest of the steps will fall into place but not until you have a strong following. 

What's Pinterest's draw? For starters, Pinterest allows for search engine optimization so boards with similar tags and descriptions are showing up in Google's search results. Individual Pinterest boards can be optimized too, so be sure to title each board in a way that will direct customers to your site. Optimization also picks up on the description for each board, so using keywords will also increase traffic and Google results. 

Pinterest's web traffic referrals have leaped and bounded to a 66% growth in 2013. Were you one of the businesses who helped make the statistic? If you weren't, create a business page on www.pinterest.com to make the stat jump even higher in 2014.