Brand Your Boards

Branding a business starts with the website, but also encompases social media, marketing campaigns, promotional events, billboards, commercials, etc. etc. etc. By creating a brand image and mirroring that across all business accounts, people will begin to recognize your logo and connect it to your services.

Branding your business's image with a stand-out color scheme, profile picture, or logo is all it takes to create a professional look on the internet.

1.) Choose a profile picture that is recognizable to your customers.
     The profile picture you choose should represent your company to your followers. If you have a logo that is widely known, utilize it. If you don't have a logo, but your name is your logo, create a profile picture that simply displays your business's name. If you have an up-and-coming business, make sure people know what type of business you're running or what you sell so they can better understand what you have to offer. Choose a color for the picture that represents your brand.

Alex and Ani use their name in their Pinterest logo, along with a heart logo. The simple black and white colors are not distracting or loud, but rather classy and simple just like the brand portrays on their website. 

Lululemon's profile picture shows the simple logo that people attribute to the popular brand of work out attire. Rather than using their name in their profile picture, the brand uses their signature colors and simple logo on their Pinterest account. 

Lilly Pulitzer chose to use their signature pink color as their background and used an overly of the scripty white Lilly Pulitzer logo. Simple but effective, the profile picture brands the Lilly Pinterest account. 

2.) Use Your Name

     When you create your profile page, choose a name that represents your business. Although obvious, use your actual business name. Don't use fillers in hopes of making your name appear in searches more frequently. Instead, use the description below to fill in users with the type of business, products, or services that you have to offer. 

3.) Keep it Consistent

     A Pinterest account has its own section for a description. Use words that describe your business, but remember hashtags have no effect in this section. Keep the style of writing and description of business similar to those posted on other social media accounts. Most businesses use the same base of information on each social media account, but choose to elaborate on specifics special to the type of social media being utilized. 

     Each board created on Pinterest is subject to its own board title and description. Choose words that represent your brand. Using the above example, Lilly Pulitzer, created boards with titles such as Resort Hopping, Life's a Party, Lilly 5x5, and Resort Pinsipration. Each of these titles are used elsewhere in  marketing tactics of the Lilly Pulitzer brand and are recognizable to women who shop the Lilly brand. 

The Resort Hopping board's description is, "All the places we've been or are dying to go! Meet you there!  The simple, yet understandable description tells users what the board is about. 

4.) Develop Boards and Pins 

    To start, check out the list of boards that Pinterest has already created. They range in type from women's fashion, food and drink, celebrities, design, cars, and home decor, just to list a few. Narrow down the list, and sort out the topics that are most relevant to your brand. 

     Lilly Pulitzer created boards on womens fashion and patterns, two very relevant topics to the brand. By choosing these two subjects to focus on, the boards are more apt to views because of the narrow subject area. 

     Pins on each of the boards are of Lilly Pulitzer products, patterns, and styles relevant to the brand name. By creating boards with actual products as well as other non-relatd items, followers deem the brand to be more credible because products aren't being pushed all of the time. 

5.) Create Board Covers

    The board cover photo should represent what's inside the Pinterest board. For example, below users are able to see that the Printed board is filled with prints of fabrics. Judging from the cover of the Lilly 5X5 board, drawings relevant to the Lilly brand are pinned to the board. 

     

Now you must peruse Pinterest, analyze your competitors, and boost your boards with branding! 

The Force of the #Hashtag

Before the rise of social media, the "#" or number sign as it was known, was used on t-shirts, coffee mugs, or key chains to let you know who was #1!

Mother's Day, Father's Day, Boss's Day, were always celebrated by giving mugs, cards, or awards with #1 "whatever" inscribed on the front for everyone to see. In sports, players were often awarded with #1 Athlete or on-lookers referred to themselves as a team's #1 Fan.

Well, those days have changed. The "#" no longer means number one anything, but rather can determine what is #1 in trends, in people's searches, and what's popular.


Where Can #'s be Used?
On the Pinterest website, the hashtag links pins by using the # in the descriptions of pins. The hashtag has no effect in the names of boards, descriptions of boards, account descriptions, or profile names. Hashtags only create links when used in the description of pins.

In search function on Pinterest, I entered #pinterestmarketing. Below, you'll see the results that Pinterest found with the hashtag entered in the description of the pin.

What Does the # Do?
The hashtag connects words and phrases to others who have used the same terms. For example if a user is looking for information or pins of a certain subject, they can easily be connected if there is a # in the description of the pin.

Even if there is not a # in the description, the search will still recover results with the word in it.

If the search results are the same then why use a #?

The use of the # creates a link with other related information. When you hover your mouse over a hashtagged phrase on Pinterest, the phrase turns a light grey. When clicked, it will take you to a page of pins with the same hashtag. 

Below, you can see where my mouse hovered over the #pinterestparaempresas because it is a lighter grey than the second hashtag. 

 

Learn the Basics from the Best

"Pinteresting" is more than a hobby, its an art. An artform that millions of men and women spend hours on each and every day. Finding, clicking, and saving pictures of products and ideas for later references fill peoples's time before breakfast, during lunch breaks, and before bed each night.

Pinterest is also an art that has marketing agencies drooling at the mouth. With endless possibilities of expressing a business's identity, agencies are now trying to make the Pinterest boards of their clients stand out. 

Below are a few of the best examples I've found on the web. Each of these businesses have found a way to identify their boards and reflect the style of their business in the pictures, names, and descriptions of boards. Whether they are simple, extravagant, or funny, each of these well-known companies have found their niche. 

Be Specific

Anthropoligie created a board with one specific idea in mind, for this brand it was aboard about different ways to style denim. The single board is about a specific topic, narrowing the search terms and therefore giving people exactly what they're searching for. 

The More the Merrier 

HGTV is working its way toward 100 boards and 10,000 pins, which also boosts how often their pins appear on pages. Its clear their 391,000 followers like what they see. 

Know Your Audience

Southern Living knows exactly who their readers are and what they're interested in. They can then use those interests as subjects for their pin boards to expand their brand to others who may be interested in those same topics, but are subscribed to the magazine. 

Be Creative

Whole Foods describes itself, so to creatively attract new followers they amped up the name of their Pinterest boards. The fun and catchy titles supr interest in those who see the pins on their pages. 

Keep Up With the Times

JCrew creates new boards as seasons change. They keep their most relevant boards on the top of their page so people who visit the profile are greeted with the season's hottest products. 

Pin Regularly 

Mashable has this covered. By pinning regular and socially relevant content Mashable has created a following of more than 1,000,000 people. 

Be You

Ellen Degeneres is known as a witty, care-free, talk show host who loves to laugh. The boards on her Pinterest profile reflect that, showing her true personality. 

Customization is Key

Country Living Magazine has uploaded their own pictures for each of their boards. The script laden cover photos create more of a magazine feel, which is their specialty. 

Are there any others I left out? I'd love to hear from you! 

A Pinterest Find....

As I was browsing Pinterest (ok maybe it was two hours and a bowl of popcorn later), I came across this pin about using Pinterest for business. I loved this particular infographic for two reasons: 1.) the information is top-notch and useful and 2.) the design of the pin itself. 

After clicking on the pin, I was directed to its source, http://www.agentmedia.co.uk/social-media/pinterest-for-business/, which is the site for a digital marketing agency in the UK who specialize in marketing via social media channels. 

The infographic had new information that I hadn't considered adding to Pinterest before, for example in their section on "What to Pin" they suggested to add photos of the workplace culture and employees, customer testimonials, and blog posts and resources. Because most people don't have a vested interest in what offices or employees look like, I find this a hard idea to promote. 

However, if it was in the right industry, such as fashion or food, people might recognize fashion moguls or be interested in their closets, photo shoots, or makeup studios. Possibly creating a board solely for this idea would be worthwhile. This idea takes a little more convincing for me!

The image optimization tips are so important! "Make sure to pin quality photos with great visual appeal," is one of the most important tips that cannot be stressed enough. People rarely, hardly never, refuse to repin images that are blurry, dark, or hard to see. My ensuring that the photos you upload and share are of good-quality, your pins have a much higher chance of being repinned by other users. 

The section on Making Pinterest work for your business makes several very valid points. Adding a "Pin It" button or "Follow Me on Pinterest" button is easy to do- the directions are even on Pinterest! This addable option gives users the opportunity to save pictures and links to your site, all with the push of a button. 

Is Pinterest Really Worth My Time?

Yes. 

Yes.

Yes!

Pinterest is worth your time in gold! 

Trying to cover all of the bases when it comes to social media and business is overwhelming. How do you know what works and what doesn't? Sure there are fancy analytics, firms who charge arms and legs, and people who analyze social media sites for a living. 

Maybe those options do not fit well with your budget or your employees. Maybe you're looking for the social media sites that would best fit your company or maybe you're just interested in your competitor's social media sites. No matter your motive, a simple Google search will tell you everything you need to know about the top social media sites of 2013. 

AddShoppers compiled a breakdown of 2013 social commerce, showing how each of the major social media sites compare. Pinterest was the largest site to drive sales with Facebook following in a close second. But when total number of users are compared, Pinterest's statistics really pop. Facebook currently has 1.3 billion account holders while Pinterest only has a mere 70 million. With less than half of the traffic Facebook drives, Pinterest still managed to drive the most revenue in 2013. 

Pinterest also won the most shares on the top social media sites, according to AddShoppers 2013 breakdown. What does this mean for you?

The products your business sells are very important, but so is your time. If you're wondering how to maximize both of those areas, look to increasing shares on social media. By creating content that is captivating and engaging, followers are more likely to "share" the media with their friends and followers. Shares come in the form of Pins, retweets, shares, forwards, mentions, or even + if you're on that rocky Google+ boat.

By upping the number of shares your products receive from the public, you're going to reach a larger audience without much investment. Shares increase the organic reach of the information your business is trying to "sell" to potential customers.

Shares are also arguably considered to be more reliable than traditional marketing techniques because the information is coming from people who others already know and trust. I would be more willing to buy a product my friend has already tried and loves because I would know that it actually works. This type of marketing is more valuable than money, and can even driver bigger sales than traditional marketing methods.

Pinterest's Pin It button is another value-added button for users. Designed with Pinterest users in mind, the Pin It button can be added to internet browsers so any item on the internet can easily be embedded into a Pin. For example, if a user clicks the Pin It button while on a recipe website, each of the pictures on the page are able to be used as pins. The pin will link back to the recipe, bookmarking it on the individuals pin board.

From a marketing standpoint, it is even more valuable. The Pin It button is able to link to the page to purchase an item. When shopping for shoes, a user might have several pairs in mind. By pinning the pictures of the shoes, the user can then go back later and click the link.

Pin It buttons create not only links for users, but also generate shares on Pinterest as others choose to pin the content. Individual companies are also able to add Pin It buttons to their websites, or may even appear when hovering over images.

No matter how users go about pinning images, the Pin It button is a marketer's dream come true. Without even spending a dime, images of products appear on Pinterest organically from users.  The descriptions some people leave under pins only add to the increased amount of positive marketing exposure.

http://www.business2community.com/pinterest/pinterest-consultant-reveals-11-astounding-new-pinterest-facts-0782067#!w429V

How-To Track Pinterest Engagement

Once a business understands the basics on how to utilize Pinterest for marketing, the next step is to collect and track their views. In this post we will take a look at what those numbers mean for businesses and how to better understand the impact they have. If you're just joining the blog, check out the first several posts on how to get started with business Pinterest pages here.

More time spent on Pinterest = More infographics found = More shared on the blog 

Win/Win/Win Situation! 

I came across this infographic turned pin, and really liked how it showed users the number side of Pinterest, and how meaningful those impressions, repins, and likes are to a business's Pinterest page. 

Special thanks and credit goes to http://www.bitrebels.com/social/17-statistics-pinterest-marketer-track/, for such a great graphic!