Five Ways To Improve Your Pinterest Profile
Pinterest is all the rage these days, isn't it? What was first just a way for people to pin recipes they will never try, has now grown into a full blown search engine.Did you know that Pinterest is the second most used search engine that is non-Google owned? That is insane!Maybe you think your Pinterest strategy for your business is currently working. I mean, you pin your blog posts, re-pin a few other people you follow, and you're done.WRONG. To get the most out of Pinterest, you need to have a consistent strategy. There should be a reason behind why you do anything for your business, including how you use Pinterest.Today, we talk about five ways to improve your Pinterest profile and how to be seen by more followers.
Five Ways To Improve Your Pinterest Profile
1. Pin on Saturdays, afternoons, and evenings
You mean I have to spend my Saturdays stuck on Pinterest?! Not necessarily, but we'll get to that later.Think about it. A majority of the U.S. population have a typical 9-5 job. They are busy during the weekdays because they are at work. They aren't browsing Pinterest (unless they're killing time...) during the day because their focus is elsewhere.Pinning during other people's down times is the most ideal, because it will make their Pinterest feeds when they are browsing.Does this mean you have to spend your Saturdays pinning content on Pinterest? Nope! There are programs out there that can automatically pin for you on a schedule. Check out Viral Woot, ViralTag, or Tailwind for scheduling your pins.
2. Pin tutorials or guides
Tutorials, guides, DIY and recipe pins have a 42% higher click thru rate than any other pin. You can create a tutorial or guide for practically any type of small business.A great way to come up with a topic to use for a tutorial that people are interested in would be to use Google Trends.Google Trends is a free and easy way to figure out what is trending on Google (i.e. what are people searching for).Say you are a DIY blogger. Before the holidays get into full swing (think end of October/November), search "DIY christmas," as pictured below.
See how people are searching for DIY gifts? Use this information to craft your next blog post. Put together an ultimate guide on DIY gifts to give during Christmas. If people are searching for it on Google, they are most definitely searching for it on Pinterest too.
3. Edit the alt text on your images on your website
This is a major must-do if you don't already. You might be sitting there thinking, "alt text...whaaa?" Yeah, I did too. It's actually pretty simple though!The alt text is what pops up as your pin description when people pin an image from your website.Here's an example:
See where it says "alternative text?" That is where Pinterest pulls in the pin description.
Here is an example of what it looks like once you pin it on Pinterest.
4. Edit your profile description
Your profile description is the introduction to your Pinterest profile. This brief, 160 character description should summarize what your business is and what type of topics you will be pinning. Below are a few great examples:
See how they each describe what they do and give a sense for what they will pin? Viewers want to know what type of content you pin before deciding to follow you or not.
5. Create clear, descriptive board names
I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but you gotta give up the cutesy board names. I know, I know. But you worked so hard on crafting the most clever board name! Well, the bad news is, you're making it harder for people to find your boards.For one, people want to know what's on the board before they start following it. If you have a board entitled "yummy food for my tummy" that's great and all except...it's kind of a mystery what exactly will be pinned on the board. What type of food? Any type of food? What's yummy to other people might not be yummy to others. See how their could be a confusion?A better way to name the board would be "Healthy Dinner Recipes." Descriptive and to the point - healthy dinner recipes. No confusion there!
