Pinterest is becoming a great force for self-promotion online that can rival sites like Facebook and Twitter itself. On a recent article, the news media company Buzz Feed has said that Pinterest has become the second best traffic referrer for said site.
So, how to make Pinterest work for you?

Here are a few tips and trick on how to get the best out of your pinning experience:

1. Pin It buttons, they’re useful!

These buttons will get you noticed on Pinterest. If you add these people can pin your content and images a lot easier. For example: when allrecipes.com added the Pin it button it led to 139 million impressions after about 50,000 recipes were added by people from their site. The power of the Internet is awesome, isn’t it?

2. Ideal Description length

First, make your pin descriptions be a bit longer than a tweet. It has been proven that longer descriptions increase the chance of re pins. So, make each description count, make the best use of those 500 character limit. Somewhere between 200 and 400 is the sweet spot.

3. Set up rich pins

The more information you add to a pin (price, link, address, phone number, basically how to make it easier for them to get their hands on the product offered), the more you profit! Rich pins will rank higher and make it more likely for your pin to be found through Google searches.

4. Rank for keywords

Optimize your description to include relevant keywords. Take a look at tools like AdWords will give you a broad idea of what buzz words to include in your descriptions. Don’t go crazy though, since unlike a few years ago, with the changes google has made to their web searches, a ton of keywords will likely be reported and will not give you the desired effect.

5. End your description with a call to action.

This comes from the old blogging days (ohhh, the good old days) where the blogger would command their viewers to do something like: follow this link, click here or the like. The CTA is still very relevant and you should end your Pinterest description with one, such as: click on the picture, keep reading here… or the like.

6. Use Group Boards Wisely

Another way to promote yourself is group boards. This is an underutilized tool that is provided by Pinterest, with it you can potentially have thousands of people providing fresh pins that are relevant for your niche. Imagine if you then promote a product to all those that will be attracted to the frequent influx of content? Imagine what it can do for your blog or your site. So, get cracking on the group boards.
Oh! And don’t underestimate the value of subscribing yourself to a few group boards yourself. The rationale here is that those group boards (if you pick correctly) that have thousands of contributors will show up on your profile, so you’ll be that much more appealing to a potential follower. In essence you contribute to the group board and the board makes you more attractive at the same time.

7. Timing is essential

Experts say that the best times to promote your blog posts on Pinterest is 2, 4 and 8 pm. This time is where your audience is most willing to re pin your blog posts.

8. Go Niche. Go Hard.

Don’t be afraid of going out of your niche. Since Pinterest allows you to pin on more than one board, you are likely to share space with people that will not necessarily be your target market. Don’t be afraid to explore different opportunities. For example, share your hobbies, and interact with people that are not precisely there for your blogs or posts, but rather are there to share on your hobbies. Later those people can become clear followers.

9. Pin offers to expand your subscribers

It’s not easy to build a large audience for you email list, but thankfully Pinterest can help you with this as well. Create pins that forward to an e-mail sign up form on your website. Create an offer, maybe a video or ebook, and afterwards upload an image that advertises what you have to offer. Make it possible for your visitors to redeem the code, and receive the awards.

10. Promote your pins

Pinterest has recently announced that they’re opening up their Promoted Pin functionality to U.S. businesses. Just like Facebook promoted posts, these pins will show up in people their newsfeeds, creating a bigger audience. In general Promoted pins are shared about 11 times, this can lead to 30% more exposure for your pins. It might not come cheap, but it’s well worth a try if you’ve got the funds.
Another alternative is working with influencers through platforms such as HelloSociety and Vizified. Influencer marketing is becoming one of the most effective ways to attract customers and clients. Vizified receive 500% more engagement on average than Pinterest promoted pins!
So if you want to maximize brand awareness through optimum pin engagement and in turn boost sales influencer marketing is your no.1 choice.