7 Ways to Turn Pinterest Pinners into Customers

Convert pins to sales with these simple Pinterest integration strategies

When it comes to social shopping, Pinterest beats Facebook every time. A recent survey by Bizrate shows that 69% of online consumers found an item they purchased or wanted to purchase on Pinterest compared to Facebook which came in at only 40%.

Pinterest users also say that the site helps them stay in touch with brands they like, find great deals and keep up with trends. Additionally, 70% of online consumers say it’s the place they go to get inspiration on what to buy. More importantly, Pinterest shoppers spend an average of $170 per session. Facebook shoppers come in around $95 and Twitter only $70.

Want some of that for your business? Try these 7 techniques for turning Pinterest pinners into customers:

  1. Post original and helpful content   80% of Pinterest pins are repins, so you can stand out simply by bringing something new and interesting to the site. Post high quality, sharp images with bright colors and think beyond static photos. Create and upload photo tutorials, infographics or lifestyle shots that include your brand.
  2. Don’t pin only photos of your products   This sounds counter intuitive, but the most successful branded Pinterest accounts hardly ever promote their own brand. Instead, they build boards based on the ideal lifestyle of their target consumer. L.L. Bean sells clothing but their most popular board, Woodland Creatures, features nothing but photos of animals in the woods. That board has over 4,000,000 followers.
  3. Tell a story with your description  When you upload a photo, take the time paint a picture in the description box. Don’t just describe the photo; tell a story from a personal perspective. What’s interesting about this photo? How does it make you feel? Use plenty of adjectives and keywords and go easy on the hashtags. If you can be funny, go for it. Funny sells.
  4. Use the “Rich Pins” option when possible   If you sell products, post recipes or promote movies, Pinterest gives you the option of posting important details with every pin. The Rich Pin system adds pricing, product ids and availability to your product pins. Recipe pins can show ingredient lists, cook times, and yield while movie pins show genre, actors and ratings. Rich Pins make your photos more engaging and informative which will result in more clicks and more shares.
  5. Make sure your photos post with a full link   Pinterest doesn’t like link-shorteners. If your images post with a short link, pinners will get a suspicious link warning when they try to click through to your website. Pinterest says they block shortened links because of misuse and they believe pinners should know where they’re going before they click. And though pinners can click through the warning page, the majority of them will say no, then move on to your competitor.
  6. Run a Pinterest contest   When you run a contest on Pinterest, every person who enters helps you spread the word about your brand to their followers. There are two ways to run a Pin it To Win it contest. One is to create a unique hashtag then ask pinners to post their entries on their own boards using your tag. When the contest is over, simply put the hashtag in the search box to see all of the entries. The second way is to ask Pinterest users to enter by repining photos from your boards. To see the entries, type your account name in the search box and check “All Pins.”
  7. Use Pinterest analytics   Pinterest recently started offering analytics to business customers. You can see how many people pinned, repined, and clicked. They also offer up numbers that represent your reach on the site and the number of impressions. If your numbers aren’t rising then you need to rethink your strategy. Begin by checking the tabs for “Most Repinned” and “Most Clicked.” These are your most popular pins so keep giving the people what they want, even if what they want only represents a small portion of your business.

By incorporating these simple Pinterest integration tactics into your social media management strategies, you will earn more fans, brand advocates and generate sales directly from your social media.

 

One thought on “7 Ways to Turn Pinterest Pinners into Customers”

  1. Nice article. There are some great insights here. I had not thought about hosting a Pinterest contest before, but I will have to apply that!

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