💬 Depending on the audience segments that you're targeting, Pinterest is still a strong channel which can contribute to traffic growth (off platform to sites) and the acquisition of users or customers for brands (although as a channel, it's more applicable for eCommerce brands, but there are opportunities for SaaS and other DTC businesses).
As we all know, it's all about sharing awesome content (whether images or video) to maximise reach/views potential - having said that, creating great content alone isn't the only factor that can contribute to growth success on the channel.
💬 I'm sharing below some of the core areas and elements that I've seen work well, that can help scale brands and profiles (with views/followers, as well as external traffic) on the channel.
A recommendation that I tell clients/companies I advise for essentially any channel that they're entering or need to audit, is by looking at what top brands do, as well as what competitors are posting.
It can help set a benchmark and then spot opportunities for areas to get cut-through.
A no brainer checklist point here from me - any content shared on the channel has to be really good and of high-quality to get noticed, which leads to more shares, more views, etc.
And the trick with any good content strategy that I've mentioned across other checklists that you may have seen, and is related to some of the points I'm mentioning in this checklist (you'll see a theme here), to really succeed on this platform, you need to be really good at repurposing content.
That means when you've got an existing content strategy in place, you need to find ways to use existing assets, and then turn them into new assets, like videos/images, gifs (etc.), which you can then posts as pins - and keep repeating that process over and over.
In many ways, 1 piece of content should turn into 10 potential variations.
The real strategy work comes in working out the process of how to scale production of images/videos.
One of the best ways to scale view counts and increase engagement on Pinterest is by sharing a volume of videos per day/week.
Yet coming up with content ideas constantly can be tough, but an effective tactic that can work is by finding ways of editing and repurposing video content into becoming unique assets that you can post.
In conjunction with the above two checklist points, it's worth looking into creating branded templates for certain content themes/categories, plus even for various types and formats (like images/video).
I recommend checking out Canva Pinterest templates and see what's available - best way to speed up content production capabilities.
This is more of a reminder checklist point to ensure to setup a social content calendar, and taking note of key seasonal periods where 'intent' for visitors becomes higher (which means they're in a more 'active' mindset to buy products relevant to what you sell).
Having well-structured Pinterest boards are great for visitors to quickly find content, but also can be effective for SEO benefits, and also through search discovery directly within the platform.
Some brands have done an epic job with structuring their boards.
Something I've seen quite a few brands and even creators do who have grown large Pinterest followings and views, is cross-promoting their TikTok content on their profile.
Whilst I'm not saying you have to do the exact same approach, it's a good example to highlight how you can use existing video assets (even with some slight editing) and use for repurposing onto various channels (like from TikTok to Pinterest in this case).
Pinterest ads can be really effective for certain brands - particularly for eCommerce brands in the beauty, fashion, and home goods/interior industries (as the content types normally shared through these verticals does really well on the platform).
My recommendation here is to promote posts that already have some sort of uptick in organic attention and engagement (or have performed organically well already).
For really igniting organic growth on the platform, you've got to work with Pinterest-specific content creators/influencers. They know the platform and what their audiences resonate with in terms of content within the specific niche.
Plus, they already have clout and followers to prove this - now it's about collaborating with them to get attention in front of their audience.
Tip: On another note, there's more obvious creator/influencer accounts which you can find, but something to consider actually is reaching out to owners of 'inspirational' content profiles (like interior design or luxury car pages) - I mean the ones where they're not really a brand or influencer, but post awesome content and have large followings/views.
Related to the above in terms of finding distribution through existing Pinterest audiences, the same strategy initiatives applies to complementary brand partnerships - why not help each other with follower/view reach and growth?
Collab on content topic areas that make sense for both brands, and then promote via other channels.
One thing to keep in mind is developing good Pin descriptions, but also, including the headline of the content you're sharing.
The thumbnails for videos, in particular, really do matter when it comes to improving CTR in a crowded feed.
The ability to post rich pins can be easily found via posting content on your profile, but the main takeaway here is to create product rich pins.
They're great because they can pull in the met data 'auto-magically' for you - meaning it can pull in your product info/data from just the URL itself.
All you need to do is add a tag to your store/site, and info will be automatically pulled from the product page (incl. price, availability, and more).
Just like what I've mentioned in the social proof checklist for website CRO, if it makes sense for your brand and product offering (and you're really proud of the content you promote on Pinterest), consider an embed to have on the site.
Analytics as we know is the one of the key areas to know when it comes to improving/optimising campaigns and channels, and luckily enough with Pinterest, they have native analytics available.
There are also awesome 3rd-party platforms too where you can use the data to do more advanced insights.
And also by using UTMs with pins, you can even check out Google Analytics to see popular posts, types, time on site, etc (which I always recommend checking with any channel you work with regardless).
Of course, one of the foundations to being successful on this channel is having a great profile - taking into account all the above checklist points (especially with boards/categories), but also ensuring to have a well-optimised bio and background pic.
And also, looking into applying to become a verified merchant on the site (the blue tick you see on profiles).
