How to Hack Your Presence & Make the Most out of Pinterest 

by Dana Kelly

Just thinking of the word “Pinterest” elicits a mental moodboard of hosting hacks, dreamlike bridal showers, recipes for the perfect chocolate chip cookies, and DIY projects that elevate any standard living space to Apartment Therapy status. As we enter the age of the “buy it” button, these once distant, aspirational products and lifestyle brands have become that much closer (read: one click away).

My personal insufficiencies in the DIY and party planning departments aside, Pinterest is making huge strides. The social network is valued at $3.8 billion, and is becoming a smarter investment for brands, pending they commit to maximizing the platform’s functionality and strengths.

Below is a quick list of Pinterest hacks to help jumpstart new Pinterest community growth and lay the foundation for monetization.

Content Creation

Pinterest content plays by its own set of visual rules. Did you know that vertically oriented visuals go viral at a higher rate than horizontally oriented visuals? Or that showing a person’s entire face often restricts an image from going viral? Are you up to date on the functionality nuances of hashtags on Pinterest? While these details can seem arduous, creating and sticking to a design and copy style guide will help your pins work harder with Pinterest’s Smart Feed. Staying up to date on high performing pins and content best practices can lend itself to platform growth and increased content exposure by means of the visuals themselves.

Content Cadence

Pinterest demands more content than other platforms, and relies heavily on both original and crowd-sourced assets. Per Pinterest best practices, brands see the most success by pinning at least 5 times every day. The platform’s algorithm encourages daily brand publishing, and that’s a lot of content! If you’re pinning a range of visual content at least 5x a day, every day, that’s 1,825 pins minimum in one year. For many companies, this is not a feasible commitment to one small piece of the business. The short-term solution? Start slow, test, and scale up. Consider starting with 15 pins a week, and slowly build up your target audience. At 15 pins a week, that’s 780 pins for the year. When considering production, identify how many pieces of original content you can create in order to meet your goals. A good benchmark that is the oft thrown around ‘80/20 rule’ or, in other words, create conversation about your brand in 20% of your posts, and dedicate the other 80% to genuinely engaging content for your consumers.

"if you're pinning content 5x a day, every day, that’s 1,825 pins minimum in one year." 

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The Ecosystem

The majority of Pinterest content is pinned from across the World Wide Web. You know - blogs, editorial sites, shopping hubs, etc., rather than uploaded directly. This is an indicator that Pinterest should be represented across your brand’s digital footprint. Making your website’s content pinnable is a crucial first step, and verifying your Pinterest account with your website allows for much more detailed analytics and conversion analysis. Employing Rich Pins, which are pins that contain more detailed information than a standard pin, should absolutely be built into your ecosystem if your brand or blog falls into one of the following categories: app, movie, recipe, article, product, or place. You can learn more about implementing these free tools on Pinterest’s Business hub.

The Community 

This should not come as a shock, but interacting with the Pinterest community at large is the only way to truly understand your demographic and their content aesthetics. Like, comment, repin, and follow away! You’ll create a more meaningful user experience for yourself and your potential consumers.

Content Distribution

Content creation and engaging with your community are the fundamentals, but how do you get new eyeballs on your content? You’ve spent a lot of time and effort on these assets! You deserve some validation! Building distribution tactics into your overall Pinterest strategy will ensure that your content gets the visibility you’re looking for. Working with influencers to curate and host group boards around moments or occasions is an extremely effective way at achieving organic growth and impressions, as well as providing the added value of more original brand content. Pinterest also has a range of new promoted pin options and more traditional media buying capabilities if you are looking for more guaranteed results and hard data.

If e-commerce is an extension of your business, it’s time to consider Pinterest. It’s the digital DIY cult we all deserve, even if you've been hesitant to dive in.

Follow @createcultivate on Pinterest. We just got started, so we're taking Dana's advice to heart! 

Dana Kelly is a content strategist by trade and subscribes to the notion that life, lifestyle, and the left coast are what matter most. The California native spends most of her days at Mistress, and has a deep love for words, wine, and great in-flight entertainment.