Pinterest – Pin Your Way to More Sales

Pinterest is a graphic centric bookmarking website that allows users to “pin” images and videos to virtual pinboards. Others can follow you, or your particular pinboards and re-pin the content to their own pinboards that you share. Because Pinterest is very visual in nature not all businesses need to use Pinterest. However, if you can find a way to visually create content that is worth sharing with your target audience then Pinterest could become your new best friend.

Before you decide to use Pinterest in your business you must work out the following

Determine Your Strategy

If you have the steps you’re going to take planned out before you start you’re likely to experience more success. What kind of boards are you going to create? What kind of content do you want to put in each board? Try to think of at least five different boards that you can create and know the content you’ll put in it before you start.

Create a Great Pinterest Profile

Don’t hide your profile from search engines, and ensure that you use keywords where you can inside your profile where possible. Remember keywords and #hashtags are very important on Pinterest so that people can find your profile and / or pins when they do a search.

Create Pinable Content

Remember the content should be a graphic, or a video. If it’s not a beautiful graphic no one is going to look at it, much less re-pin it. If your business is word centric you will need to think outside the box. Can you make an awesome infographic from a blog post? Can you post some beautiful videos? And, remember — All the content you post needs to be engaging, relevant to your business, and focused on your target audience.

Interact With Others

Like with all social media, interaction is key. Always re-pin, “like”, and comment on pins that you enjoy. You can also have contests where you pin a picture of participants and winners to a board. Whatever you can do to increase the interaction on social media it’s always a good thing.
You have a lot to think about when it comes to Pinterest and whether it’s the right place for your business to be. It’s not right for everyone, just like all social media sites aren’t right for everyone either. Be honest with yourself and your ability to either hire someone to create wonderful graphics for your Pinterest boards and then create a plan and just do it. You’ll be surprised at how much you get in return when it’s right.

Instagram – Picture Perfect Marketing

Instagram has been around since 2010, and is one of the fastest growing social media tools. It was first introduced as a way to add interesting filters to your images taken through your mobile phone. Soon after it was released, millions of people jumped on board, and businesses realized the marketing potential. Each month, there are approximately 100 million users of Instagram, so it is no surprise that small and large businesses are utilizing the many benefits.

Here are some ways to use it for picture perfect marketing.

Learn How to Use Hashtags

Similar to using Twitter, hashtags (#phrase) are used to help people find your pictures. When using Instagram, you can use hashtags in the picture’s description. So if you type #beach into the description of your picture and someone is searching for an image of a beach, yours pops up.
This works great for marketing, as someone may be looking for a product or service, to which your image and website link comes up. If you are avid Twitter (and now Facebook) user, you already understand the basic fundamentals of hashtags. Begin using them on your Instagram descriptions. The same goes for your Instagram profile.

Engage With Others

Like other social media networks, marketing on Instagram is only successful if you engage with others. In order to get consumers to follow you on Instagram, you need to follow them. Start by finding Instagram accounts of people in your niche market.
Whether that is single moms 25-40 or teenage boys 13-15, you have a market of people on Instagram. By following them and interacting with them on a regular basis, they start taking notice to you. Comment on their pictures, and engage in the discussions relevant to your niche, or what you are an expert in. By continuing to engage on a daily basis, you grow your followers and marketing potential.

Share Images of Products

If your business is in selling products online or physical products, Instagram is perfect for you. Get some interesting pictures of new products like shoes, clothing lines, jewelry or sporting equipment, and post on Instagram with relevant hashtags. This is going to announce to your followers and other Instagram users what products you are currently promoting. It is a fast way to get these newest products seen by the masses.

Hold Contests

Another way to use Instagram for marketing is by having a contest. People love winning free stuff, and contests can be a lot fun. They also have the benefit of getting everyone engaged, having users announce your Instagram account to others, and gaining a huge following with one simple contest.
For example, you can create a hashtag for the contest, and ask your users to post a certain picture (you choose the subject) with that hashtag you chose. At the end of the contest, look up all images with the haghtag you created, and use an online random generator, like random.org to choose a winner. The winner can win a free product, or whatever else you decided on.
There are dozens of ways to use Instagram to your benefit. Since online users love interacting with others and looking at interesting images, it is a great step toward increasing your fans, followers and potential customers.