Articles

How to improve engagement on your Pinterest profile

Beth Michon

Of the seemingly infinite social media platforms that are available to us in this day and age, Pinterest and Instagram are by far my personal favourites. Having been a member of Pinterest since 2010, and an avid frequenter of Instagram since 2012 I’ve watched these previously underrated social media forms bloom and blossom into the marketing powerhouses they are fast becoming. And this year Michon joined the growing number of businesses and brands using both Pinterest and Instagram to promote and inspire a following.

This week I look closely at Pinterest: recent trends, facts and figures, how you can optimise your pins and tips to increase engagement.

Pinterest has grown exponentially in the last two years, with businesses opting to showcase their products, services and work on this visual social media channel. Acknowledging that culturally we would now rather be marketed to visually, over traditional copy-driven advertising. Aspirational imagery sells in one simple pin and since Pinterest introduced promoted pins back in early 2014, brands and agencies have been snapping up the opportunity to tell their story, sell their products and offer their services in this way. And it’s working. A study done earlier this by Millward Brown showed that of 2,000 people surveyed 87% of those made purchases as a direct result of Pinterest.

It’s becoming so much easier to integrate Pinterest into our daily lives. With the rapid improvement in camera-phone technology it’s now easier than ever to take professional style images and promote your pins at the mere swipe of a finger while on the move. It’s how we prefer to interact with social media on the whole. And Pinterest itself announced back in 2014 that over 75% of Pinterest activity now takes place on mobile devices.

Since its launch back in 2010, Pinterest has had a largely female following. And although women continue to dominate the platform in 2015 (approximately 80% of subscribers on Pinterest are female), the number of male Pinterest users has increased by 120%, opening up this platform to a much wider and diverse audience.

Business engagement with Pinterest is set to continue as analytical tools continue to improve and provide helpful insight on your followers and potential audience. You can track how your audience interact with your pins, as well as discover how you can optimise your pins to improve engagement. Check out the analytics on your Pinterest profile here.

Top five tips to improve social engagement on Pinterest | Michon Creative

Tips for increasing engagement on Pinterest:

  1. Pin more often

    So this may be obvious, but the more you pin the more engagement you’ll have. Depending on the amount of content you want to share, it’s recommended to pin a minimum of 5 times a day, with up to 30 pins as a maximum to improve audience engagement.

  2. Use analytics to establish the best times to pin

    Analytics can provide great insight into exactly when your audience is most engaged in your content. Typically weekends, afternoons and evenings are the key times when people most use Pinterest. And you can drill down even further to learn which type of pins work best on certain days throughout the week. For example, fitness and health related pins spike on a Monday!

  3. Detailed and targeted descriptions

    You can include a description up to 500 characters long with your pins, and 70-100 characters are visible before clicking through. Remember to include searchable keywords relevant to your content, to help get your pins in front of the right people! You can also add hashtags to improve your pin’s reach.

  4. Make your pins actionable

    People are more likely to click through to your pin if they get something out of it. Rather than just pinning a pretty picture, make sure your pins link to relevant and informative content, or enable your audience to purchase a product or service. No one likes dead links!

  5. Mobile-friendly pins

    Optimise your images for mobile use and tap into the 75% of Pinterest users that pin on the go! Sizes of mobiles and tablets vary, so make sure your descriptions can be seen across all devices – 75 characters is the average length that will show up on iPhone, Android and iPad.