49 - Tip Tuesday - Pinterest 101 For Business with Cynthia Sanchez

Cynthia of Oh So Pinteresting is the go to expert on using Pinterest for your business, so I was beyond thrilled when she agreed to come on and tell us some tips and tricks for using it.  I am in love with the social media site for my personal use, but I have struggled to figure out a way to use it for my business outside of recipes and basic crafts and products.

Cynthia gave some awesome tips, and some ah-ha moments for really being able to utilize this site to grow your business.  

How exactly can you use Pinterest if your business doesn't revolve around food, crafts, or products?  If you have a business and are offering info, then people will find it interesting.  The key is to have content or images to share on Pinterest on a regular basis that people will find attractive and share on their own boards. Pinterest really revolves around your interests, and that's what it's about, bringing the stuff that interests you, all in one place.   

Are there tips and tricks for really using Pinterest for your business?  It's definitely on a case by case basis, but one of the first things you can do as a business owner is do a search for things related to your business.  Use the keywords you want to target.  Then use those same keywords and phrases and business types to see the engagements within the pins.  Then see what stands out to you.  

Do you find any businesses that really don't have a case being on Pinterest?  The only case Cynthia can come up with is really heavily industrial types of business.  If you're a business owner that is not willing or not able to create regular content, Pinterest might not work for you.  If you're only updating your site once a year, etc, then Pinterest isn't going to work.  The Pinterest community really wants to see new stuff.  If you can take that extra step to create new content, even twice a month, and create pins for it, Pinterest can work well.

Now when it comes to setting up your account, should you be posting business stuff on your personal page, and then personal stuff on your business page?  Cynthnia advises to make sure if you're pinning stuff on your personal page, and that info is generating your business, then that's a business.  Then you should have a business account because according to Pinterest terms and conditions, that's a basic rule you should follow.  If you're not sure if you have a business account, go to business.pinterest.com, and then you can convert that to a business account.  If you're not sure, then go to account settings, and if it says business name, you have a business account.  If it says first and last name, it's a personal account.

As for what to post.  Since I am my business, it's okay to put a personal flare to your boards, but be sure to put those more at the bottom.  If you're a bigger business, where it's not you as the face, then it's better to make it a bit more general, and to not include the personal flares.   If you are your business, you can put some things on there to let them know you.  However, the primary focus of your account should be your customers.  Create a Pinterest account as an extension of your service to your customers.  You can always create a secret board, and then make a few public pins here and there.

How can you get people to start noticing you on Pinterest so hopefully they follow one or all of your boards?  It's similar in what you would do on Twitter, where you would seek out people similar to what you offer.  Get attention by repining and also commenting.  It's not very common to people use Pinterest in that way, so sometimes it can stand out and get more attention.  On Pinterest the comments are kind of a rarity so it could get you more attention.  On the flip side Pinterest is very personal, so they may not want to have it as a conversation tool.  They may not respond, but you still might get noticed.  

Also, look at your competitors to see who is following them, and then follow those people.  Let people know on your other accounts, that you just opened a Pinterest account, and that people should follow you.  

Even if you don't think your ideal client is on Pinterst because it's 'just women'.  Well, even if it's even a male based product, like a neck tie, you have to remember who is buying all those neck ties and doing the research.  Not only does this help you build your presence on Pinterest, but Google and Pinteret play nice too.  Cythnia mentioned how she's seeing more and more Pinterest boards come up in Google Searches.

So should your board titles be keyword rich?  Anywhere there is text on Pinterest, think keywords.  You don't want to go overboard and be spammy.  The mindset of Pinterest is different, it's not about engaging, it's all about the visual search.  It's not the images that are indexed, it's still the text.  Use keywords anywhere that text is available.

When it comes to promoting interviews or podcasts, the typical thing to do is promote it by using the guests' pictures.  However, when I saw you speak, you had said that's not the thing to do.  Can you explain that one a little more?  Since most of your guests won't be known to your following on Pinterest, it may not be as appealing for them to share the pin.  What is better to do is to create an image that explains the post or podcast just a little more.  You can also add a little more text to the picture to better explain what they're going to find within the pin.  

Are there any tools you recommend when making your Pinterest life easier?  There's only one tool called Tailwind as an analytics tool.  There aren't very many 3rd parties tools available for Pinterest because they have kept their API closed for developers.  

You can find Cynthia at Oh So Pinteresting!  

More About Cynthia:    When I first started to use Pinterest in 2011, I noticed that I was saying Pinterest over and over again to my friends and family. I was discovering things online that I would’ve never found before. I found websites and blogs that inspired me to do things, make things and even buy things. I was so amazed by the site that I decided to start a blog about it.

Oh So Pinteresting was launched February 2012 and after a few months I was approached by a company and asked if I would help them with Pinterest and manage their social media accounts. In September 2012, I left my job as a full-time radiation oncology nurse to focus on building Oh So Pinteresting and my business.