The role of a digital marketing agency is to stay one step ahead—knowing and understanding new social trends and platforms. Although Pinterest was created nearly a decade ago, brands, bloggers and designers are still learning how they can benefit from using the platform in their marketing. And today, it’s more relevant than ever.
As a visual search engine, many qualities set Pinterest apart from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even the latest and greatest, TikTok. These same qualities can help grow website traffic through your Pinterest page. At the 2020 Design Influencers Conference, the ultraviolet team got to meet and speak with Kyla Herbes of House of Hipsters, a home decor and lifestyle blog, that has become a top interior design resource. There Kyla gave a super insightful presentation featuring her best practices for marketing on Pinterest. If you weren’t able to catch Kyla’s presentation, don’t worry—we have helpful hints and pointers straight from her on how you can tell your story on Pinterest today.
Let’s jump in!
uv: How has Pinterest impacted your brand?
kh: Pinterest has pretty much touched every part of my business. Not only is it one of my biggest traffic drivers, but Pinterest, the business itself, found me on Pinterest.
They reached out in an email asking if I was interested in doing some graphic design work. At first I thought I was being “punked” by a friend and deleted it. My husband said, “maybe you should take another look at that email”. I wound up working freelance for a few years, creating promoted pins for Pinterest’s brand partners. That experience really taught me how to market my own brand.
Pinterest also collaborated with me on their Pintervention with BravoTV. One lucky winner received a bedroom makeover designed by me. Also, I spoke about best practices at In The Making, Pinterest’s first conference for creators.
uv: How do you use Pinterest differently from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? How do your audiences differ on each?
kh: Unlike the other platforms, Pinterest is not used socially. When you think about it, how many times have you commented on a pin? In that rare occurrence you did comment, did you receive a response? Probably not. Pinterest is a place for discovery. A place to share and find inspiration for yourself. I pin and save content that is primarily not owned by me.
When it comes to Facebook, I’m sharing links I think my community will find interesting and content I’ve published on my blog. Instagram is primarily my interior design work or vintage pieces that were purchased from my brick and mortar in Barrington, IL. Every once in a while, I will feature or regram a space I love (with proper credit of course).
I love Facebook and Instagram because that is where I can converse with my little HOH community directly. That doesn’t happen on Pinterest.
I’m not very active on Twitter. I found it quite entertaining the night Sharknado first aired and I’ll check it during the MTV Awards for snarky tweets, but for the most part, Twitter is not my jam.
uv: Why is putting the content from your blogs on Pinterest important?
kh: If you don’t pin your content, who will? The first thing you should do after pressing publish on a blog post is pin it. Share it everywhere. I’ll admit, it took me a couple years to figure that concept out. I thought it was a bit narcissistic to pin my own work. But it’s really just another form of sharing, discovering and helping.
That concept is key. Channel the word helpfulness to create a soft sell on your brand. Add a little call to action in the description or text overlay to lead that user back to your blog. You’d be amazed what adding, “for more info click over to…” will do to add traffic to your site.
uv: Why do you think it’s necessary to share other people’s content on your Pinterest?
kh: You do not want to scream, “follow me” on Pinterest. Pinners are using the platform to discover ideas, not you. Again, channel helpfulness.
uv: Spill about Pinterest group boards. Are they effective for you?
kh: When you pin to a group board, you are sharing your content with the group board owner’s followers. It’s a whole new audience and reach.
Can’t find a group board? Create your own and invite other like-minded pinners to join. If you’re a brand and you know interior designers and content creators out there that use your products in their designs, invite them to your group board. If you’re a blogger, invite your blogger friends to share their content.
See how you’re channeling the word helpfulness without really trying to sell anything? It’s kinda magical.
See Kyla’s skills & style for yourself on her Pinterest.
uv: Why are keywords important when you are naming your account, boards, and pins?
kh: You really have to think of Pinterest as a search engine. By adding keywords your content is becoming searchable. Make it easy for pinners to find you.
uv: Why is resharing older pins no longer a best practice?
kh: Repinning is not necessarily bad practice, but pinning new content is highly encouraged. If you think of it from Pinterest’s perspective, they want to have the latest and greatest ideas and trends searchable on their platform. They don’t want the same pins from 2015 pinned and repinned again. Pinterest wants to stay current.
uv: What is your advice to a brand/designer who is not using Pinterest?
kh: What are you waiting for? Get on it now and start pinning for your business. It’s not too late. If you don’t have time, find someone like me who does social media consulting as a business. I do everything from setting up your account properly to keywording to creating pins and maintaining your Pinterest account. I’ll even sit down and just teach you the basics if you’re feeling overwhelmed but still want to do it yourself.
Pinterest is a powerful marketing platform that brands are just starting to figure out. Get on it and start pinning.
Pinterest allows brands to have fun and get creative. It can also help them elevate their brand visibility and bring traffic to their site.
Now that you’ve heard from a Pinterest pro, what’s holding you back from starting your own page?
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