Pinterest is worth its weight in gold when it comes to website traffic and converting social network followers into customers. Brands like Martha Stewart and Hearst Corp’s digital media outlets have found much higher conversion rates, thanks to the hidden value of Pinterest’s longer content lifecycle, than any other social network, combined.
However, Pinterest is not a network of brands. It’s a network of bloggers and power Pinners, like Melissa Taylor, Brittany Cozens, and Kirsten Kuehn, and hundreds of others who’s followers run into the millions. With Twitter that happened to celebrities and media companies first; with Pinterest we are witnessing the rise of the tastemaker. What is the secret to growing your brands followers on Pinterest like a pro?
Brittany Cozzens: Be Creative
Brittany Cozzens has over 3 million followers on Pinterest (3,046,632 to be exact), and she’s only a freshman. Brittany is studying marketing, with a major in advertising, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Her advice, from an interview with Hello Society is to put serious thought into the visuals:
“My advice to brands looking to advertise on Pinterest — be creative! Since Pinterest is such a visual platform showcase the products being used in real scenarios and not just displayed by itself. When photographing products for your website take into consideration aesthetic appeal that pinners would appreciate.”
Kirsten Kuehn: Audience First
Kirsten Kuehn launched her very successful wedding e-commerce site, Kirsten Kuehn Designs, after producing her first range of wedding dresses in 2009, after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. She now has over 670,000 followers on Pinterest and is considered one of the more influential wedding tastemakers on the social network.
Kirsten thinks carefully about the images she pins, how they look, their descriptions, and how they reflect on her brand and designs. She lives and breathes the products, which is how she is able to curate what works well with her audience. The result has been an increasingly large large volume of traffic to her website, resulting in a high conversion.
Melissa Taylor: Be Consistent
Melissa Taylor is the author of Pinterest Savvy: How I Got 1 Million+ Followers, and now runs an online course, Pinterest Saavy, for those who want to grow their followers with the same success as Melissa. She went from joining Pinterest because all her cool blogger friends were on to having over 1 million followers after only 9 months. She currently has nearly 1.5 million followers, 121 boards and 7,959 Pins. “Focus on being awesome, not getting followers,” Melissa advises. When I asked her to expand upon her secret?
“Consistency, I pin frequently, and quality, I won’t pin images that aren’t beautiful or don’t seem like engaging content for my readers. Also, focus. I only pin what I think my followers will like — not every interest of my own.” The spike in followers happened as a natural extension to her passions. It was only during summer of 2012 when she noticed her blog was getting over 300,000 readers per months, and most of those were coming from Pinterest referrals, when she took notice.
One way brands can look for authentic, interesting new content is go small in order to win big. A fellow power Pinner Melissa interviewed for her book, Zina Harrington of Lasso the Moon recommends: “Follow[ing] everyday people with good taste” Instead of only following recommended taste makers, because everyone has already seen their content. “There are many fish in this creative ocean. Look for smaller friends and your repins will feel fresh.”
For brands looking to leverage the vast potential of Pinterest these are the methods which have worked well for influencers and bloggers. Think of your audience first, be authentic, be consistent, and put in the work and your followers will increase.
Dominic Tarn is EMEA Head of Marketing for <Pinster,> a <Socialrithmic> product. Supercharge your Pinterest efforts. Follow us on Twitter <@pinsterme> <@socialrithmic>
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com
