Maximizing content outreach with Pinterest

Social media has the power to give your brand’s content a broad reach across different corners of the internet. Although many brands and organizations will often prioritize popular platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, some will either disregard or forget about another important platform that can help them maximize their outreach: Pinterest.

Pinterest currently stands as the 14th largest social network globally, with over 430 million monthly active users and 5 billion searches every month. Given these numbers, brands and organizations should consider using Pinterest to increase awareness, increase page/website traffic, and, if applicable, increase sales. To help brands and individuals use this platform effectively, we have formulated a list of three tips that people should pay attention to as they embark on the Pinterest journey.

1. Optimizing your account

Setting up an account may be easy, but making your account easily searchable externally and internally is not. Your page should be fully fleshed out with your username/handle, a profile picture that is synchronized to your other platforms, an ‘about me’ section with your full (brand) name, a description of what you’re doing/selling, a link to your website, and links to your other platforms. By doing this, Pinterest can be used for search engine optimization (SEO). Hongmei Shen, a San Diego State University School of Journalism & Media Studies Professor, said, “All kinds of businesses would want to optimize their search engine results. They should optimize; otherwise, people won’t find them. SEO is a must.”

Claiming your accounts from other websites, such as YouTube or Etsy, so that your content coming from these sites is attributed to you when someone shares it on Pinterest, is a critical step to take. Claiming your accounts can also help you monitor your brand’s analytics by collecting data from any post that is coming from those claimed websites. By optimizing the full profile settings, you can reap the benefits of Pinterest analytics to view extensive copies of your data.

2. Generate boards

Pinterest boards can be used to create inspiration for an idea, and this should be utilized for your brand. Becoming active on the platform by generating pinboards can boost your engagement and awareness on the platform, especially when attaching other users’ pins. When it comes to targeting your audience, Pinterest is known for being a women-dominated platform, but recent data shows the gender divide on Pinterest may be narrowing as its users are only 60% women. By tapping into Pinterest’s ‘visual discovery engine’ and creating these brand-inspired boards, you’re able to lead your audience and followers to a visual education of your brand and an exploration of your ideas.

3. Upload/Repost content into pins

Your created pins will create the most traffic if published correctly with a keyword-rich description and embedded links within the pins. Marianne Atienza, Media and Investor Relations Manager in the corporate PR industry, said, “What will catch their attention? Which keywords will help them to understand/receive the message as intended? And visually, what graphics appeal to the platform’s group?” With the 86.2% audience overlap Pinterest shares with Instagram, it might seem easy to repost photos from there or other platforms to satisfy your pin creations, however, there are specific size graphics recommended to make your images stand out. It’s also important to note video content is also growing on the platform, meaning still visuals are not the only sources of inspiration on the site.

Pinterest may not be everyone’s preferred channel, but the platform can serve as an essential tool to get creative with content-sharing, increase engagement, and apply more inspirational connections to your brand.

By Aria Mallorca

Aria Mallorca is a senior at San Diego State University, pursuing a bachelor's degree in Public Relations. She also has an associate's degree in communication. Due to previous experience with her interviewing web series, Strictly Unconventional, she has a background in editing experience with audio, video, and copyediting pieces from social media content to managing plans.