Pinterest is an amazing resource for driving targeted traffic to your Etsy shop. In fact, unlike other social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest is designed to perform like a search engine where people can discover new content quickly and then save that content to their own boards.
In addition, with Pinterest, pins don’t expire or disappear in a sea of posts like most social media posts often do. That means they are always visible and can end up going viral at any time – even months later!
The organic reach that you’ll get from Pinterest is also far superior to that of Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
The most important thing when it comes to building an audience on Pinterest is that you spend time every single day pinning new content.
In fact, consistency is often the one thing that’s missing from those who struggle to build a successful business.
You want to be diligent in actively working on boosting exposure and cultivating a loyal customer base. Doing so will set you miles ahead of the competition.
It all starts with creating a fully optimized Pinterest account that clearly defines your brand, activates the search engine algorithms by sending signals as to what your business is about, and then siphoning traffic to your shop.
Again, keep in mind that Pinterest is a search engine rather than a traditional social platform like Facebook, so you want to focus on integrating targeted keywords into your account wherever possible, such as on all your boards and pins so that you are maximizing visibility based on specific search queries.
To get started, if you already have a personal account, you’ll want to upgrade to a business account at: https://pinterest.com/business/convert
Not only will this help you build a professional presence on Pinterest, but it will give you access to important data that would otherwise be unavailable to you.
Next, Pinterest will ask you where you’d like to start. Click on “Showcase your Brand”.
Next, you’ll want to add a profile photo. If possible, you’ll want to use a picture of yourself, but you can always use your Etsy logo or a mascot that represents your brand.
The key is to maintain a consistent theme across all platforms. So, whatever business name and profile photo you use on Pinterest should also be used on Instagram, your blog, Etsy, and/or your Facebook business page.
The important thing is to include 2 or more keywords in that field. Again, you should always include your primary keyword in your business name field.
Example:
Your Printable Business Name: Keyword, Keyword, Keyword
Now it’s time to apply for rich pins.
Rich pins are an upgraded version of regular pins that can help increase visibility and overall engagement. The rich pin content is pulled from your blog titles and posts, or if pinning from your Etsy shop, the pin will pull content from your product listing title and description.
But the greatest advantage to using rich pins is that your pins will include a Follow link, whereas pins that don’t have rich pins enabled will not.
In addition, unlike regular pins, rich pins will also include a link to your main Pinterest profile, further encouraging engagement!
Now, before you’ll be able to activate rich pins, you’ll need to create one post on your blog. It doesn’t matter what the content is, it’s just used to verify the metadata on your website.
So, create a post on your blog and save it. Copy the URL at the top of your blog post. You’ll need it in the next step.
Now, you’ll need to visit: https://developers.pinterest.com/tools/url-debugger/
Enter the URL you just copied into the text box (your blog post URL) and click Validate to complete the process.
Now you’re ready to to level up your Pinterest marketing game, which means you’ll want to sign up for Tailwind here: http://tailwindapp.com/
When it comes to reducing your workload, staying consistent and getting the most out of your Pinterest marketing, nothing beats the power of Tailwind.
TailWind is a robust scheduling tool that will allow you to set up bulk pins so that they go out automatically at pre-determined times.
Not only does it put you in full control of being able to schedule your pins so that you’re not spending hours a day updating your Pinterest account, but this tool will show you the best time of day to post your pins to maximize exposure.
To start, create your free account and then you’ll be prompted to connect your account to Pinterest.
Once that’s done, you’ll also be able to download the Chrome plugin so that Tailwind can go to work directly in your browser.
One of my favorite things about Tailwind is the in-depth analytics they share with you.
This allows you to quickly track performance so you can see how people are responding to your pins and monitor your outreach, including follower growth.
The better you understand your audience by monitoring what pins are getting more likes and saves, the easier it will be for you to create additional boards that are bound to drive in traffic.
