10 WAYS TO USE PINTEREST TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS

pinterest marketing

If you’re looking to expand your efforts on social media, consider Pinterest one of your next platforms.

With over 100 million active users, this image-based social media site has the potential to help you reach even more customers. Since Pinterest focuses on your visual interests, you will do well if you appeal to your customers desire to eat, drink, travel, shop, or create.

So if you’re looking to get started with Pinterest, use these great tips to expand your network and send traffic back to your website or blog.

Pin Your Blogs

If you’re blogging, you can increase the number of people who view the post by sharing it on Pinterest. The key here is to have a strong image that will compel people to click through to your site or repin your post. Use the pin description field to describe what people will get out of the blog post to further entice them to read it and share. It should be descriptive and concise similar to an “elevator speech”. And don’t forget to include for better search indexing on Pinterest.

Pin Your Products 

If you sell products, make sure to use the Pin It button on each product image on your website to increase the likelihood that people will share it on Pinterest. And again, make sure your images are visually appealing and professional. In the pin description, be sure to include a the sale price and a link back to the sales page so that potential customers can make direct purchases.

Timing is Everything

Specific categories on Pinterest tend to do better on certain days of the week, so do some research to find out when people are most likely to care about your target categories. Also, test out different timing for your shares. It’s been shown that 2 to 4 pm, as well as 8 pm to 1 am are prime times to attract attention and therefore more repins, but see what works with you own audience.

Curate Great Content

Your Pinterest account shouldn’t be a billboard for your business. You can – and should – also share other content that’s relevant and of interest to your followers.

Curate content from all over the web by pinning things to your Pinterest boards. Create specific boards that cover very specific topics and include your own comments in the description when repinning or sharing content. For example, if you sell fashion, you could have a board called “Fashion Week 2017” and display photos of the best fashion week styles. This tactic most likely won’t drive traffic to your site, but it does establish you as a leader in the field due to the useful information that you share.

Just Ask 

Just simply asking your audience to repin, comment, or click in your description can increase engagement by a whopping 80%! Just stick to one call to action (CTA), otherwise you may confuse people. Decide what has the biggest value for you for each time you pin: a click to your site, a repin to reach more people, or a comment to promote engagement. The more repins an image has, the more it’s likely to attract, so keep that in mind.

Be a Good Friend

Pinterest is a social network. That means you’ve got to give a little to get something in return. And sometimes you have to give a lot and just stick with it! To that end, repin other users’ pins, comment on them, and tag them to engage in relationship building. After all, that is what social media is for. Hopefully you will be so good at building the relationship that they demand to use your services or purchase your products.

Keep Your Content Relevant

Start out by searching for pins that relate to your business and create boards based on the most popular pins. You want all your boards and pins to relate to your business to keep in line with your brand’s messaging.

Consider Buyable Pins

One of the coolest features on Pinterest is Buyable Pins, which allow users to buy a product with the click of a button on a pin of a product. This has significant opportunity to increase revenue since users don’t have to leave Pinterest to make purchases. They no longer need to go to your site and hunt for the product they want to buy.

Establish Goals

Simply pinning images and links on Pinterest isn’t going to make you a marketing success. It’s important to set objectives for what you want to accomplish. Would you like to attract 50 new followers a week? Increase click through to your site by 30%? By when? Define very specific goals outlining what you’re hoping to achieve. Review and assess goals regularly.

The Metrics Matter

How can you know if your efforts on Pinterest are doing your business any good? Now that you’ve set your goals, look at the relevant metrics. If you’re looking to increase followers or pins, start tracking those numbers and look for an increase over the time period you chose. If you want to increase traffic to your website, look at your Google Analytics to see how many visitors came to your site from Pinterest.

Pinterest is a fantastic addition to what you’re already doing to market your business. Keep your efforts consistent and vary the types of images and links you pin. Happy Pinning!

 

15 Amazing Ways to Build Your Email List

email marketing tips

A list of engaged email subscribers is worth its weight in gold for marketers and business owners alike! It is one of the most effective and reliable marketing resources. A good list is so valuable that it can’t be bought. Why? Because when subscribers sign up for your list, they’re signing up to hear from you and your company. Subscribers have to be earned.

This marketing tactic allows you to fill your audience with people who are genuinely interested in your brand and what you have to say. They are engaged with your company on social media and on your own website.

With information collected during sign-up (and in subsequent offers), you can precisely segment your list and design your email communication to suit your reader’s preferences.

As you attract qualified leads, you’ll be able to guide them through the decision-making process by aligning content to specific buying cycle stages. In others words, effective email marketing can carry an interested prospect all the way to the end goal of converting them to a paying customer.

What are the best ways to build a list? Below are the top 15 tips for building a massive email list.

Offer quality content.

Nobody gives up their email address for free. If you want to build a valuable relationship and engage your audience, you need to provide content that is worthwhile and interesting. This is one of those time when knowing your target audience is so important. Customize your content to speak to your specific audience’s wants and needs.

Put sign-up forms on every web page.

Your sign-up form should be everywhere your potential subscribers are. Make sure it’s visible and easy to fill out. Add it to your Contact page, your landing pages, and anywhere else your customers may look for contact information. In addition, consider using gateway and exit pop-ups to collect subscriber information. You may find pop-ups annoying but there is a lot of research stating they they are quite effective for growing your email list.

Use social media to collect email addresses.

Integrate your sign-up forms with social media platforms. Driving traffic from multiple sources allows you to build a strong email marketing list much faster.

Design your sign-up form carefully.

Ask only for information you plan to use. A good rule of thumb is that less is more — the shorter the signup form, the higher the conversion rate. In other words, keep it simple, stupid (K.I.S.S.)!

Show your privacy policy.

Inform your readers that you will not share their personal information with third parties. A clear privacy policy helps you build trust and convince visitors that it’s safe to subscribe.

Show samples of your content.

Let your subscribers know what they are signing up for. Use your older content samples to “sell” the email sign-up.

Include a call to action.

Put a call to action (CTA) in your submit button, e.g. Sign me up! This makes the sign-up process more engaging and improves the conversion ratio. Design your CTA using a clear font and bold colors such as blue or orange.

Give away freebies.

This is otherwise known as the lead magnet. As stated in the first tip, no one wants to give away their information for free. So offering a lead magnet that provides your audience with valuable information can be critical in getting their contact info. Brainstorm ideas for a relevant incentive for your audience. Your lead magnet should solve a problem or provide actionable information. E-books, infographics, checklists, and whitepapers are all great examples of a good lead magnet. Less than 10 pages is best as this should be something your audience can consume in a relatively short amount of time. And don’t forget to include your contact information as social media links as well.

Ask subscribers to share.

Sometime if you want something all you have to do is ask. Take the time to prepare valuable, shareable content. Remember that putting the social share buttons is not enough; you still need to ask your subscribers to use them.

Build a content distribution strategy.

Producing great content is only half the battle. Make sure it’s visible to the right audience. Once you define your target audience, find out where they like to congregate online. Then choose communication channels accordingly.

Publish landing pages.

Create a squeeze page where visitors can download premium content in exchange for their email address. A dedicated web page helps users focus on the call to action and increases conversions.

Include testimonials on your landing page.

Social proof helps build trust toward a brand and its products. Use testimonials from satisfied customers to help visitors make a decision. Testimonials can be in multiple forms including written and video.

Blog regularly.

Great content brings more traffic. Develop a realistic content publishing schedule and stick to it. At a minimum, you should be publishing at least once per week.

Guest post on popular blogs.

Publishing your content on other blogs is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry and introduce yourself to new people. Include a backlink to your blog, and your blog’s search rankings will go up.

Collect email addresses at offline events.

Be ready to collect email addresses at trade shows and conferences. Ask for business cards or instantly add people to your list directly through your email provider.

It’s time to get started.

Now you know a handful of great ways to build one of the most effective marketing assets — your email marketing list.