Social Media Marketing World 2013 in San Diego was a conference first of its kind. It was nice to have a large conference that was dedicated solely to social media marketing and not packaged together with SEO, online or content marketing. While I was there I learned some Pinterest best practices that I thought I would share with you.

One of the subjects that I found most informative were the sessions on Pinterest because I know I’m not alone when I admit that I under-utilize this social media platform.

So, without further ado, here are some Pinterest best practices that I took away from Social Media Marketing World 2013.

Pinterest Best Practices

1) Be A Creator of Pins 

Over 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins, and the moral of the story there is be a part of the 20% and be a creator of pins, not just a re-pinner. (Tweet this)

2) Fill Your Boards and Pins With Keywords

This may sound like a no-brainer, but its astonishing to see how may people whiff on this point. Being found just by browsing can be very difficult, and its more beneficial to get in front of the persons eyes who are typing your keywords into the Pinterest search box.

3) Add Text to your Images

Don’t rely on people reading your pin’s description because chances are that they won’t. Adding text on top of your image can increase engagement with your post and can often put it in context. (Tweet this)

4) Make Tall Pins

Tall pins tend to get higher click-through-rates as well as more repins, so when you can, try and make your pins at least 800 pixels tall.   (Tweet this)

5) Pin Things Other Than your Products

There are a wide variety of things you can post that can drive traffic to your site as well as add value to the user. You can post things such as:

• 

  Pinning tutorial images can increase your click-through rate upwards 40%

  Infographics – Don’t have any? www.infogr.am is a great, free tool that provides infographic templates that are simple and easy to create

• Checklists – People love visual checklists and will repin them to save them for later
• Tutorials – Tutorial pins often have a collage or sequence of photos demonstrating how to do something. Tutorial pins often see a 40% (or more) higher click-through-rate compared to other pins (Tweet this)
• Blog Posts – This is a great way to gain traction to your blog. Find images related to your post (you can google non-royalty stock photos to find some) and don’t forget to overlay text on top of the photo describing the post or its title
• Videos – Yes, you can pin videos on your boards as well as images

6) Showcase your Products or Services In Action

When people are buying jewelry, for example, no one wants to see how it looks on a table, they want to see how it will look on them. So take the time to place your product or service in action and take a picture of it.

7) Don’t be afraid to upload your pins in bulk

Now you have to be careful with this one because you don’t want to go and post 300+ photos and absolutely clog someone’s Pinterest feed, but don’t be afraid to upload maybe 10 at a time. Doing this will help your products be seen as they will be grouped together as if it were its own category within the user’s feed.

A special thanks to all those whom I met and learned from at #SMMW13.

-Lance Brown