It’s has been quite the year for the visual social media site, Pinterest. Whether you’re a lifestyle company, a shopping site, or an individual trying to develop your own personal brand, we all know that Pinterest is a great vehicle to help you achieve your goals. But simply having a presence on the site and getting the most of it are two entirely different animals. Posting a great image can increase traffic, get you more pins and repins, as well as improve your overall presence on the platform. Fortunately for all of us, we don’t have to spend our time experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. In a recent post off of Social Media Explorer author, Mitt Ray, outlines some excellent advice on creating Pinterest images that people will love to share.
1. Use Relevant Labels on Your Images
Great Pinterest marketing really beings with the images you publish on your blog or website. Ray recommends one of the first things that you need to do is to come up with relevant labels for the images that you publish. When someone pins an image from your website or blog post, a label is automatically generated in that image’s description. “When you give your image a good name, it’ll automatically have a good description when someone pins it,” says Ray. I realize that this may be time consuming, but Ray believes that this is the minimum you should do when posting images on your site.
2. Write a Test Message on top of Your Images
Take advantage of the entire image. Because so much real estate on the site is dedicated to images, it’s important for individuals to take full advantage of it. The best way to maximize this is to be sure to add text to the top of your images. Ray points out that “If you visit the popular section on Pinterest, you’ll notice that most of the images have a description in the description box, directly on the image itself or on both.” He advises out that often a plain image alone may not make the most sense. If you take advantage of some of that empty space inside by placing a text description, people will not only see a cool image, but also immediately understand what the image is about. Take a look at the example below.
Wong Ching Ya wrote 19+ Facebook Timeline Features and Resources You Should Know! on the cover image of the article. Now, when you come across the pin on Pinterest you won’t have to look at the description to know what the image is about. Two great tools to accomplish this are Snagit from TechSmith and Gimp.
3. Brand Your Image
“When you add your business name, website or logo, you’re also making your images more effective,” says Ray. It’s always a good idea to try and brand your image in some sort of way. Whether it’s by incorporating your company’s logo, some form of type (like a Twitter handle), or in some other way, it’s always a good idea to try and tie your images back to your organization. This way you’re not only exposing your branding to immediate fans, but to others as well when they view the repins.
4. A Little Encouragement Can Go a Long Way
“Some people decide to use Pinterest cautiously to avoid possible copyright issues,” says Ray. While there is certainly a bit of a gray area surrounding the copyrights of images uploaded to Pinterest, there are some things you can do to help spur the sharing of your images. For example, adding a simple message like “Feel free to pin” or “Feel free to share on Pinterest” is a good way to help get people to overcome their concerns and start sharing your images. Additionally, studies have shown that when you place a strong call to action in posts on social media platforms like Facebook, it actually increases the number of likes or shares you get. So, it’s not a stretch to think that trying this tactic on Pinterest will have similar results.
5. Keep Descriptions Short
Creating beautiful images is only half the battle. It’s also important to pin your images with a description. That said, a big, long description doesn’t do you any good. In fact, it’s proven that if you keep your image descriptions somewhere between the 200-300 character range you’ll have the best chance of getting a repin. Not a whole lot of space, I know. This makes it even more important to write a good description. According to Ray, “A good description that tells the story behind the image can capture followers and make your pins more shareable.”
So there you have it, five good tips to help you get the most out of your Pinterest images. Have any good tips of your own? I’d love to hear them. Share them with me below.