Pinterest has recently become the third largest social media site in terms of traffic, and it is sitting pretty behind the social giants, Facebook and Twitter.
Pinterest’s growth has been astounding and no one could have predicted the site would rise to stardom in only 24 short months. Since its traffic explosion, webmasters and marketers have been using creative ways to market their products and services and bring more attention to their brands.
The method to Pinterest’s madness is to get your images re-pinned as many times as possible to encourage viral activity and consequently increase traffic to your website.
Dan Zarrella, social media scientist, just released his latest study on “how to get more repins for your images.” He gathered data on over 11,000 pinned images. Dan measures real-time activity and publishes the report of his findings via useful infographics.
Description Length – Each pin contains a field where users write descriptions specific to the images. Many webmasters include their website address and related #tags to help Pinterest users discover the images when searching.
According to Dan’s data, 200 character descriptions seem to be the sweet spot with a noticeable dropout for descriptions containing 400-500 characters.
Most Repinnable Words – Food-related pins are very popular as are images about design. Here is a look at the top words users pin on Pinterest.
Correlation of Comments and Likes to Repins – Based on the data, it seems that an image with more “Likes” is shared more than an image with more comments. Dan suggests aiming to write “likeable” content, rather than “commentable” content to maximize your chances of getting repinned.
Image Height – Taller images have a better chance of being shared and repined. The data is neutral for images from 200-700 px but it changes once the image height reaches 800 px. We still do not know if an image larger than 800 px would decrease engagement, but for right now, around 800 px is a good fit.
Dan is working on some more data to publish in the future.
Pinterest Marketing Strategies
Now that you know how to get more repins, here are some creative marketing strategies to help you increase traffic to your website.
Pinterest Page – Create a Pinterest page on your website where you showcase creative images designed specifically for Pinterest. Relate these images to your brand and give users an incentive for sharing them. Zulilily created a page called “Zulily Pinables” and rewards users credits towards purchases for sharing the content.
Instructional Graphics – Infographics that provide useful information spread quickly on Pinterest. If your audience can learn from instruction of any type, instead of writing a blog post, assemble the information into an infographic. It doesn’t necessarily have to be indsutry-related but it must solve a problem for your audience.
Contests and Promotions – Brands are running contests and giving prizes away for users who re-pin their content. The same strategy can be applied to creating a “promotions” image and publishing it.
Tip: Be sure to read Pinterest’s terms before running a contest. And vary your pins to include more than just YOUR content. Treat your Pinterest profile as you would any another social profile by refraining from excess advertising. Pin useful information your followers would desire and sprinkle in your own content as well.
Jenna Scaglione is a content writer, internet marketer, and a lover of family, friends and life. Jenna enjoys learning, growing and discovering the newest and latest trends on the internet. Known as "Lady Content", she lives in sunny Socal where she helps her clients around the world increase brand awareness on the internet through content writing and social media.
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