B2B Marketing & Pinterest: 5 Tips for Becoming the Ultimate Pinner

http://www.marketo.com/

                                   

Posted by:Chris Russell | May 7, 2012

Want the skinny on using Pinterest to promote your b2b marketing? Follow these five tips and kick-start your brand’s expansion into this emerging social media phenomenon.


1. Advertising and infographics rule the b2b marketing pins
Today, B2B marketers can get tons of great examples of award winning infographics and advertising campaigns on Pinterest. For that alone it’s an amazing resource. However, for other types of marketing, well, my fellow marketers, we have some work to do. Imagine a Pinterest page filled with pins of amazing fashion, inspirational interior design, stunning landscapes, and a screenshot of your low production value product demo video…um, it’s nice you have a presence, but how does that pin of a crappy screenshot of a crappy video look next to the rest of these other magnificent pins? When pinning, pin the most visually interesting aspect of what you are sharing, like a special banner, slide, or cover page to get the most engagement and to make your brand look like it belongs. For example, check out Marketo’s boards: http://pinterest.com/marketo/.


2. It’s a great opportunity for additional promotion of b2b campaigns
The pinning of handbags and skirts, directly or through fans, is a great way for retailers to socially market their goods, but companies that sell $20k consulting packages or $400k aircraft engines still don’t have Pinterest in their marketing plans. Should they? If they care about or spend money on any of the following, then the answer is definitely “yes”:

• SEO – While there are many (conspiracy) theories about how the big search engines score social media linking, connecting Pinterest, AKA the 3^rd largest social network in the world, to your site really can’t do anything but help.

• Content—Do you have some interesting content that has done well on other social channels? Why not pin it? Just as the Facebook audience is different from the Twitter audience, Pinterest allows you to appeal to a more visually focused crowd that may not be spending their slow hours on Facebook or Twitter.

• Design—Are you a design forward company? Since you are in b2b, probably not (just being honest), but I am willing to bet you have more than one design forward campaign. Pinterest is all about the visual, so leverage the fact that graphic designers are one of the most prolific groups of pinners, get your creative team to pin their work to inspire and be inspired!

• Marketing – Just as designers pin and repin designs that inspire them, marketers pin and repin campaigns that inspire them. Start a company board to show your peers the beauty of your marketing and build your reputation among prospects and possible job candidates as a top tier marketing company. Next, start a personal board with pins of others’ marketing that inspire you. Check out mine.

3. Get followed: Ironically SEO is more important than the images
Pinterest’s search is mainly how people find you and your pins, and Pinterest’s search is all about keywords. For example, a picture of a fish with no description will not be found in a search for “fish”. However, simply adding a description (adjectives help!) will immediately get eyes on your pin. For the same fish picture try: “Beautiful rainbow trout swimming in crystal water in Montana. Fish. Fly fishing. Outdoors. Tree. Rock. Earth. Sky. Fire. Justin Bieber”. Okay, maybe skip Justin Bieber. They’re basically the same rules as Yahoo search circa 1996. Load up relevant, popular keywords in the description of your pins and boards and you are guaranteed to get more views/likes/follows.


4. Fresh content creates the most waves
Just like any other social media platform, Pinterest rewards those that bring fresh content. So while it’s very easy to fill a board with re-pins, ultimately the fastest way to increase your followership is by pinning new and interesting items. Think new (to get followers) vs. new-to-you (to save ideas or promote).


5. Follow boards not people
Listening is usually considered last when it comes to companies’ social media plans, but being tuned into your audience is invaluable. People tend to have very diverse interests, so to reduce the noise, Pinterest allows you to follow people (everything someone posts) or specific boards (just pins on a certain topic). For example, Kim from Minnesota may be a key influencer and have some great pins of sales productivity infographics, but her hardcore knitting obsession just isn’t something you or your company is interested in. Follow her “Work” board to just see what’s relevant to you and your firm.