How Event Companies Should Use Pinterest To Grow Their Audience
During the Coronavirus lockdown there has been a big rise in the number of people using Pinterest and they’re not just looking for Banana Bread recipes. Searches for ‘support small business’ have increased by 351% on the platform as users increasingly look to buy and support small and independent companies.
Most event companies focus their social media efforts on Instagram and overlook Pinterest. But the thing about Pinterest is it isn’t a social media platform. It’s a search engine. And when you start to use it strategically it’s a great tool for driving traffic to your website.
Anyone working in events has a gorgeous portfolio of images which means you’re in a great starting place to make more of Pinterest as businesses that have a visual element do well here.
People are no longer just going to the platform to browse and be inspired or brush up on skills but they’re also using it for shopping too with a 44% year-on-year increase in the use of Pinterest for shopping.
If you’re not seeing results from Pinterest then you’re probably not using it the right way. We changed our approach to Pinterest about a year ago and have seen dramatic growth, driving daily traffic to our site.
Here’s some of the strategies we use that you can apply so Pinterest can become your secret marketing weapon too.
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” link_color=”” link_hover_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_blend_mode=”none” video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” box_shadow=”no” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” background_type=”single” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_image_id=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_blend_mode=”none” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]Master Your Pin Profile
Step one is to ensure you have a business account. The overall look of your account won’t change much but you’ll be able display your business name instead of your first and last name so you’ll appear more professional. Plus you’ll have access to lots of useful business features including Rich Pins, Promoted Pins and Pinterest Analytics. Visit business.pinterest.com to switch.
Build A Brand
You need a clear and concise profile that tells people what you do. Be obvious and tell them what you do and how you can help them and use keywords appropriately to help people find you. Include a call to action so they can find out more about you if they want to.
In terms of your profile image upload a photo of yourself if you’re a personal brand or a logo if you’re a bigger brand or no-one knows your face.
If you’re pinning your own work apply your own branding to help build authority in your area of expertise. Pinterest is a visual search engine so perfect for gorgeous event images, just ensure you add your own branding so your work is recognisable.
Curating Boards
Featured boards are the first thing that pop up when people visit your profile so it’s a great opportunity for you to display your best and most relevant boards to new visitors. They’re a great way to push seasonal content and new products or event ideas. Think about what you want to highlight and what people might be searching for such as floral styling, event trends or catering ideas.
Review the boards you currently have and make sure they fit your brand and the content your audience would expect to see. If you’ve been using Pinterest mainly to plan your own kitchen interiors or favourite fashion then now’s the time to turn those boards into private boards.
About 10-15 boards should be enough to focus on, starting with about 50 pins each. You don’t need boards for every topic you can think of but instead think about how to get specific and develop your niche. For example a board titled Historic Wedding Venues London is much more likely to be found by your target audience than just Wedding Venues.
Rich Pins
Rich Pins are essential if you want to build your brand on Pinterest and use it to drive traffic to your website. Rich Pins add extra data to your pins, which means that the pin will show your branding with the title of your post and description, also information about you and call to action buttons.
In order to enable rich pins for your website, you need to verify your site. Find out how to do this here.
The Perfect Pin
Size really does matter in Pinterest. Take time to format your images rather than simply uploading them. Horizontal pins don’t stand out in Pinterest, instead they need to be vertical (800×1200 pixels). You can use a tool like Canva to do this.
As well as your own images think about what infographics you could create with large, easy-to-ready text on top of your mages describing them or the blog post that accompanies it and a link to your website.
To save time create a series of templates in Canva that you can use for each pin so you just vary the image and text layout slightly each time but don’t have to spend time developing new visuals for every pin.
Name your image with keywords so it can be found not just in Pinterest but in Google Image results too.
Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is simply content that is timeless content that will be just as useful two years from now as it is today. It’s one of the reasons we love Pinterest so much and find it more powerful than Instagram. Think about what pins you could create that people are constantly looking for e.g. How to create the perfect Alice In Wonderland party rather than Alice’s Party so that your pin is constantly found and repeatedly driving traffic to your site.
Add SEO to Your Pins
Just like Google, Pinterest ranks relevant content and puts it higher up in the search. This is known as the Smart Feed. To appear in the search results you will need to use keywords in your pins, boards and profile.
Spend time on your pin descriptions, thinking about what words your audience would use to search for this image and include them but just like all SEO don’t overstuff them, the algorithm is more sophisticated than that so ensure it reads naturally using full sentences.
If you can’t think of what to right type a few relevant words into the search bar in Pinterest and you’ll get some suggestions of related phrases.
And don’t get disheartened if you don’t see an instant payoff as it can take some time for your hard work to pay off. Stick to 10-15 keywords that you can become known for and really do a good job representing in the content you pin in your account and regularly review your keywords to check that they are still resonating with your audience.
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” link_color=”” link_hover_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_blend_mode=”none” video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” border_radius=”” box_shadow=”no” dimension_box_shadow=”” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” background_type=”single” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_image_id=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_blend_mode=”none” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]With experience in producing award winning events, a string of happy clients and a team of individually talented professionals, Evolve Events is the perfect event agency for delivering high standards.
Evolve Events team have over twenty one years’ experience in producing events. The team is headed up by Gary Peters who has been voted as one of the most influential people in the events industry. Our event services including venue finding, set design, styling and build, AV and lighting, stage management and sourcing entertainment and quality catering.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you produce and style your event then please get in touch and we can chat through your requirements.
To get more event ideas you can visit our blog here or follow us on social media at @evolveevents.
TEL : 020 7610 2808 – EMAIL : info@evolve-events.com
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