Don't Pin It and Forget It – Promote Your Pinterest Boards

Guest Blogger: Ashley Herzberger
Few will argue that Pinterest provides incredible exposure for visual brands; except maybe artists. Once you move beyond the copyright violation argument artists wage against the Internet, Pinterest still remains a fabulous option for creatives who want other people to see their art. Specifically, the 10.4 million members, 80% of whom are women.
But we must not forget that Pinterest exists solely on Pinterest. To only pin your beautiful work without further promotion limits your online visibility. Think of it like this: If you attend an art show in Chicago, only the people at the art show in Chicago will see your work. To reach the rest of the world, you have make stops in different cities. Pinterest is Chicago. The rest of the Internet is the world.
Here are 4 tips to reach the rest of the world via Chicago (Pinterest).

1. Create a Pinterest Contest

Are you an artist with an artistic audience? Do you like to teach, inspire and encourage other artists? Are other artists part of your target market?

Set up a Pinterest board for your favorite pieces of work and showcase your top 10 all-time favorite masterpieces (it can be a mix of your own and others’). Then set up a contest asking others to share their favorite work. By engaging your followers with a contest, you achieve multiple goals:

• You get to showcase your work.
• You give people a better idea of your style and interests.
• Your followers get to showcase their own work and interests and gain the type of visibility they may not have access to on a daily basis.

Offer a prize for your favorite submission, and you’ll add a gaming factor to the mix. Make it fun and interactive, and don’t forget to publicly acknowledge your fans’ artistic creativity by liking and commenting on their submissions.
The fine print: Ask your followers to create their own board and then either email you the link or tag your Pinterest profile name as the name of their new board, e.g. @ABStanfield. To launch the contest, write a blog post about it, encouraging your readers to check out your new board on Pinterest.

2. Cross-Pollinate Your Content

Although some of your fans may be following you on all your social profiles, don’t be shy when it comes to posting the same content across your social networks. If you just created a new board on Pinterest, let your Facebook followers know. Post one pictures as a teaser with a link back to the new board and a quick snippet about your latest project. Same goes for Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, you name it.
Since Pinterest is one of the most visual of social brands, it’s a good idea to choose it as your social network headquarters and then work off your social profiles from there. Post everything to Pinterest first and use your other networks to drive traffic back to headquarters (your website, of course). This doesn’t have to be true for every post you write on Facebook, but it’s a good idea to remind everyone that your full body of work can be found in one place – on Pinterest.

3. Create a Complementary Blog Board

Tell your story through images . . . that’s what you do already right? When writing your next blog post, see if you can create a board with 5-10 images that capture exactly what you’re writing. Maybe you’re writing a post about your latest experience live painting at a conference. Share photos of color palettes, music, energy, whatever inspired you that day. And of course, pin your final products.

When creating these boards, repin from others’ pins – your work is inspired by the things around you, right? When you are ready to publish your blog post, include a link to the Pinterest board for the visual side of the story.
Pinterest Best Practices: Always link back to your blog in the comments section of your pins so that Pinterest followers can get back to your website. Think of it as two-way traffic.

4. Update Your Social Plugins

You’d be surprised how many people fail to add social plugins to their blogs and website. The people who are finding you on your website might not necessarily think to look for you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and/or YouTube. Likewise, if someone found your website from Pinterest, they might not know you are on Facebook as well.
Alyson and I recently noticed that the social plugins weren’t appearing on our sites. It might have been because of a WordPress update, but it’s not good!
Go back to your website or blog and make sure your plugins are updated. That means you need to link up Pinterest too!
Pinterest is ever evolving and growing, so don’t worry if you don’t have a robust profile yet. You’ll get there, and people will enjoy following you on your journey.
So there you have it – an action plan of creative ideas to promote your pins to the world! Safe travels.

About Our Guest Blogger
Ashley Herzberger owns a social media consulting and management company, The Social Shoppe. [Update: no longer online] She helps small businesses and startups create and execute social media strategies and campaigns, specializing in content creation. When she’s not tweeting, pinning, Facebooking or writing, she teaches yoga and bakes cupcakes.