Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022

I have been offering Pinterest management services since 2012 and let me share with you my findings after managing hundreds of accounts, audits, personalized one on one coaching sessions, webinars for bloggers & Ecommerce sellers, with businesses of all shape and sizes. Often, I get someone saying, “I noticed that company XYZ is doing this and doing that so I thought I should do the same”. Well, that is not how you want to approach Pinterest. Here are some of my ideas for Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022.

There Is No Such Thing as a Cookie Cutter Pinterest Strategy

Why would you copy what others are doing when there is no evidence that what they are doing is either working for them or the correct way based on Pinterest’s rules? 

This is one of the reasons why I typically don’t tell people the names of the businesses we manage. They’ll take a look at the businesses that we’re worked with, and they’ll try to mirror what we’ve done. In fact, even if I tell you who’s accounts, we’ve managed some of that work may have been done by the client themselves. Why? That’s because I offer a variety services. 

Some clients fully outsource the management of their account, and some may want us to only do parts of it due to budget, resources, and even sometimes because they are control freaks and think they know better. 

So, here’s the thing. Don’t copy what others are doing because there’s no evidence that what they’re doing works. Don’t be impressed by monthly views either. You can have lots of raving fans, but it doesn’t mean shit if they’re not translating into sales. 

Remember for your Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022 that every business is different and there is no such thing as a cookie cutter strategy. 

Context

Millions of businesses currently use Pinterest to help them:

• increase traffic volume to their websites & blogs
• get new customers
• increase sales 
• build brand awareness
• grow their email data bases
• collect market intelligence for competitive advantage

How Will You Court Your Ideal Audience?

Developing a successful Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022 that will generate more traffic and sales for your business doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s as simple as understanding the way customers naturally want to develop their relationship with your brand and crafting your marketing efforts to support that process. 

Ask yourself: 

• In what way you can be part of your target audience’s journey from inspiration to purchase? 
• How will they remember you when their trying to solve their problems, fill wants and needs? 
• Or will you just sell, sell, sell and push products? (Because people love that right?)

People on Pinterest are craving for inspiration because they truly want to fulfill their lifelong dreams and solve their problems. They want to have a better life, whatever that means to them and it’s your job to find out. 

Really think about how your product or service fits into their overall goals, problems and lifestyle.

Successful People Always Have a Plan

When you look at successful people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. They know what they want, they develop a plan, and they work their plan. It is the foundation for success.

I would like to help you enjoy smashing success this year by leveraging the power of Pinterest better than ever before.

Avoid Common Mistakes That Rob You of Time and Money

You are going to learn how to create a new & improved Pinterest marketing strategy to ensure you avoid making mistakes that waste time.  Avoiding these mistakes will also ensure that you have a solid foundation to build upon. And if you have been using Pinterest already, these proven tips will help you improve your Pinterest marketing results. Without a clear, well-defined strategy (that is up to date with all the latest changes Pinterest has made) that is narrowly focused around the right audience and the right message to promote your business, there’s a lot that can go wrong. 

News Flash / Reality Check

Let me be very frank with you right now before we move further about Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022.

Pinterest is not just about pinning a bunch of pretty pictures and thinking you are done. There is some science to operating a Pinterest account successfully. There are strategies, tactics, and tools that need to be used in the right way at the right time to achieve success. Thankfully once you know them, they are easy to apply.

But if you think you can just wing it on Pinterest, I can guarantee you that you will not enjoy the success you hoped for, “fail” and then blame Pinterest for not working.

Pinterest Formula: 7 Steps to Plan Your Success

1. Clarify your company’s Pinterest marketing goals.
2. Identify your target market.
3. Assess your image and video inventory.
4. Determine who will work your Pinterest account. 
5. Identify what your competition doing on Pinterest? (“Beat” them to get more traffic).
6. Plan your budget.
7. Get coaching and feedback from a Pinterest expert.

1. Clarify your company’s Pinterest marketing goals

Here’s a list of the most common Pinterest marketing goals. The most obvious one is to obviously help you rank high on Pinterest search engine. Decide which ones you want to focus on and rank them in order of priority:

• Increase traffic to your store / website or blog
• Increase exposure (brand awareness)
• Increase sales 
• Grow your email list
• Develop brand advocates and influencers

You must be clear what you want Pinterest to do for you.  If you are unsure then select increase traffic to your website because that leads to sales, because that is easy to track.

2. Identify your target market

One of the biggest and most foolish mistakes that businesses make is trying to appeal to everyone. For starters, please tell me you have a niche. Having a niche is important because if you try to cater to everyone your overall marketing and message won’t speak to anyone. 

This type of strategy works very effectively for smaller and new businesses that do not have the resources to go after larger sections of the marketplace. In fact, it also means that you’ll spend less on marketing. I mean who doesn’t want that? 

Think about the game of darts: You have to aim for a specific number; you are not just trying to hit the board.

What is a target audience? 

It is essentially the group of people to whom your products and services are aimed at. Your marketing efforts such as your images, blogs, videos, Pinterest ads, any content you create for consumption is intended ONLY for this select group. 

Why is the target audience so important?

The purpose of identifying your target market is so that you can figure out their; goals, needs and problems. This is important: please realize that on Pinterest your job is to be helpful and to educate your audience on a wide variety of topics that they care about. In that way they can get to know your brand, interact with it, and trust you. Building trust is crucial. This is the first step to growing your monthly views and followers. 

On Pinterest, there are two words that will get you more eyeballs on your content:

• Inspiration
• Connection

Help your target audience in a variety of direct and indirect ways as it relates to your products &/or services and when they begin to trust you then and only then will they like and follow you. 

That is when you increase web traffic and sales. This could take six weeks or take six months before you see any measurable results. It depends on…

• how consistent you are in producing fresh, relevant content
• the quality of your content 
• your competition

Building relationships and friendships takes time; you can’t rush it just like you can’t rush relationships in real life. When in doubt be helpful vs. pushing products.

Who is your target audience?  

1. Are they men and women? Both? 
2. What are their ages?
3. Where do they live? Are you trying to reach a local city, state, country?
4. What is their status? Single, married, widow, and so forth.
5. Are they high spenders or conservative with their money?
6. What are their goals and interests?

Check your Audience Insights. What I love about the Audience Insights is they reveal the top categories and specific interests on Pinterest. You’re thinking WIIFM? For starters if your business falls under any of these categories it’s a no brainier, you should seriously leverage Pinterest marketing because your audience is already there. 

Another cool thing about this data is Pinterest will show how that compares to your audience and the overall audience on Pinterest. Because the data only reveals the last 30 days it’s prudent that you check your Audience Insights the first day of every month. 

List three core reasons customers purchase your product or service.

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What are the problems your product or service solves?

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What can you offer of value, for free, to gain interest from new leads? (a piece of valuable content, blog post, a coupon code, checklist, video tutorial, your weekly newsletter, etc)

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Knowing the answers to these questions will help you design Pinterest boards and pins that speak to their; wants, values, goals and concerns. 

3. Assess your image and video inventory

The starting point of you connecting with Pinners who plan and love to shop are with your images and videos. If you don’t hook them right away with your images, you’re going to wonder why Pinterest didn’t work for your business. 

At this point I’m not asking you to create your own images. I just want you to start collecting what you have and organizing them on your secret boards, Dropbox, or Google Drive so when you’re ready to start creating your pins you are organized.

• You will need pictures and videos for Pinterest, lots of them! Repeat lots of them.
• You need the right types & sizes of images, optimized correctly for the Pinterest search engine in order for your business to be found. Once Pinners find you on Pinterest they can click on your pin and get driven back to your website.  
• Quality is better than quantity.

Images especially the Idea Pins are everything on Pinterest! Make sure your images on Pinterest are excellent in every way. If they’re lacking, your audience will scroll right by and as a result you will lose traffic and sales to your competition, which should be yours. 

From my experience working with many types of businesses and bloggers, some images work better than others. It is certainly NOT a cookie cutter approach. In chapter 8 of my course, I reveal the types of images that work the best for different types of verticals. For example, a fashion image will be very different from a home decor image. 

Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022 / WARNING: THE PINTEREST ALGORITHM NEEDS TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

If you have come across other Pinterest courses that offer free templates or stock photos those will not help you stand out on Pinterest because you’re using the same design as everyone else. Big big mistake!  

You need to be different because Pinterest’s algorithm will detect if you’re using the same images over and over. When you do that, you’re limiting your visibility on Pinterest. 

In fact, Google doesn’t like it when you use duplicate images as well. 

If you’ve decided that creating images is not your strength or cup of tea then you need to consider hiring a graphic designer or you can decide to get serious and learn how to use tools like Canva or PicMonkey. Email me at anna@whiteglovesocialmedia.com for more info if you need help. We’re not as expensive as you might think.  

4. Who’s your Pinterest manager?

As a business owner you must accept the fact that you are not an expert in all things. It’s impossible. For me I would never attempt to do my own accounting. For starters I don’t like it and second I am not an expert in accounting. So I outsource that. I’m not even going to attempt to do it on my own. I’ll end up wasting time, make mistakes that will cost me, and I’d get frustrated when numbers don’t add up, you get what I mean right? 

Bottom line whoever is managing your Pinterest account would be wise to take a Pinterest Marketing for Business course. That way you’re not reading every blog out there and trying to assess if you are doing it right. 

Remember that pinning for personal reasons doesn’t make a person qualified to manage Pinterest accounts for businesses. It’s not the same thing. So, you have to ask… who has the know-how, experience with businesses and the time? 

Who will create your content (images & blog posts) on a consistent basis? 

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Don’t be cheap when it comes to creating resources for Pinterest or you will waste your time and likely damage your brand image simultaneously. In what way have the people you assigned to your Pinterest account qualified? It is a professional skill like accounting or law.  

Avoid winging it because that means you are hoping for results and hope is NOT a strategy.

Who will pin your content?

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This is an important point.  If you commit to Pinterest, then get all in.  Avoid making the embarrassing and brand reputation damaging mistake of asking one of the kids in marketing to put up a Pinterest board and then take a look at it once in a while when they can.  

If you approach this with an amateur hour mindset your brand will look unorganized and unsuccessful and hence untrustworthy on Pinterest. The result? No followers, no engagement, no traffic = no sales. Ahhh!  Then you will say Pinterest doesn’t work. Is that true? Or did you go amateur hour on tasks that required professional services?

A Pinterest campaign requires a dedicated resource and consistency week after week and month after month.  

If you decide to outsource the account management are you going to hire the cheapest person you can hire from India or someone who has taken a formal education in Pinterest marketing and manages Pinterest accounts as a full time profession? You get wat you pay for. 

Pay cheap = get cheap = look cheap (rather than successful) to your target audience.

5. Who’s your competition on Pinterest?

a. Who are your top 3 competitors on Pinterest? Write down their Pinterest usernames.

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b. Are they pushing product or being helpful & educating their target audience with information? If so, how exactly? 

c. What can you learn? 

d. How do their images look? Really study what they do well. 

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6. Plan your budget

People don’t realize that if you have a vehicle that will get you more traffic and sales that you have to fuel it up and keep that going consistently. I am emphasizing consistency here because I find too many businesses start something and realize they don’t have enough funds to keep it going. Budget for 12 months to really have first hand knowledge and data.

You Need to Be Consistent

You can fall into a trap of starting something, then pausing, then stopping, then starting again. When you do that it’s also hard to leverage data and insights because they are not accurate. You need to be consistent for at least a year and then decide based on the ROI if you should continue. 

A successful Pinterest marketing strategy includes a budget to create and/or purchase images, hire a social media manager, the cost of your time managing your own account, hiring graphic artists and bloggers and so forth. 

Just a friendly reminder that this is not your overall budget for running your business. This is specifically what you need to consider when managing your Pinterest account. 

Use this simple template to decipher what it will cost you to leverage Pinterest marketing.

1. Simply start with an amount you are able to manage in your content marketing budget. 
2. Set a limit. 
3. Once you hit the limit, evaluate and see if you need to spend more in order for you to achieve your goal from Step 1. 

ACTIVITY	HIRE:	MONTHLY BUDGET
Manage account	Pinterest Manager	$
Create images & videos	Graphic Artist &/or Photographer	$
Invest in Promoted Pins (Pinterest ads)	Pinterest Account Manager
Content marketing (blog)	Blogger	$
PURCHASE:
Scheduling tool	For example: Tailwind, Buffer	$
Image editing tool	For example: Canva, PicMonkey	$
Others:	$

7. Get coaching and feedback from a Pinterest expert

Besides mine, Pinterest Marketing for Business, there are many other Pinterest courses out there as you know. 

You may have noticed many of them boast that they offer Facebook groups for support. For starters how do you know the people from these FB groups are qualified to teach you about Pinterest? They have no clue who you are, your business, your goals, your niche, etc etc. 

Heck, some courses will even say “Hey! You’ll get amazing bonuses like being part of a Facebook group…valued at $397!” Yeah right. Are you kidding me? People aren’t stupid and hopefully you’re not falling for that BS. Right, $397 value so you can get free mostly worthless tips from amateurs. It’s like the blind leading the blind. How effective is that? Do you really want to take a chance that Pinterest will permanently suspend your account because someone gave you the wrong advice? I’ve seen this happen so many times. 

Seriously ask yourself:

• Do you really want to seek advice from someone that doesn’t know anything about you? 
• How are they qualified to coach you or give you advice? 
• Do you really want to take a chance on someone that is not an expert? 

Once you’ve implemented everything you need to do for your Pinterest account, get it checked by an expert to make sure everything is set up as well as it can be. You need to get feedback. If you want to become a world-class golfer, then you need a coach, right? If you don’t get feedback, how do you know you are maximizing your efforts?

Pinterest Marketing Strategy 2022 / Final thoughts

What separates the successful from the unsuccessful so many times is that the successful take action. They aren’t necessarily smarter than others; they just work the plan. The time to act is when the emotion is strong. 

So, step out of your comfort zone and take action on your plan, because if the plan is good, then the results can be miraculous. 

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