In the dynamic realm of digital marketing, Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands are constantly seeking innovative strategies to captivate their target audience. While platforms like Instagram and Facebook have been stalwarts, the spotlight is now shifting towards Pinterest. This visual discovery platform, with its unique features and engaged user base, provides an excellent opportunity for DTC brands to not only stand out but also convert leads into loyal customers.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the Pinterest advantage and delve into effective organic strategies that can elevate your brand presence and boost conversions.
Understanding the Pinterest Landscape
1.Visual Discovery and Intent-Driven Engagement
Pinterest is a unique platform that offers a visual discovery engine where users actively search for inspiration, ideas, and products. Unlike traditional social media platforms, Pinterest users are in a proactive shopping mindset, making it an ideal space for DTC brands to position their products to align with user interests. The platform offers significant organic opportunities, with 95% of its top searches being unbranded, providing businesses with a vast potential to reach new audiences.
Additionally, Pinterest Analytics can be used to refine the marketing approach, and creating visually appealing, engaging, and shareable content is essential for a successful organic marketing campaign on Pinterest. The platform’s emphasis on brand safety and the positive, relevant, and original nature of content make it an ideal space for brands to showcase their products and services.
Therefore, by leveraging the intent-driven nature of Pinterest users and implementing an effective organic Pinterest marketing strategy, DTC brands can increase brand awareness and engage with potential customers.
2. Massive User Base
Pinterest has a massive user base of over 400 million active users, making it an attractive platform for DTC brands targeting a wide range of consumers. The largest portion of Pinterest’s audience is Millennial women aged 25-34, accounting for 28.5% of its global audience, followed by women aged 18-24, taking up over 18% of the user base. Additionally, Pinterest has 23 million Gen Z users, accounting for around 5% of its user base. Pinterest’s user base is predominantly female, with more than 3 in 4 users being women.
However, the platform still attracts a significant number of male users, with 32.6 million male users in the United States alone. Pinterest users are high-earners, with 45% of social users in the U.S. with a household income of over $100K being on Pinterest. By understanding the demographics of Pinterest’s user base, DTC brands can tailor their organic marketing strategy to reach their target audience effectively.
Optimizing Your Pinterest Profile
1. Create a Business Account
Creating a business account on Pinterest is essential for DTC brands to unlock valuable analytics and advertising features that can help understand the audience and refine the marketing strategy. This switch provides access to Pinterest Analytics, which is crucial for refining the marketing approach.
Additionally, it allows businesses to create visually appealing, engaging, and shareable content, which is essential for a successful organic marketing campaign on Pinterest. The platform’s emphasis on brand safety and the positive, relevant, and original nature of content make it an ideal space for brands to showcase their products and services.
2. Profile Optimization
Crafting a compelling bio and optimizing the profile on Pinterest is essential for DTC brands. This involves creating a brand strategy, showcasing brand personality, and using relevant keywords to enhance discoverability. Additionally, it is important to use a high-quality, recognizable profile picture to effectively communicate the brand’s identity. By following these steps, DTC brands can create a strong and engaging presence on Pinterest, increasing their chances of reaching and resonating with their target audience.
Strategic Pinning for DTC Success
1. Create Eye-Catching Pins
To create eye-catching pins on Pinterest, DTC brands should invest time and resources in designing visually stunning pins that stand out as users scroll through their feeds. The visual appeal is paramount on Pinterest, and the pins should be designed to align with user interests.
The pins should be vertical, with a 2:3 ratio (1000×1500 pixels) or larger, and should include the brand name or URL somewhere on the pin. Additionally, the pins should be visually appealing, original, and relevant to the brand’s identity. By following these tips, DTC brands can create visually stunning pins that are more likely to be clicked on and shared, increasing their reach and engagement on the platform.
2. Rich Pins
To take full advantage of Pinterest’s features, DTC brands should consider using rich pins, which provide additional information about products, such as pricing, availability, and direct links to the website. This enhances the user experience and streamlines the path to purchase. Rich pins are a type of organic pin that automatically syncs information from the website to the pin.
There are several types of rich pins, including product pins, article pins, recipe pins, and app pins. Product pins, in particular, offer real-time information on availability, pricing, and where to purchase items, making them especially valuable for DTC brands. To enable rich pins, DTC brands need to ensure that their website includes the necessary metadata, and the process is relatively straightforward, especially with the use of plugins like Yoast SEO.
3. Story Pins
Pinterest’s Story Pins are a powerful feature that allows creators to share ideas in a familiar Stories-like format, engaging their audience and potentially gaining more followers. Story Pins enable creators to share up to 20 pages of images and text, making them ideal for telling brand stories, showcasing behind-the-scenes content, or highlighting the craftsmanship behind products.
This feature is designed to keep people inspired and drive more exposure, with the potential for special treatment from the Pinterest algorithm. While the feature was initially available to a select set of US creators, it is expected to be rolled out to more users, including businesses, in the future. Story Pins are a valuable tool for creators to share engaging multimedia stories with their audiences, and they can be created on both desktop and mobile devices.
Leveraging Keywords and Descriptions
1. Keyword Research
To identify relevant keywords in a niche on Pinterest, DTC brands can use tools like Pinterest’s own search bar, which is the best Pinterest keyword tool because it comes directly from Pinterest. The Pinterest Ads keyword research tool is easy to use, and businesses can follow these steps to do keyword research:
- Put the main search term into the search bar.
- See what ideas Pinterest shows, including search volume.
- Save the ideas by clicking the + button and creating a list.
- Copy the list and save it into a document for reference.
DTC brands can also use other ways to use Pinterest keyword research, such as creating new Pinterest boards around topic areas to gain traction on Pinterest, choosing better categories for boards, optimizing old pins for new keywords, repinning old content with new keywords in the description, creating new content for blogs, podcasts, videos, newsletters, and social media channels, and reviewing old content in the keyword niche and rewriting to include any new keywords if necessary.
2. Compelling Descriptions
Crafting compelling and informative pin descriptions is essential for DTC brands to engage their audience and improve the discoverability of their content on Pinterest. Here are some tips for creating effective pin descriptions:
- Provide additional context and details: The descriptions should give more information about the product, its features, and benefits while incorporating relevant keywords to improve search visibility.
- Include a compelling call-to-action: Encourage users to click through to your website or take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
- Use rich pins: Rich pins provide additional information about products, such as pricing, availability, and direct links to your website, enhancing the user experience and streamlining the path to purchase.
- Optimize for search visibility: Incorporate relevant keywords in your pin descriptions to improve the chances of being discovered by users searching for specific topics.
- Link to your product catalogue: Ensure that your pin descriptions have relevant links to your product catalogue, making it easy for users to navigate to your website and make a purchase.
Community Engagement and Collaboration
1. Group Boards
Joining and actively participating in relevant group boards within a niche can be beneficial for DTC brands. Group boards on Pinterest allow multiple people to add pins, providing exposure to a wider audience and fostering collaboration within the industry. However, the effectiveness of group boards has evolved over time, and the visibility of pins from group boards now depends on user engagement, such as saving the pins to their boards.
Despite this, group boards can still be valuable for increasing reach, followers, and website traffic if managed effectively. When seeking group boards to join, it’s recommended to look for high-quality boards that align with the brand’s niche and to ensure that the boards are open to new contributors. Additionally, maintaining a spreadsheet to track potential group boards and analyzing their performance can help optimize the use of group boards for marketing purposes.
2. Engage with Your Audience
Engaging with your audience on Pinterest is crucial for building a sense of connection and loyalty among your followers. By responding to comments on your pins, actively engaging with user-generated content related to your brand, and building a community around your products, you can create a sense of connection and loyalty among your audience. This not only helps in driving conversions but also in increasing brand awareness and customer retention.
Here are some ways to engage with your audience on Pinterest:
- Respond to comments on your pins: Engage with your followers by addressing their questions and concerns, and providing valuable insights or solutions to their queries.
- Engage with user-generated content related to your brand: Encourage your followers to create and share content inspired by your products or brand, and engage with their creations by repinning, commenting, and sharing their content.
- Create a sense of community: Foster a sense of belonging and support by organizing Pinterest group boards, hosting Pinterest-related contests or challenges, and encouraging your followers to share their experiences and ideas related to your brand or products.
- Offer valuable insights and solutions: Share tips, tricks, and advice related to your products or niche, and engage with your followers’ questions and concerns to provide valuable information and assistance.
Analytics and Iteration
1. Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Analytics is a free set of tools that anyone with a Pinterest Business account can use to monitor key metrics and track their performance on the platform. By regularly reviewing Pinterest Analytics, DTC brands can gain insights into the performance of their pins, identify trends, popular pins, and audience demographics, and refine their strategy continually.
Pinterest Analytics provides valuable information on metrics such as impressions, engagements, and audience insights, allowing businesses to track the impact of their content and make informed decisions about their Pinterest strategy. Additionally, Pinterest Analytics offers insights into trends, inspiring content creation and optimization. To access Pinterest Analytics, DTC brands need to have a business account, and they can access the analytics tab on the top left-hand corner of the Pinterest desktop application.
2. Iterate and Optimize
Iterating and optimizing the Pinterest marketing strategy is crucial for DTC brands to stay relevant and effective on the platform. Based on analytics, DTC brands should continually refine their approach, and test different pin styles, posting schedules, and descriptions to identify what resonates best with their audience. The iterative process is key to staying relevant and effective on Pinterest. Pinterest Analytics is a free set of tools available to Pinterest Business account holders, providing key metrics and tracking capabilities.
By using Pinterest Analytics, DTC brands can monitor the performance of their boards and pins, track audience data, and compare different audiences to better understand their target audience and tailor their content strategy accordingly. Additionally, Pinterest Analytics can help DTC brands identify trends, popular pins, and audience demographics to refine their strategy continually.
UNTUCKit’s Pinterest Success
Established in 2011, UNTUCKit, an American brand, has ingeniously redesigned casual dress shirts, ensuring a perfect untucked fit for men to exude confidence and comfort. Catering to diverse shapes and sizes, their shirts feature a contoured hemline, impeccable untucked length, and reinforced collars.
What stands out:
The brilliance of UNTUCKit lies in its concise yet informative bio, providing instant clarity about its product offering. Seamlessly incorporating keywords like “shirts” and “untucked” enhances discoverability when users search for this distinctive style.
Optimizing for search:
UNTUCKit demonstrates effective SEO optimization through compelling titles and descriptions. This strategic approach not only maximizes reach and impressions but also boosts exposure on Pinterest, ensuring their brand remains prominently visible.
Strategic board assortment:
The brand excels in board curation with clear and straightforward titles such as “Summer 2022,” “Fall 2022,” “Back to School,” and “Warm-Weather Ready.” This thoughtful strategy aims to increase impressions, facilitating discovery by new, targeted visitors.
In essence, UNTUCKit’s Pinterest presence showcases not just a collection of shirts but a meticulously crafted strategy aimed at enhancing visibility, engaging users, and staying ahead in the ever-evolving fashion landscape.
Can Pinterest Revolutionize DTC Brand Success?
In conclusion, Pinterest offers DTC brands a unique opportunity to connect with a motivated and engaged audience. By implementing organic strategies, your brand can not only stand out amidst the vast Pinterest landscape but also convert users into loyal customers. Embrace the visual allure of Pinterest, tell your brand story, and watch as your DTC brand thrives in this dynamic and visually-driven digital space. The Pinterest advantage is real, and by incorporating these strategies, your brand can unlock its full potential on this influential platform.
Ready to elevate your DTC brand on Pinterest? Curious about how ‘Out Of The Blue’ can help?