Search Engine Utopia
What is the best search engine you could use that has the most beautiful photography, the most creative storage hacks, the best tablescape ideas, the best holiday meal planning, the best design trends, most appealing exterior paint combinations, and so much more?
Anyone? Anyone? Pinterest anyone? You are 1000% correct! :)
450 Million people use Pinterest monthly to find ideas and inspire their next purchase. There are approximately 90 Million Pinterest users in the US alone. And 25% of all US Pinterest users are in their 30’s. What is the age of the average first time home buyer in the US? Yeap, it’s 36!
Other Quick Pinterest facts:
Over 40% of internet users over the age of 46 are active on Pinterest.
45% of the Pinterest demographic has a household income of over $100k.
Pinterest attributes over 11 Billion pins to home design & deco.
60% of Pinterest users are women.
Although most home buying decisions are a joint effort, there are many statistics that the scale will tip in favor of the women making the decision approximately 80% of the time, BUT, don’t discount the men! Although Pinterest is traditionally popular with females, the number of males using the platform is on the rise, with male pinners up by 40% year over year.
While Pinterest may have fewer followers than Facebook or Insta, pinners go to Pinterest with a focused mindset, on a shopping or problem solving mission. Research shows that up to 93% of pinners use the platform to plan for or make future purchases.
Are you one of those agents that struggles with social media? Too much hype? Feel like you can’t be your authentic self? Pinterest offers a softer, more organic form of marketing. With Pinterest, you’re presenting yourself as an authority. You’re solving problems and answering questions all in an authentic way.
Pinterest is about exchanging ideas and information. Or about being a resource. And for that reason it is the perfect platform for building authentic and passionate communities around anything.
Pinterest can help you establish credibility, an authoritative voice in the field and a reputation for knowledge and resources, all things that a buyer and seller consider extremely helpful.
Lifespan of a post:
According to digital market agency The Refinery, a Facebook post stays relevant for about six hours while Instagram lasts as long as 48 hours. But on Pinterest, an average post will take several weeks to a couple of months before a pin starts getting good traffic and can pull engagement for four months after the post. This type of lifespan makes it vital that the things you post today are going to be just as relevant and interesting next week or next quarter.
A good plan of attack would be to create pins for blog posts such as ‘10 Most Walkable Neighborhoods in Kansas City’ or ‘The 10 Hottest New Condos in Downtown Kansas City,’ rather than posting on a specific home that is currently for sale.
Because Pinterest serves both social and search purposes, properly cataloging your boards and content is very important. Create several Pinterest boards to help separate your content into categories, making it easier for people who are interested in what you have to say to find more of it.
The more specific and specialized your boards are, the more likely people are to follow them.
As great as a search engine Pinterest is, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of images, especially if everybody’s pins are starting to look the same. A strict style guide is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO), about the importance of consistency across your brand, and how that affects your brand visibility.
Pinterest has a famously crowded version of the news feed, so advisors who want to stand out need to get consistent with their visual branding. Your pins should be immediately recognizable in terms of fonts, messaging, tone, and color scheme.
One simple branding touch that works well on visual platforms like Pinterest is to add a small logo or watermark to the bottom of all your pins. Keep it discreet, keep it understated—you don’t want it to take away from your message, but you do need to remind people where this quality content is coming from.
With Pinterest you will also need a long-term strategy to keep your messaging consistent. Is the post clickable, captioned correctly, linked appropriately, categorized correctly? Combine these with an image that draws someone in, and you have the start to a successful lead generating system. But remember, just like with any good marketing tactic, you need to commit and be focused and consistent.
Pinterest is a great way to stay connected to former clients and referral sources. Maintaining current relationships by building boards that your customers will enjoy visualizing. If you have families on your client roster, try building boards for easy family meals or holiday rituals that you can update regularly.
Think of things that your clients love and care about, and start pinning!
In order to be successful, you need to remember to always be social. Don’t just create content and throw it out there on a board. Interact with other people’s content, sharing, being a part of the community, socializing. If your mindset is to only promote yourself you could possibly fail, being social is about giving and supporting others wants and needs. Giving leads to getting.
Creating a business profile will give you access to key features like analytics and paid advertising. With these tools, you can have better insights into your best performing content, what kind of people are consuming that content, and when. Yes Pinterest has its own form of paid advertising, and it can be an effective way to get the right content in front of the right individuals.
Be sure your bio is well done. Include your name, and what you do, or how you help. Think of it like a dating app—for example, I help individuals reach their Real Estate goals. Then get more specific. I help buyers and sellers in both Kansas and Missouri reach their Real Estate goals. I help buyers and sellers reach all their Real Estate goals throughout the Greater Kansas City area.
Additional helpful comments:
Experts suggest you post at least 10 times per week, not to exceed 25 posts a day or the algorithm will think it’s spam.
Pinterest wants content to be authentic. Build out your boards with personally curated content for the most part.
I recommend using a photo filter and creating a few custom Canva templates to use for your content. Pinterest is all about presenting ideas in a visual way, so make sure pins are visually appealing.
Most importantly make it fun for yourself, finding those topics that you’re passionate about will make all the difference.
Want to find the latest trending focus or fad? Check out the Pinterest Trends App… https://trends.pinterest.com/
