So you’ve already created a Pinterest account for your brand and it’s going… okay. With Pinterest now being second highest social media platform for website traffic referrals, that means more click throughs, brand exposure, and purchases of your products. So how can a brand optimize its boards, pins, and website to make sure it’s getting the most out of Pinterest? 1.) Create new boards for the seasons With fall here and winter on the way — as well as Thanksgiving (ahem: Black Friday) and Christmas — it’s important to create boards to stay current, relate to your followers’ interests, and show up in the most popular searches. Season and holiday-specific boards are a great way to do just that! 2.) Interact with followers When people comment on your pin asking a question or saying something positive, comment back. Your interaction will encourage them to not only follow your boards, but more importantly learn more about your brand and products and establish a relationship with the brand. 3.) Collaborate on a group board Creating a group board co-pinned by a well-established Pinterest tastemaker with similar aesthetics to the brand is a sure way to get noticed and extend reach. You can check out HelloSociety’s network of highly-followed tastemakers at hellosociety.com. Other options are to invite your followers to pin to your group board. Whether it be Christmas inspirations, recipes, or photography, they’ll feel closer to the brand. 4.) Upload, ‘pin it’ AND repin Avoid only uploading or pinning directly from websites. Repinning is a great way to gain followers because with every repin you’re sending them a notification. Repin some interesting content that isn’t tied to your brand like recipes, photographs, and quotes to stay well rounded. Note: When you upload pins, make sure to tie the link to your images after uploading with ‘edit.’ 5.) Get rich pins already! When pinners see a large title, price, ingredients, etc… those pins stand out and this added information is not only helpful, but encourages pinners to click through. (SEE EXAMPLES) Fashion (Pin via Nordstrom) Recipes (Pin via No. 2 Pencil) Movies (Pin via IMDb) Articles (Pin via The Huffington Post) 6.) Pin with descriptions & hashtags Descriptions make your pins more likely to be found in searches and can persuade your followers to click through to learn more. Keep them short. Hashtags are also a great way to tag your pins with your brand name, current campaign name, or slogan. 7.) Stop pinning wide (aka: small) images If you want to share your brand’s content on Pinterest, take vertical photographs! If you want to share existing content but the images are too small for Pinterest because of width, you can either: A) Take a screenshot B) Stack 2 photos on top of each other