On April 24, 2014 Pinterest launched “Guided Search”. The primary function is to make searching for pins a more intuitive, relevant and fun process, but the benefits to marketers are astounding. In essence, Pinterest gave marketers the keys to the kingdom. There are four basic steps to using Pinterest’s Guided Search. Let’s look at how they apply in a real world situation. Let’s say you’re an info marketer who teaches others how to successfully market on Facebook…
STEP 1
Type your main keyword in the Pinterest search bar. In this case I’ll use “Facebook” as my keyword. You’ll see that Pinterest provides a list of suggested topics to peruse, as well as a good choice on whether you want to view pins, boards or pinners related to your topic.
STEP 2
Once you select a keyword (in this case i choose the general term “Facebook” because i wanted a broad, higher-level category), you’ll then see a second layer of options. You can either scroll through and choose on of their suggestions, or type in a second keyword of your own. I’ll select “marketing” so that I’m only viewing pins relevant to Facebook marketing.
STEP 3
Next Pinterest gives me the ability to add a third keyword, allowing me to get extremely pinpointed with my search. I’ve selected “Tips” so that now I’m only viewing pins specific to Facebook marketing tips.
STEP 4
I’ve finally drilled down as far as i can, and am now ONLY looking at pins specific to Facebook marketing tips. But here’s where it gets really cool. I can see the activity surrounding those pins as well. As image 4 shows, i can view the pins with the highest engagement, see who the original pinner was, and view those re-pinned or liked it. And don’t forget, i can drill down like this on boards and pinners as well.
Think about that for a moment… you can drill down into your target market and see what content they like best and respond to most.
What’s more, if you search for something and find there’s no sub-categories to drill down into, that’s a great clue that you may need to tweak or refine your niche. Knowledge truly is power, and with Pinterest’s guided Search you now have access to a whole new level of knowledge, information and power. so what can you do with it?
- Also Read: 7 Ways to Make Money Blogging
Here are 10 Ways to Grow Your Business with Pinterest’s Guided Search
- Identify the most popular boards followed by your target market, then follow those boards and interact with their pins. This will bring you wider visibility to your target market and will grow your follower base.
- Invite the pinners of those top pins to be part of a niche-specific community board.
- Host a pinning event and invite the top pinners in your niche to be part of it. Be sure to assign a relevant hashtag when planning your event.
- Start a board titled “The Most Popular (Facebook Marketing Tips)” and repin all the top pins to it. This will help you capitalize on the popularity of t hose pins, while establishing yourself as a go-to resource for information on the topic.
- Follow those that have liked and repinned the top pins. Those people generally fall into two categories: A) your target market or B) other experts in your niche. Either way, connecting with both is a great way to expand your visibility.
- Turn the top pins into videos. Sound complicated? It’s not. Visit www.screenr.com to use a free service that allows you to record your computer screen while narrating information about the pins. This works especially well for infographics, just make sure you give props to the original creator in your video. You can upload your videos straight to YouTube, or can download them as an mp4.
- Perform your laser research on boards and make a list of all the boards that are community boards. Follow and interact with them, and after you’ve become a familiar face, ask to become part of the group.
- Start a “Pinners I Recommend and Follow” board and pin images of those top pinners, linked to their account. Tag them in the pin description so they see that you featured them.
- Make swipe file of the most popular pins to use as research for creating your next info product.
- Follow the four step process above to determine the best titles, phrases and descriptions to give your account maximum visibility.