When it comes to promoting your practice on social media, you’re definitely missing out if you’re not on Pinterest. It’s the second largest social network online, with over one billion users worldwide. The platform has a reputation for housing superb images of tasty avocados and stunning wedding attire, but don’t think that’s it. Businesses in many different niches have experienced success on this platform.
Let’s take a look at Pinterest and learn why it’s one of the best social media networks to utilize for marketing any practice.
What is Pinterest
Pinterest is a free social network where users share their interests in the form of images and video. Boards are created around a certain topic, and users add or “pin” images related to that topic on the board. Others can subscribe to these public boards, and communicate with you via comments on your pins. This is the basic premise of Pinterest. In a nutshell, it’s an image dominant social network that gives users access to a plethora of creative content.
How Businesses Use Pinterest
Businesses use Pinterest to promote their products and services with the use of compelling graphics and interesting video. A keyword rich description of the board makes it easier to get found by people searching for your type of content. As with other networks, there’s a level of engagement that needs to take place in order to be successful on this platform, but it’s certainly well worth the effort.
Why Promote Your Practice on Pinterest?
If you’re thinking that Pinterest sounds like a place for cupcakes and kitchen makeovers, then you may not understand the sheer magnitude of this platform. Here are some numbers that will change your mind:
- There are over 150 million monthly users on Pinterest
- Currently, there are over 1 billion Pinterest boards
- More than 14 million articles are pinned each day.
- 30% of all US social media users are Pinterest users
- 60% of Pinterest users are from the US
How to Market Your Practice on Pinterest
So, now that we’re clear that Pinterest is definitely a force to be reckoned with, let’s look at some ways that you can use this platform to your advantage.
First off, remember that the content on Pinterest primarily consists of images, so you will need to invest time and effort into creating exciting graphics that represent your business. You’ll need to pin these graphics from your website to your Pinterest board, and this means having an initial place to house them.
Share Blog Post Images from Your Website
The easiest way to promote your practice is to share great graphics from your blog. With each new post, be sure to add a high quality, preferably custom image to go along with it. If the content is long form, then you need more than one image. When you share these pictures on Pinterest and a follower clicks on your board to get a closer look, there’s a link to your website for them to follow.
Create Boards Centered Around Your Specialty
Your business Pinterest account should include several boards that relate to your area of healthcare. For example, if you specialize in pain management, you could have a board about back pain, one about joint pain, and another one covering muscle pain. Remember that boards are found by the words in their description, so be sure to use plenty of search terms that your patients would use in general conversation about the topic.
Share Content from other Related Boards and Pins
Just like any social network, Pinterest is a great place to curate content and share it with your followers. Find quality, related boards and pins, and help spread the word by sharing the content with your followers. This shows that you’re a thought leader in your area of practice, and that you not only create helpful content, but you also seek it out.
Create Custom Videos to Share
Short videos also do well on Pinterest in terms of engagement. Create a 5-10 second spot about a topic related to your practice. Make sure that the featured image for that video is attention grabbing so that people will more likely click on it. The video could feature a new service that you offer, or a patient testimonial that you’re proud of. There are a number of creative ways to use video to market on Pinterest.
Leave Comments on Pins that You Love
As you search for curated content to share, be sure to leave comments on images and video that you enjoy. People engage more with businesses and users that take the time to comment and be social. This doesn’t mean that you need to say something about every item that you find interesting, but try to comment on 5-10 posts each day to build a good rapport with followers. You’ll be surprised at how well this works to increase engagement on Pinterest.
Create Special Images for Your Board
You don’t always have to share blog post images from your website. You can also create custom graphics specifically for Pinterest and share them with your audience. House these graphics on a special page on your website to make it easy to access them when planning your social media posts.
Pinterest is a great place to be creative while promoting your practice. It’s fairly simple to use and can be a lot of fun too. The main goal here is to use unique graphics to draw attention to your boards and attract clients looking for your services. Initially it may take a while to get results from using this platform, but that holds true with any social network that you start out on.
Just remember to stay focused and keep in mind that out of the one billion users casually browsing Pinterest, a great number of them desperately need what you have to offer. Keep these people front and center when you’re producing content for the platform, and you’ll find that it’s a magnet for new business.
