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This article was written by Corie Kellman (@coralman808), Cyber PR®’s Director of New Artist Relations.
Your goal is to be a full time musician, right? Or maybe you already quit your day job and this is all you do. Guess what– you’re not just a musician, you’re a business, so start acting like one. It’s time to convert your Pinterest account to a business account, if you haven’t already. There are perks to having a business account over a personal account, like analytics tools and coming soon, promoted pins.
Why Pinterest? Pinterest gives you an opportunity to further build your brand image, show your fans what inspires you or what you find interesting, and helps drive traffic back to your other sites, like your webstore, newsletter signup, or other socials (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blog etc.) It’s a great place to build your lifestyle branding.
Here are 6 steps to get you started:
1. Pinterest for Business
Sign up for a Pinterest for business account or convert your current account to one at http://business.pinterest.com and create a profile. Be sure to use an image or photo people will recognize you - remember you are building your brand!
2. Themed Boards
Create a few themed boards - shoot for 8-10 boards. Start with things you are most interested in (this will help keep the ‘work’ ‘fun’ so that you don’t quit using the network after the first few days. Keep your boards’ titles easy to understand, you want to choose words that your fans will search for or understand. For example, if your lyrics are heavily influenced by Classic Rock, title one of your boards that. Or perhaps you inspired by traveling, title one of your boards ‘Travel’. One of my favorite things to search for are clothes inspired by my favorite rock stars. If you have a fan base whose wardrobe or culture is inspired by your music or your brand, make a board to share where your fans can get that shirt you wore on tour.
Ellen Degeneres has a great example: Ellen’s style is a huge part of her brand and she has created a board with over 220,000 followers.
3. Start Pinning!
Search for posts to pin that align with your board theme. Caution: This part is addicting! You may find yourself with lost hours of your life. Aim to have at no less than 5 pins per board. And remember when you pin, to edit the caption to be search-friendly and personal.
4. Add pins that link back to your sites
You can add a content to the site by clicking the “+” icon in the upper right-hand area of the Pinterest homepage. This is a prime opportunity for you to link it back to where you want to see traffic increase (your blog, webstore or newsletter signup for example.) It will become a pin that other users can share with their followers – remember to make the content pin-teresting.
Whole Foods Market does a great job of making thier content pin-teresting and linking it back to their site. Take a look at their Thanksgiving board:
You will notice if you click through the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake pin, it will take you to their site. On the website, you can see they have the Pin-it button for others to pin directly from their site.
5. Follow Users That Interest You
Friends, family, fans, other brands and celebrities will help fill your feed and inspire you, too.
Here are a few boards you may like:
The Rolling Stones
Paste Magazine
Ariel Hyatt
NPR Music
CMT
Fender
6. Don’t forget to engage with fans that comment on your posts!
It’s an opportunity to build a relationship.
Are you on Pinterest? What do you use it to search for? Who are your favorite pinners to follow? Share your experience below!
How Do YOU Use Pinterest to Build Your Brand?
Share your experiences and successes with Pinterest in the form of a comment below!