Why Pinterest? Like LinkedIn,
it’s a good place to connect with people in a more mature demographic
than other social networks but unlike LinkedIn, the user base is heavily
female. In Pinterest for Business, Karen Leland begins with some interesting stats from Google Ad Planner: 72 percent of Pinterest users are female with a college degree.
And they love homes and home decor. Although many businesses can
benefit from Pinterest, businesses that are highly visual and
photo-driven get the biggest boost from this network which focuses on
sharing beautiful images and videos.
Getting Started
Leland takes readers through the basics of Pinterest from signing up to creating your first boards. Should you sign up with Pinterest as an individual using a social media log-in or email? One advantage to signing up with Facebook is that you will be able to instantly see which of your friends are already on Facebook. One disadvantage of this method however is that your username on Facebook will port over, meaning that you won’t be able to choose a new username. You can integrate your Pinterest account with both Facebook and Twitter so that they will republish your pins.
Another thing to consider is whether or not you want to show up as an individual or as a business. If you are using Pinterest as a brokerage the choice is easy but for agents the choice may be a little less clear. Is your account for personal or business branding? Is having Pinterest analytics important to you? For larger firms, business is clearly the way to go but single agents may prefer a personal account.
Finding The Right Pinterest Mix
Leland recommends the following ratio for structuring your boards and pins:
40% Inspirational–This includes things like beautiful pictures, inspiring sayings, basically anything that uplifts and entertains.
40% Educational–How can you educate or inform potential clients? These pins could be neighborhood info, tips on home buying, or home maintenance–basically anything that relates to your core business.
10% Product or Service Profiles–This can include listings, announcement of sales, anything that leads back to your website and helps generate interest in your listings or your services as an agent.
10% Brand Development–These pins communicate the value of your brand. Bios of your team, customer testimonials, brand history, and more fall under this category.
Many real estate pinners use the site not just to share listings but to show the benefits of local neighborhoods, delve into real estate statistics (generally shared through charts and graphs), or explain the basics of real estate. Using text over photos is a great way to create very shareable images. For your own photos you can use a watermark so that pinned photos retain your info. The description is another area where you can include information.
In addition to your own pinning activities, you also want to make sure your website materials such as videos, blog posts, and beautiful images can be easily pinned by others. You can check out your website’s source code on Pinterest to see what pinnable images are displayed. It’s easy to add a Pin It button to your site. If you don’t want images from your site to be pinnable there is also code that you can install to prevent pinning.
Leland has some specific advice for real estate agents. She advises dedicating boards to specific properties as well as having a “houses sold” board. She also advises having pins that focus on the real estate process. You can also involve home sellers in the process, asking them to pin their favorite things about the neighborhood.
Pinterest can take some time to get started with but it offers a lot of major benefits including the fact that pins don’t disappear into the archives the way blog posts do. Something you pinned a year ago can suddenly get a bunch of repins. Pinterest can help you drive blog traffic, showcase both the beautiful photography you do for your listings as well as your knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for real estate. Don’t forget to follow realtor.com® on Pinterest for more pinspiration.
