Most people are familiar with both Pinterest and Twitter, and are competent at using them both for their intended purpose. However, very few people use Pinterest to its full potential – namely, to attract Twitter influencers. Allow me to explain how I discovered that Pinterest could be used as a powerful tool to attract the most influential Twitter users.
It all began when I started working with a new client, an acupuncturist. At our initial meeting, scheduled to discuss goals and action plans, I immediately noticed that his office walls were covered with photographs of famous people, complete with recommendations and autographs. Impressed by the great content I saw, I asked the acupuncturist if he had used these endorsements in any of his social media marketing.
Confused, my client informed me that, while the photographs and endorsements were available on his website, he had never thought about incorporating his famous clients into any of his social media handles. What a waste of great content!
I explained to my client that the only way anyone would see these great celebrity endorsements would be to set foot in his office or visit his homepage. Either way, the photographs were an untapped gold mine that were not living up to their full potential. With my SEO-geared mind moving a million miles a minute, I told my client that I was interested in changing the way he used his celebrity endorsements to maximize his social media presence and marketing.
The Thought Process
In the back of my mind throughout the whole discussion was an article that I had recently read on SEOmoz titled “Going Viral on Pinterest: Driving Big Traffic and Making Pinterest a Real Marketing Solution” by Colby Almond. Inspired by his premise, I was thrilled to have found something so perfect for a new Pinterest campaign. Furthermore, I was confident that the new campaign would generate decent results.
For the acupuncturist, I knew that if this campaign was executed properly, these image endorsements would attract good web traffic, influencers, brand popularity, and some business. Furthermore, it would also boost his site’s rankings based on his targeted keywords, which would, in turn, attract more relevant web traffic.
Phase 1: The Plan is Formed
After discussing the details of the new plan with the acupuncturist, we decided to use Pinterest and Twitter in combination. The client’s only responsibility was to send me images of the celebrity photographs and then I would take care of the rest. We settled on evenly spreading out the campaign and a rate of three to four images a week.
Phase 2: Research and Pin
When reviewing the acupuncturist’s celebrity photographs, I realized that research was necessary to ensure high quality Pins. Before uploading each celebrity’s picture, I found their affiliated website or page in order to link appropriately. Then, when uploading the Pin to Pinterest, I transcribed their endorsements and signature in the description section. I made sure that the endorsement linked back to my client’s domain. Again, to ensure high quality for the Pins, I uploaded a few at a time each week.
Phase 3: Tweet the Pins
After Pinning the endorsements to Pinterest, I used the acupuncturist’s Twitter handle to draw attention to the Pins. The first step was to Tweet the celebrity whose endorsement we used, “tagging” him or her in the photograph. We were careful to use only verified Twitter accounts and to include all relevant hashtags.
Our initial Pin and Tweet campaign was wildly successful. Within hours of Tweeting the celebrity endorsement, my client received notification that the celebrity endorser had begun following the acupuncturist’s Twitter account. Within a week, my client had been mentioned by several celebrities’ Twitter accounts.
The Evidence:
The following pictures demonstrate our campaign’s success.
This Pin was uploaded to Pinterest on February 14, 2013:
Shortly after, the acupuncturist Tweeted the Pin:
Abel Trujillo began following my client the same day, and five days later Tweeted the following:
Lest the Pins and Tweets not speak for themselves, my client reports that he has had a number of new appointments booked based solely on the Pin and Tweets. Furthermore, Google Analytics shows that web traffic spiked on the same day that the Pin was uploaded.
The acupuncturist and I are waiting to see if the other Pinned celebrity endorsements generate similarly encouraging results. I am confident that the Tweeted and Pinned endorsements will do only good things for my client’s social media presence and marketing.
Clearly, this campaign could not have happened without the truly stellar content that my client had in his office. However, without the proper social media use and sound SEO strategizing, the content would be sleeping in a cave, not even coming close to its full potential.
If you have been looking for new ways to attract Twitter influencers and broaden your clients’ social media presence, find the content that has not yet been used to its full potential. Try Tweeting the Pins and enjoy how successful your campaigns will become!