Pinterest has reshaped itself as a legitimate business marketing platform.
There's been plenty of discussion during the past year about the value of using Pinterest for business. With the addition of Rich Pins, major retailers and specialized artisans alike have found a new platform to connect with shoppers.
This offering can assist apartment marketers by creating greater buzz and familiarity for their apartment communities.
It likewise could help answer the question: Are people actually shopping for apartments on Pinterest?
People may not be coming to Pinterest to search for their next apartment, but there are things on top of prospective residents' minds that can be highlighted on Pinterest, a photo-sharing social media website.
Providing décor ideas, DIY projects and packing and moving tips can gain traffic to a community. Valuable and interesting information about the neighborhood or the city they are looking to move to can be shared. If prospective residents' attention can be captured with this type of content, they'll soon be clicking through to the community's website to see what else is being offered, and maybe even to find their next home.
Whether a community is brand-new to the platform or it's ready to give its Pinterest account a facelift, following are strategies that can increase the chances of capturing the community of renters and apartment hunters who are active on Pinterest.
Upload a profile picture
Pinterest is a social channel. Because the goal is to establish the board as a trusted and recognizable brand, don't skimp on the photo.
This will display as 153px by 153px, so a 200px by 200px photo is recommended.
Create a description
Help pinners understand who the company or community is and what is being offered by adding a clear and brief description.
This description is searchable, so be sure to work in a few keywords as appropriate, but no keyword stuffing.
If the account is in a specific city or state, include the location in the description to capture the local community.
Add a location
Yes, this was done in the description, but Pinterest also offers a field to add a city and state. Do it.
Verify your website
Make sure the website link is verified; visit the Pinterest for Business page for step-by-step instruction about how to do this.
Rearrange Your Boards
Take advantage of the ability to click and drag boards around within the profile page to showcase the best boards at the top. These may be the boards with the most pins and repins or the ones that best showcase an area of expertise. If boards have already been created, reconsider how they are arranged now.
For new accounts, come back to this step later.
Pick unique and descriptive board titles
Pinterest board titles are searchable as well, so if the board is titled "apartment décor," anyone searching for those terms could potentially see the pins from that board in their search results, regardless of the pin descriptions.
Add pins to boards
Aim for a minimum of 10 pins per board. If the total is approaching 150 to 200 pins on a board, consider breaking that board into smaller categories. By taking a recipe board and breaking it down into "quick breakfast options," "lunch recipes" and "dinner in your apartment," a wider audience potentially will be captured.
Add a board map
When editing the boards, add maps if it makes sense for that topic. This new feature helps to create a feel for the area and community flavor.
Add a category
Choosing a category for the board helps the pins on that board show up when someone is browsing that category.
There will be board topics that simply don't match any of the categories offered, but most often you can make something fit. For example, WC Smith uses the category "Architecture" for its property boards because they feature photos of its buildings' exterior architecture, interior details and unit floor plans.
Select a cover photo
Once you have a handful of pins on a board, take to time to update the cover photo. Pinterest will automatically select one at random for its accounts so choose one that presents well in those size restraints and that does a good job representing what type of pins to expect from that board. And throughout the entire process, don't forget to save changes!
Create content that is useful, interesting and/or entertaining
A graphic was created for an apartment community that is three blocks from Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. For Opening Day, the team released a blog post with fun Nats stats and highlighted their proximity to the stadium.
Use text in your images
Whether it's a quote, blog description or an infographic, using text in images helps confirm what the image is about. Often, when pins are repinned, the descriptions are changed or deleted altogether, so having a basic description in the image itself helps ensure that viewers continue to understand what they'll learn when clicking on it.
Use tall images
With the scrolling grid-style layout on Pinterest, tall images really capture the eye for a longer period of time. Using a 2:3 aspect ratio is ideal. If your image is 600px wide, 900px tall would be ideal. Keep this in mind when creating pins, and remember that customized dimensions can be created with the online tool Canva (more on that later).
Use high-resolution images
Try to stick with images that are no less than 600 px wide to ensure images render clearly.
Use bright, warm colors
Studies suggest that warm, rich colors are re-pinned more often than cool, muted colors. Using two or three bold colors in one pin helps it stand out.
Avoid images with faces
Platforms such as Instagram and blog-featured images tend to do well with images that show faces, but Pinterest users prefer to repin images without faces. It makes sense in apartment marketing to show a staged apartment so that prospective residents can envision what living there would be like for them. Including humans in the photo could distract from that.
Description
Never neglect the description. This is another opportunity to have the community show up in search results and gives viewers an idea of what they can expect to see more of when they click through to the source. Descriptions ideally include approximately 200 characters, and just like board and profile descriptions, they should be clear and concise with a few keywords worked in.
Use this opportunity to create a call to action when appropriate. In the aforementioned example, the call to action is a soft sell, informing pinners that Park Chelsea apartments will be just three blocks from Nationals Park, with the pin linking back to the community blog.
Attribution
Finally, always make sure that your pins link back to their original source. If pinning directly from your website, this will happen automatically, but if uploading content, be sure to go back and edit the pin to add the correct url. If re-pinning someone else's content, click through to make sure the link brings you where it is supposed to. You don't want to be sharing bad info with your audience. Remember, the goal is to establish trust and authority.
Timing
The most active hours on Pinterest are around 3 p.m. Fridays, and 8 a.m. Saturday as well as 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Avoid posting
weekdays from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Rich Pins Link Directly to the Source
Pinterest's Rich Pins are ones that provide extra info on the pin itself. They include pins of recipes, apps, movies, articles, products for sale and places. Adding locations with Foursquare integration creates a Rich Pin that can be used with boards with maps.
Rich Pins present better because they provide valuable information and link directly to the source.
For small portfolios or ones where staff members handle social media, consider creating product pins for available units. Product pins allow prices to be added so that prospective residents can effectively shop for their next place on Pinterest.
The best part? If someone pins an available unit, they will be alerted via email if the price drops, reminding them that something they've already indicated interest in is still available, and now for a better price.
Pinterest in June launched a "buy" button for posts. While this could prove helpful to many retailers, it is too early to see if it would have much impact on the apartment industry, given the effort involved in filling out and reviewing lease applications.
Pin Optimization Tools Can Help
Tailwind. A tool that allows users to schedule their pins to post at a later time. It also can analyze an account's audience and suggests the best times to pin. It offers personalized suggestions for how to improve profiles, pins and boards.
Canva. Canva is a free tool that offers awesome templates and design elements to help create eye-catching visuals. Use it to overlay an image with an inspirational quote or moving tip, create a simple infographic or simply insert logos onto original images.
Piktochart and Venngage. Both help to create photo collages by using simple templates.
Crew and Fiverr. Marketplaces where professionals can be enlisted to help create content or visuals.