Searching for a free marketing tool that will increase your website traffic and generate more clients? Pinterest saves the day again! Remember reading 10 Pinterest Tips to Increase Traffic to Your Real Estate Website, an article we published that offers tried-and-true tips on boosting website traffic using Pinterest? We have expanded this idea and focused on using Pinterest specifically as a marketing tool for your real estate listings.
That’s right! Pinterest continues to be a hot topic, gaining new members all the time. People continue to crave the visual browsing opportunities it provides. Build on this! If you are a Pinterest newbie we recommend reading 60 Pinterest Board Ideas for Real Estate. There are a number of new ways that you can use Pinterest specifically as a marketing tool that will increase your website traffic and get you more exposure.
Utilize the Tools that Pinterest has to Offer
Incorporate Pinterest’s Follow Button and Profile Widget directly into your website. The Follow Button can be installed in a few prominent places (sidebar, header, footer) on your website and blog, making it simple for people to hop back and forth from your Pinterest page to your website.
The Profile Widget works much the same way, but it can be even more effective as it is larger and actually displays up to 30 of your most recent pins. Both tools can be installed using Pinterest’s “Widget builder.”
Pin, Pin, Pin and SHARE!
This marketing tip is very simple and very effective. The more you pin and share photos, the more people who will be alerted of your presence. Your details are displayed below each of your pins allowing interested parties to be directed to your Pinterest page and your website.
You can also seek out people with similar interests using this technique. How does this work? Every time you pin an image a message pops up that says, “Also pinned to…” Follow that link and connect with people who are interested in the same thing. If it looks like a potential lead, then you can even “follow” that person, which might encourage them to follow you back.
The more you find and pin popular images the more followers you will attract. Pinterest will also recommend you to others who are pinning the same images. All of these elements work together to boost your presence on Pinterest.
Leave Excellent Comments and Give a Shout Out to Other Pinners
Pinterest has a drop-down list up by the search bar featuring 35+ categories, covering a wide range of subjects. These pages are chock full of pins that have been repinned, liked and commented on many times. Check out the “Popular” page, which features the top most popular pins of any type. There are also real estate related categories such as Architecture, Design, Gardening, Home Décor, Travel, etc.
This drop-down menu is a treasure trove of Pinterest’s most pinned pins, making it a great place to find attractive images to pin and leave comments on. Make your comments meaningful by studying the picture as well as its description. Your comment could add more information, share a similar experience, or even mention other pinners who you follow. When people read your comments, they might be prompted to check out your Pinterest page. Mentioning others might gain the attention of said pinners, who may want to follow you in turn. It is advisable to only comment two to three times a day, because Pinterest considers too much commenting spam and could suspend your account.
Link your Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Network Accounts
Connecting all of your social network accounts together is a great way to generate more website traffic. You can do this by adding a link to your Pinterest page into your bios on your other accounts. You can also Tweet your pins as well as display your recent Pinterest activity on Facebook. This allows your friends and followers to see amazing photos of homes you are selling and other real estate topics that you focus on. They can easily visit your pins and see all the other great real estate related boards you are creating.
This is also a great way to discover friends from other social networks. Once your accounts are all connected, you can go to your Pinterest page and click on your business name (found in the top right-hand corner of the screen). A drop-down menu will appear allowing you to “find friends” from other social networks. Once found, you can follow them on Pinterest, prompting them to follow you in return.
Discover the Secret of “Group Boards”
Group Boards are boards that have many contributors. Check out this About Group Boards pin to learn more about them and how to become a “creator” or “contributor.” As a creator you can invite specific followers to contribute to your group board, making it even more popular. As a contributor you can generate more followers who may like the images you are pinning. It is a good idea to seek out popular group boards and then work to form a relationship with the creator and other contributors. Soon, you can ask to be invited to the board and become a contributor yourself.
Focus on Specific Boards
Unless it’s a personal friend of yours, most Pinterest users prefer to follow individual boards that are of special interest to them. This why we advise you to promote your most popular boards by placing them in the top bar of your Pinterest account. Then, use the Profile Widget to draw people to that board by displaying the 30 most recent pins. You can even make it a “Group Board” allowing other people to contribute to it. This is an excellent way of increasing that board’s exposure as your contributors share their pins; it also displays the board on their profiles, thereby attracting more followers to your boards.
Follow Pinners with Similar Interests
Go to the Pinterest search bar and type in key real estate words or phrases. This will lead you to a list of boards, pins, and pinners that use this key word or phrase. Choose which people or boards you want to follow. You may want to start with finding around 100 pinners/boards to “follow” and then wait a few days to see who follows you back. You can then continue to follow these pinners and unfollow the ones that don’t. This is an efficient way to generate more followers.
Capture People’s Interest with Contests
Running a Pinterest contest is an excellent way to generate interest in your site and a draw in new followers. You can keep it simple and offer the contest to people who become a follower in a certain time-frame, or include current followers who repin a certain number of times per week. However you do it, make sure that one of the requirements for participating in the contest is to become one of your “followers.”
Practice “Pinner’s Restraint”
Every Pinterest business users must practice what I like to call “Pinner’s Restraint.” This concept means two things. First, make sure to keep the topics on your boards consistent – simply put, don’t pin a picture of a wedding dress onto a board titled “Beautiful Living Spaces.” Second, time your pins to go out at regular intervals – when you pin 50 images all in the same setting, you end up clouding your follower’s feeds. There are a ton of scheduling tools available online, such as ViralTag or Piqora, but most of them charge a fee for use.
Do Your Homework!
There are so many new marketing ideas floating around on the Internet that it is prudent to do a little research now and then. If you find yourself at stand still on Pinterest, do a Google search and see what you come up with. There is a great article titled, “20 of the Best Pinterest Tools for Business” by Lilach Buloch of heyo.com. It gives a great list of tools that were designed to help “manage, measure, and enhance the Pinterest experience” (source).
Real estate is all about the visual, which makes Pinterest the perfect way to get people looking at the homes you are selling. This also makes it an excellent marketing tool when you incorporate the tips and tricks outlined in this article. When your ultimate goal is to boost your website traffic and gain new clients, you can’t go wrong with Pinterest.
If you are interested in starting your own real estate website or need a quality IDX solution, then check out IDXCentral.com!