Nailing Pinterest: It's Not All Wedding Dresses and Desserts

PINTEREST:
it’s not all wedding
dresses and desserts
JACKIE VETRANO
social media coordinator
skidmore college
@jackievetrano
#mcs1

HELLO!I’m Jackie.
∎ Daily social media manager/content creator
∎ Creative support for the marketing team
∎ Envelope pusher, outside-the-box thinker
∎ Token millennial
∎ Other duties as assigned
@jackievetrano #mcs1

MY TEAM
AT SKIDMORE∎ The Office of Communications and Marketing reports to its own VP
∎ Photo, video, graphic design, news writing
∎ Web team
∎ 3 student workers
∎ Skidmore blog….coming soon!

DEPARTMENT
GOALS∎ Engage prospective students and turn them into applicants
∎ Drive alumni to give to Skidmore outside of peak ask-times

FINDConsider your team and other
resources on campus. Who can
help you move forward on your
project?
SUPPORT

YOUR PINTEREST
NOW
Do a quick audit of your institution’s Pinterest account

I forgot the
password
My intern
uses it
I pin…
kinda
Lookin’
good!
YAAAS
KWEEN

I forgot the
password
My intern
uses it
I pin…
kinda
Lookin’
good!
YAAAS
KWEEN
Determine where you want to be on the line, and
commit to it.

TRIVIA
TIME
It’s never too early for audience participation.

The main demographic of
Pinterest users is middle-aged
women.

FALSE.Pinterest has over 150
million monthly active users,
growing faster over the past 3
years than Facebook,
Instagram, or Twitter.
The number of male users
doubled in 2014, and now
40% of new signups are men.
Over 50% of millennials in
the US are on Pinterest to
plan their future.

You should delete pins if they
don’t see engagement over the
first three months.

FALSE.Pins could take weeks,
months, or years (ouch) to
gain ground.
Those who delete multiple
pins see lower repin and
follower growth rates.
Delete pins only if they head
to a broken link or have a
low-quality image.

Pinterest success is best
measured by the number of
followers you have.

FALSE...ISH.A successful account has a
high number of engaged
followers.
Success can be better
measured by number of
repins, pins from your
domain, or traffic to your
domain.
Choose a means of
measuring analytics with
Google Analytics or Pinterest
Analytics and measure
consistently.

PINTEREST
BUZZWORDS
Before we move on, there’s some lingo you should know.

SMARTFEED
∎ Home base
∎ No longer “everything” chronologically
∎ Optimized based on user interests

SMARTFEED
∎ Home base
BUSINESS ACCOUNT
∎ Opposite of a personal account
∎ Allows access to analytic reporting
∎ Can promote pins (ca-ching)

SMARTFEED
∎ Home base
BUSINESS ACCOUNT
PROMOTED PINS
∎ Synonym for advertisement
∎ Pin is more likely to be seen based on pre-
selected keywords

SMARTFEED
∎ Home base
BUSINESS ACCOUNT
PROMOTED PINS
∎ Synonym for advertisement
∎ Pin is more likely to be seen based on pre-
selected keywords
RICH PINS
∎ Pin provides more information than only a caption
∎ Seen most often with recipes and articles.
∎ Requires additional metadata to activate

THEStep 1: Attend #mcs1 presentation
Step 2: ?
Step 3: PROFIT! PROCESS

WHAT DO WE
HAVE?

∎ Created without an initial strategy
∎ Many boards with few pins, or ones that did not
resonate with the audience
□ Notable alumni: all headshots with no
links
□ Athletics: individual action shots lacking a
story
□ Commencement: should have been a
photo gallery
∎ Wasn’t included in the weekly content planning
as a platform
∎ Usually given to the intern

SHOULD I STAY
OR SHOULD I GO?∎ Does this board have a purpose? Does it tell a story?
∎ Are these pins quality - the image, caption, and link it directs to?
∎ Can these pins be combined with another board?
Here’s where you’ll start to get inspired. Write it down!

USING SEARCH
TERMS

∎ Google Search on skidmore.edu
∎ Analyzed roughly 700 search terms
∎ Used as inspiration for boards that will
resonate with our audience:
□ Employment, student employment, jobs,
internships
□ Visit, campus visit, campus map
□ Study abroad, spring break
□ Dining hall, dining, food

QUALITY IDEAS
FOR BOARDS

NEW IDEAS
SKIDMORE DINING
HALL RECIPES
Collaborate with
award-winning dining
services and pin recipes that
someone can do at home.
SKIDMORE AROUND
THE WORLD
Combine images taken by
Skidmore community and
photos of locations for study
abroad and alumni travel
program in one board.
LIVING AT SKIDMORE
Show off award-winning
residence halls and combine
with “lifehacks” for living on
campus.

NEW IDEAS
SKIDMORE SQUIRRELS
Because every campus
thinks they have the crazy
ones.
GETTING A JOB AFTER
SKIDMORE
Collaborate with the Career
Development Center to
provide helpful resources to
panicked seniors.
GET FIT WITH SKIDS
Infographics of Skids the
Thoroughbred demonstrating
workout routines, developed
by Skidmore coaches.

OTHER IDEASUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UMich outwardly cross-
promoted its social channels,
and it’s working.
The pins are not only images,
but link directly to the UMich
social media blog.
UNIVERSITY OF MARY
HARDIN-BAYLOR
UMHB leveraged their blog
content on Pinterest on the
“College Tips and Hacks”
board - a common search
term on Pinterest.
UNIVERSITY OF NEW
HAMPSHIRE
Not only does each board
include “UNH” or “Wildcat,”
but it is a great showcase of
the culture of the campus.

CREATING A
CALENDAR

NEXT MONTH
∎ What will the trends be? Consider
holidays, fads, and events on
campus.
∎ Pins take some time to gain
traction, which requires some
planning.
HOW TO THINK
IN THE FUTURE
∎ Pinterest content takes some
time to create.
∎ What’s coming up in the next few
months?

CALENDAR IDEAS
SEPTEMBER
Pins to Promote
∎ Organization for school/notes
Trending Topics
∎ Campus photography: fall
∎ Halloween
∎ High school juniors: PSAT testing tips
Keep in Mind
∎ Thanksgiving
∎ Study tips (midterms)
∎ Holiday gifts
OCTOBER
Pins to Promote
∎ Halloween
∎ Fall recipes
Trending Topics
∎ Campus photography: fall/winter
∎ Thanksgiving
∎ Skidmore apparel
Keep in Mind
∎ Holiday gifts
∎ Winter opportunities abroad

A PIN-FRIENDLY
WEBSITE

∎ Will add your profile photo to anything pinned from your website
∎ Access to analytics
∎ How to: help.pinterest.com/en/articles/confirm-your-website
□ Or, visit help.pinterest.com and search “confirm your website.”
CONFIRM YOUR
WEBSITE

Place your screenshot
here
Rich Pins add extra details to pin
descriptions from the website.
∎ Movie
∎ Recipe
∎ Article
∎ Product
∎ Place
ENABLE
RICH PINS

STEP BY STEP
ADD METADATA
∎ Determine the type of pin you will be creating
□ article, movie, place, product, recipe
∎ Use Open Graph or Schema.org to input required fields in <body>
∎ Help: developers.pinterest.com/docs/rich-pins/overview/
APPLY FOR RICH PINS
∎ Enter your metadata-rich URL into the validator:
developers.pinterest.com/tools/url-debugger/
∎ Sit and wait

MANEUVERING
CONTENT

STARTAfter you find inspiration,
talk with your team and
collaborators, and build
your calendar, get started.
CREATING

IMAGES
∎ Portrait instead of
landscape
∎ Use quick-and-dirty
design apps to save
time:
□ Canva
□ Adobe Spark
∎ Collaborate with your
team and outside of it
for consistent pins

PIN CAPTIONSSKIP THE HASHTAG
Pinterest is a search engine,
and doesn’t need hashtags to
categorize content.
HAVE A VOICE
Focus on the feel of your
campus. Academic tips and
hacks will do well, but a focus
on community and culture will
speak to your audience.
LONG, BUT SHORT
A recommended length is
300 characters. Make this
descriptive, and don’t forget
your institution’s name.

WHEN TO PIN
∎ Pinning more often will lead to a larger following
∎ Experts say to pin 10-20 pins each day, upwards of 30 results in repin
numbers dipping
∎ Have a realistic understanding of daily workload
∎ Start with 5 pins each day, and grow when you can
∎ Use a scheduling tool to help carry the load

PROMOTED
PINS
Put your money where your brand is.

WHAT IT TAKESPERFECT TIMING
Look back at your Pinterest
content calendar and think,
“what is on trend right now?”
These are the pins you
should be promoting, or the
ones on the horizon.
SPECIFIC KEYWORDS
Pick “interest(s)” your pin falls
under, such as art, outdoors,
or technology and pair it with
unlimited keywords you
provide.
A GOOD REASON
Maybe you want to see what
happens, or maybe your blog
has some amazing content
you want to get out there.
Either way, set a goal before
you start promotion.

∎ Pinterest provides analytics including CTR, CPM, CPC, pins,
impressions, etc.
∎ Combine with effective use of Google Analytics’ Campaign Builder for a
clear idea of traffic
□ Include a conversion goal, where possible
ASSESSING
SUCCESS

WHAT COMES
NOW?
This is the “takeaway” part. Get your phones ready.

NEXT STEPSNEXT SEMESTER
Calendar implemented as
collaborative opportunities
between departments grow.
Keep checking analytics and
adjust accordingly.
NEXT MONTH
Ideas for new Pinterest
boards created, considering
campus culture and tradition,
as well as analytics found on
Pinterest. These ideas are
shaped into a calendar, with
upcoming events and fads in
mind.
NEXT WEEK
Pinterest account audited:
What should stay, be edited
or combined, or deleted
completely?

Nailing Pinterest: It's Not All Wedding Dresses and Desserts

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Nailing Pinterest: It's Not All Wedding Dresses and Desserts