debbiebradleyIf you’re using Pinterest for Business, it makes sense that you will follow people that inspire you and your business, so who should you follow on Pinterest?
Your best friend from college? Biz Besties? People, who you love and admire? Someone else entirely? No one, or all of the above?
Ask yourself this;
Who can you learn the most from?
Now as you know, there are a few different ways of looking at this…
1 – You can follow your mentors and idols… people further on in their journey, who inspire you and help you progress beyond the current status. People who are already doing well in your industry.
2 – The people who you serve in your business. These are the ones who you hope are looking for you, and who you know you can help.
How about a combo of both?
Following people who inspire you is a great way to make sure you’re progressing. We all need a little inspiration from time to time. But I want to talk to you about the 2nd people on that list, as I find these people INVALUABLE!
By now, you should have an idea of who your ideal client is in your business. These people are the lifeblood of your business, as, without them, you wouldn’t have a business at all… So what would you get from following them on Pinterest?
Immediate Customer profiling
It’s the easiest way to profile your customers and find out what they want and what they’re looking for.
Pinterest is the place for inspiration. It’s where people go to collect ideas for things to do, places to go and a lifestyle to live. It’s their wants and dreams laid out for everyone to see.
How can you use this to your advantage?
This is your opportunity to connect with them on a more personal level. By saving the most useful of their content to your own boards, you can show that you ‘get it’ you understand, and you appreciate the information that’s already out there.
You can bridge the gaps
By seeing what’s already out there, you can recognise what isn’t out there. This is your opportunity to fill a gap in your market. And there is ALWAYS a gap in the market. This will help you when you’re having an ‘off day’ or you find yourself struggling with ‘What to write?’ Writers’ block and a lack of ideas for content generation can be killer for businesses, especially online businesses, believe me, I know!
This will set you apart
Too many people follow other people in the same industry and recreate what’s already been done, in a bid to recreate what was already successful for someone else… This already puts you on the back foot! It was successful for the first person because it solved a problem. You can’t expect the same level of success doing the same thing because the need has already been answered.
This isn’t to say that you can’t have success doing the same as someone else, of course, you can, we see it happening all day every day, but you’ll have more success if you fill a void in the market by putting your own spin on it.
How do you find these people?
First… get to know your dream clients. Figure out what kind of person you serve, and what they may be looking for on Pinterest. I recommend having a secret board set up where you can collect different images that reflect your dream clients. it’s fun, and you get to know them a little better, especially if you’re a visual person like I am. (Yes… I have a dream client board… no, you can’t see it!)
Secondly… do a Pinterest search for keywords that you use in your business. Things that your dream clients will be looking for. You can look for boards and people in search, so find boards around your topic *You can follow JUST the board, you don’t have to follow the whole profile. It can skew the algorithms if the profile doesn’t fully match what you’re after.
Third… Find some popular pins and check out the content. Make sure that the people you’re following are sharing/saving the right information that you’re looking for.
How this benefits you
By following these boards and people, Pinterest will start to show you more related content. The Smart Feed is made up of content from those you follow, related content, and content based on your interests.
The Smart Feed shows you popular content first, so you’ll be able to get a good idea of how popular something’s been easily; the more popular something is, the higher it shows on the feed
This means Pinterest will do your customer research and competitor research for you (to a certain extent). Who doesn’t want that?
