Pinterest now counts 11.7 million unique users, and one BEA panel helped writers learn how to use the site for book promotion.
At a BEA, KMS Public Relations president Kathleen Schmidt moderated a “Pin it on Pinterest: Driving Traffic to Your Brand” panel. The experts included Wall Street Journal pop culture reporter Katherine Rosman, Book Riot executive editor Bethanne Patrick and Book Riot community manager Rebecca Schinsky.
During the presentation, Rosman recalled how she met the founders of Pinterest when they were working out of a small Palo Alto apartment last August. Since those humble beginnings, this photo-sharing site has risen the ranks and become the third most popular social media platform in America.
We’ve collected some advice below–be sure to check out our Pinterest Tips for Writers post and our collection of Pinterest Boards for Book Lovers as well.
Pinterest Marketing Ideas for Writers
1. Pinterest works especially well to drive traffic to highly “visual” (image-driven) content. It doesn’t have the same impact on text-based content. When using this tool Schinsky advised, “take the idea of your book and make it visual.”
2. “Follow some big names on Pinterest and learn from them.” The panelists praised publishers Chronicle Books, Random House, and Scholastic for building incredible Pinterest boards.
3. Being succinct with your text usually garners a more favorable response. Keep descriptions to 200 words or less; “if you can describe your image in 7 words, do it in 7 words.”
4. Highlight a juicy quote from a book review and then use shareasimage.com to pin the text onto your Pinterest board; both the quote and the link source will show up.
5. “You don’t ever want to use your Pinterest board or any social media tools purely for promotional purposes.”