Social Media and Freelancing
Simple Tips for Freelancers to Get the Best Out of Pinterest
Step by step guides for creating pinboards and sharing content on Pinterest easily and quickly
Introduction
You don’t have to spend hours sharing content on Pinterest. Creating a pin for each post takes fewer than 20 seconds once you make a board or become part of someone’s board. Pinterest can be an ideal platform for freelancers to reach a broad audience.
In this post, I provide a step-by-step guide on creating a pinboard and tips to share your content, including articles, blog posts, book pages, testimonial pages, freelance websites, and other links with photos.
Images are essential for Pinterest as the functional concept is built on this. However, the innovative part of this tool is providing web links to the photos attached. In this case, a user who clicks on the image can access your content link easily, read it, comment on it, and share it.
As I discussed in this article, Pinterest is one of the most powerful social media tools which can introduce your content to a significant number of viewers who can be your potential readers. The best part is gaining benefits with minimal time investment.
When I started with Pinterest, my expectations were meager. I did not expect to receive many views. However, nowadays, my pinboards get over two million views monthly. This month I received 2.2 million. It can be an excellent start for freelance writers to create at least one thematic pinboard covering relevant articles or book links.
In addition, Pinterest allows collaboration. When you establish a partnership with a board owner, you can pin your content to their boards if they add you as a collaborator. I enjoy supporting other content creators and will be happy to add more people to my boards if you leave a comment with your Pinterest account.
Pinterest is used for many purposes, such as collecting design ideas, marketing and selling products. However, my purpose is to introduce only the content sharing feature for freelance writers in this post.
I posted an article about Pinterest last year. However, the interface of the tool has changed since then. Therefore, in this post, I provide clear guidance on creating a pinboard and how to pin your content to various boards using the new interface in the following sections. In addition, I provide sample screen captures to make the steps easy to follow.
How to create a board on Pinterest
The first prerequisite is to create a Pinterest account. It is simple. All you need is to go to pinterest.com. It will sense your country and direct you to the Pinterest domain in your country. For example, for me, it is pinterest.com.au.
Then you click on the Signup button. You will see a form that gives you three options to sign up. The first option is using your email, the second is using your Facebook account, and the third one is using your Google account.
Creating a board is a bit interesting as a first-time member. Without instructions, people get lost. I have no idea why Pinterest makes it challenging for beginners.
You need to select a pin to add to your account from the preferences you specified when you signup. When you add a pin by clicking on it, you will see it on your account homepage. So this action will create a page for you.
You can access your account by clicking on the icon on the top right side of your screen. On the middle-left side of the page, you will see a + sign. When you click on the + sign, you can create a board, as seen in the following image.
When you click on the Board, you will see a new screen asking to add a board name. You have an option to keep it secret, but it is not the purpose for freelance writers. Instead, we want our content to be seen by others.
The system recognized the word “Poetry” and offered me some pins related to poetry. This shows how intelligent the system is. It depicts the power of artificial intelligence in managing social networks.
When we choose a sample pin and click on the Done button (red one on the bottom right), it creates our first pin and makes our board ready. So, you completed building a board successfully, as shown in the following image.
How to pin content to a Pinterest board
To attach a pin to your board, you need to click on the + sign at the bottom of the page. When you click on it, you will see a window like in the following image
You click on the Pin option.
It will prompt you with the following window.
To add a piece of content that includes a photo, you need to click on the “Save from website” option on the top left side of the window.
You will see the following window.
You copy and paste the link to your content. I added a link to one of my recent articles as an example.
When you hit Enter, the system will automatically capture photos from the content link. Even though I have only one image in this article, but it shows two. It looks like a bug, but it is not a big deal.
You can click on the photos you want to add. It means that if your content has multiple images, you can add numerous pins showing the same content link.
Click on the image and the Next button.
You will see the following window.
As you can see, you can either choose your existing board or create a new board. For this example, I decided to select the current board called “My Board About Poetry”.
Then, you click on the Save button on the selected board.
This part is a bit confusing as after adding the pin, it automatically takes you to the feed page with system-recommended pins. So, you need to click on your account icon on the top right side to see your boards and pins.
Here is the pin I created using my article link.
When a user clicks on this pin, they will see a screen like the following image. It automatically captures the article’s title with a link on top and a brief extract from the article.
All I did was to add the link, but the system automatically captured this essential information about my article. Users can save it and leave a public comment. They can also share the link on various social networks, as shown in the following screen capture.
In addition to Twitter and Facebook, they may also email and text message people in their network.
How to collaborate with others on Pinterest
Pinterest has a powerful collaboration feature. By joining other people’s boards, you can share your pins in their network.
For example, I have many collaborators and welcome members in my network to share their pins on my boards. They also allow me to share my pins on their boards, so it is a reciprocal activity.
To join a board or allow others to join your boards, you need to add their Pinterest accounts or send them an invitation code.
For example, one of my collaborators is Dr. Adam Tabriz. When I type his name on this new board, the system prompts me to invite him as a collaborator. Or I might send the invitation link via email or a text message.
When Dr Adam joins this board, he will be able to add pins with no restrictions.
How to promote your content via ads
Even though Pinterest is a free service, it also has a commercial aspect. For example, you may promote your content via ads to reach a broader audience. It is like Facebook ads.
The first step is to choose a pin.
The second step is to fill out ad details. There are options to target your audience.
And the third step is to provide your credit card details and click on the Promote button. I removed the section for credit card details at the bottom.
If I want to promote this article by paying $9 for ten days using the Broad option, my content might reach 90+ million users, according to Pinterest estimate.
I am unsure about promoting a single article from a profitability angle, but I used this feature for promoting my books and received a reasonable return.
I shared my experience in selling books using social media in this article:
Conclusions
Pinterest is an extensive network with millions of members. It can be an ideal marketing tool for freelance writers. Like many authors, I have been using the platform successfully. It is one of my favorite platforms due to its benefits for promoting my content free.
Even though the vital function of the platform relates to images and videos, freelance writers can create pins linking to their textual content, including photos.
Pinterest offers a free service to all members. However, you can be part of the business program to gain more exposure to your content. Unlike other social media platforms, you don’t need many followers to gain an impression on Pinterest. The algorithm of the platform is fair to all members.
If you want to learn more about other social media platforms, you might check this article reflecting my experience.
Thank you for reading my perspectives.
About the Author
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About the Author
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
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