The early part of the year is always interesting.
Something that many sites and organizations do is provide the “best of” material from the previous year.
There are all kinds of studies, surveys and things like that released early in the year. Sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others all seem to do it.
Today we’re going to look at the “best of” list from Pinterest. We’ll look at the top pins from the last year and see what lessons we can pull from them.
Hopefully the lessons and action steps will help you with your social media and business strategies in the new year.
Let’s get into it.
Top Pins of 2013
Here is a link to the Top Pins of 2013.
Check it out for yourself. I’ll just pull out a few lessons for you.
Lesson #1: Even Articles Need To Be Visual
The Top Article Pins from the year have great visuals. There are some articles included that are simply collections of great images and photos. The lesson is that blog articles don’t need to have a lot of words. Photographs can do just as well especially on Pinterest.
Action: Take more photos this year and share them on your blog and on social media.
Lesson #2: Stories Connect With People
Staying in the article section you’ll notice that many of the top articles on Pinterest from the last year tell stories. There is a story about water in third world countries. There are others about philanthropy and more about store openings and things like that. The lesson is that people like reading stories.
Action: The more you can work stories into your writing the more you’ll connect with your target customers.
Lesson #3: Home Decor and Food
If you’re in the home and food businesses then it’s probably a good idea to get on Pinterest. Those were the first two boards included on this list. Furniture, accessories, restaurants, etc. It’s all there and popular on Pinterest.
Action: Home & Food = Pinterest Faves – get on it. Jump in and start sharing. Don’t wait. Try different things and find what works.
Lesson #4: Inspiration
You can’t really motivate people, but you can inspire them. I heard Aaron Rodgers say that recently. He was quoting someone, but I can’t remember who it was. Anyway, if you look at the top pins of the year you’ll see that many of the fashion, home and other boards are all full of things that inspire people. We live in a busy world. People will figure things out on their own, but they’d much rather find inspiration in an easier way.
Action: When posting on Pinterest or really when publishing any content online look to inspire people. Provide images, stories and other things that can inspire. People will pay attention.
Lesson #5: Hacks
People are always looking to make life easier. Pinterest is full of hacks for using space at home. It’s full of hacks for making delicious food in little time. It’s full of articles with tips and tricks for doing cool things and saving time.
Action: Publish hacks. We all do things in life every day that saves time. Find those that relate to your business and share them with your customers. They’ll appreciate that you did.
Lesson #6: Validity By Association
I was looking at the Health & Fitness section. One thing you’ll notice is that writers use association with celebrities or well-known brands or people to validate their claims. There is the article on getting abs like Victoria’s Secret models. There is Lauren Conrad’s Calorie Blasting Workout. You don’t have to do your own studies and things to validate your content. We do this all the time at GBW. We analyze what well-known people and brands are doing and share the information. People make the association and respond to the article.
Action: Publish content that mentions well-known people and brands.
Lesson #7: Lists Still Rule
I first noticed this one in the article section once again, but you’ll see it all through the top pins of the year. People like reading lists. They like reading tips. They like learning and doing so in list form connects with people. You probably get bored seeing all those numbers on blog posts, but there is a reason for it – it works.
Action: Make lists part of your blogging strategy this year. Help people. Share your tips. Give people action items.
Conclusion
Hopefully these lessons have helped. I know it always helps me to look at things like this. Even when it’s something like Pinterest, which doesn’t relate all that much to blogging it can be helpful for what online consumers are doing.
One thing to remember with this information is the demographic on Pinterest. It’s very much a female majority audience so if you plan on using Pinterest make sure your target customer fits the demographic using the site.
Best of luck in the New Year!