Editor’s Note: This column is edited from an original post to NonprofitOrgs.Wordpress.com.If your nonprofit has yet to start using Pinterest, then data released in March by Web sharing tool Shareaholic that Pinterest now generates more referral traffic than Twitter should motivate you to start pinning. At the very least, you should sign up and reserve your first choice of user names before it’s too late.
To get started, here are nine Pinterest best practices for nonprofits.
1. Pin your own Web site and blog content, but only if it pulls up a good photo.Powerful visuals are driving the Pinterest community and its referral traffic. Tap into that referral power by pinning your own Web site and blog content, but it’s imperative that the photos are visually appealing. A good example is The Nature Conservancy blog at
Blog.Nature.org.
2. Add quality descriptions to your pins.Many nonprofits are rushing through the process of adding descriptions to their pins, and it shows. Your descriptions should reflect how your pins relate to your mission or should call the Pinterest community to action. They shouldn’t be more than a sentence, but a few words is usually not enough. Also be sure to use proper punctuation and grammar in your descriptions. Most descriptions are a complete mess. They get prominent placement, so make sure your descriptions give a good first impression.
3. Add Web site links to your pin’s descriptions.You can add a Web site link while pinning or you can “Edit” your description after pinning to add a link. It’s worth noting that you do not need to put “http://” in front of the Web site URL. Keep the URL simple and short, but don’t miss an extra opportunity to increase your referral traffic from Pinterest. For instance, The Nature Conservancy uses the line, “Learn more at
www.Nature.org.”
4. Add #hash-tags to your pin’s descriptions.Similar to adding hash-tags to tweets, you also can add hash-tags to descriptions to increase the likelihood of your nonprofit’s pins showing up in Pinterest searches. Be sure to use common search terms or hash-tags and avoid being a hash-tag spammer. One hash-tag per pin is enough. For example, a
SierraClub.org pin of a turtle in water uses the hash-tag #environment.
5. Add your logo or avatar to your images.In terms of branding, it’d be wise to add your logo or avatar to some of your photos. You’ll need a photo editing tool to drag and drop your logo or avatar onto a corner of your images, but the extra step is worth your time.
6. Embed inspirational quotes onto your images.Pinners love these quotes. Tap into that phenomenon by embedding inspirational and quirky quotes onto your images, such as: “We could have saved the Earth, but we were too damned cheap.” —Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
7. Add a price banner to your pins that are goods being sold or fundraising campaigns.Many nonprofits offer donation gift programs or sell goods. Be sure to add a price to your pin description so that a price banner appears on your pin.
8. Space your pinning throughout the day.Similar to a tweet, a pin seems to have a peak lifespan of about 90 minutes, so space your pins accordingly. Logging in first thing in the morning to post 10 pins in a row isn’t a good use of Pinterest. Most people won’t ever see those pins and those who do may be annoyed that the volume of your pins has taken over their “Home” view – especially if the pins are boring. Instead, post one or two pins every few hours and build your boards slowly. Remember, you are what you pin.
9. Monitor your Pinterest referral traffic.You can easily track pins that are driving traffic to your Web site – both those pinned by you and others – by simply replacing your Web site URL in the URL below:
Pinterest.com/source/YourWebSite.com
For example, you can see the pins driving traffic to my site, Nonprofit Tech 2.0, by visiting:
Pinterest.com/source/nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com.
Heather Mansfield is the owner of Diosa Communications, principal blogger at Nonprofit Tech 2.0 and author of “Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits,” published by McGraw-Hill. She can be reached at heather@diosacommunications.com.
