We have all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Nothing could be truer when it comes to the most recent social media powerhouses: Pinterest and Instagram. You do not have to think of something witty or interesting to say to attract customers because these networks work on visual stimuli instead of just textual wit.
You Don’t Need Words to Look Smart
While words are not the focus, you have to keep your images visually intriguing. You want to focus on images that are taller than they are wide. This makes the image easier to digest without having to scroll through it. A wider image may not show in totality on the screen. This is an especially important consideration in this digital age because many viewers are going to be viewing your images on smartphones and tablets. Scrolling vertically is usually easier and more convenient than scrolling horizontally. Recent studies have shown that the taller images do average more repins.
Find the Right Words
Because the words are not the main focus on these platforms, you need to choose your words carefully. Both Instagram and Pinterest allow you to include text with your photos. This text help the viewer understand what they are looking at and it lets you convey a message to them. However, you want to keep you descriptions between 100 and 200 characters (that’s characters, not words). This is just enough to get your message across without the lengthy explanations.
When using Pinterest or Instagram, don’t forget your hashtags. The hashtags also help with the translation of the photo. Studies done revealed that using hashtags garners more likes than photos that do not have any. Generally, your hashtags should be descriptive or actionable. #Followforfollow has been the most popular hashtag while less popular are ones such as #truth and #bestfriends are the least popular. The reason that these are so unpopular is because they only apply to the poster or perhaps the other people in the photo. You want to hashtag something that everyone can relate to even if they do not know anyone that is in the picture.
Monkey See or Monkey Do
No matter what kind of marketing that you are doing for your business, you want to see the results. The decision that you have to make is what kind of results you want to see. Do you want followers to share your posts with all of their followers or do you want to start a discussion? You may want your followers to do both. No matter what you want to achieve, you have to implement a call to action. Let your followers know what you want them to do.
Read more: Pinterest Posts 52 Percent Monthly Growth