Pinterest Beginner s Guide for Attorneys Are you looking for an additional source of website traffic and leads? Pinterest can deliver them. This guide will walk you through setting up your account, how to create a Board, how to Pin, legal content ideas, and Pinterest best practices. In this beginner s guide, let s first get acquainted with Pinterest. Setting Up Your Account Go to http://business.pinterest.com/ and click Join as a business.
If you already have a personal account you can convert it to a business account. If you don t, then fill out your details in the fields (as below).
It s essential to show your business name on your profile to gain good visibility. Whatever you add in the About section on your profile will show below your photo, and is a key way others can learn more about your services. You will be greeted with a welcome message, and will need to confirm your email address. In the top right hand corner click on your business name, and scroll down to Settings which is near the bottom of the list. Click on this. Scroll down and adjust your Email Notifications to a level you feel comfortable with, so you re not bombarded with messages. When you re getting started it s often good to keep the generic settings, as they help prompt and remind you to engage during your learning period. Adjust them once you ve learnt how to use Pinterest.
It s important to connect to your other social networks. This enables the Pins you create to be shared through your social profiles, and it is also likely to help you receive additional followers and fans on these channels. When you press on the toggle to use an account to log in, if you are logged in to your social account you will receive a request to Authorize app. Click on Authorize app, and it will take you back to the previous page once completed. Do this for each of the networks you re a part of.
In the Settings section you can also click on Edit profile. Update your picture, username, location, website, or About You here. It s important that you verify your website. The advantage of doing this means that it shows up in website results and on your profile.
You can verify your site by uploading the provided file to your website or you can add a meta tag to the <head> of your index.html file. Once completed, press Complete Verification. Once you have completed changing all the account settings, press Save Settings. Well done. You re set up, looking good, and interconnected. Before you start making connections with people you know, start creating your boards and get pinning. This way you can add lots of pins and boards without drowning others out with updates. When you start connecting with people, they are more likely to follow you if it seems you have content that is interesting.
How to Create a Board and a Pin Let s help you get familiar with Pinterest. Click Search in the Search Bar in the Top Left Hand Corner. It will come up with results for Pins. Change this to Boards in the top left tab. Start by filling up your visual scrapbook by following some of the Boards that most appeal to you. Don t worry, you can unfollow these at a later stage. When you click on Follow it will change from saying Follow to Unfollow. To see the boards you are following, click on your name and logo in the top right corner and go to Your Boards. On the right hand side it shows the number of boards you are following. Click on this number and you will see the boards. You ve learned how to follow other people s boards. Now it s time for you to create your own. Let s get started.
Go to http://www.pinterest.com/business/getstarted/ Under Tell Your Story start by clicking Create a board. Fill out the details, and for the time being, I d suggest making the board private. You can t really make bad mistakes at this stage, but at least you can try out the functionality out of the gaze of others.
Come up with unique, clear and intriguing names for your boards. When you add pins the boards get shared, and you ll be wanting people to follow them. You want to provide people with a quick and easy way to understand if it appeals to them. We ll be going further into good Pinterest strategies below. Just get used to the functionality first. Click on Add a Pin. You can either add a Pin from the Web (e.g. your blog), your computer (if you re uploading a file), or Pinterest (if you re re pinning someone else s pin). In this case you ll be adding a post from your blog. So click The Web. To start with add the web address in. (You can download the Pin It button later). Click Next. As long as the website has an image, it will say: Choose a Pin from http://nameofwebsite. Click Pin It on the image you want. Choose which board you want it on, and add a description. Click Pin It. To then go through to see your first board with your first pin on, click on your name and icon on the top right of the screen and click on Your Boards. You will see your first Board and the first Pin attached to it. As it s a private board it won t be visible to the public and will still say 0 Boards.
Well done. You now know how to use the Search Bar, create a board, and post a pin. Repeat the process either by adding another post from your blog onto that board, or creating a new board. For the time being keep the boards private. When you re ready to make them public click edit board and you can turn off the Secret button. Also please become familiar with the navigation options on the right hand side. When you have created enough boards that you are proud of them, click Find Friends in the navigation. Click Invite Friends.
Content Strategy For your Pinterest strategy to successfully refer leads back to your own website, it s essential you have the right content strategy. Put yourself in the minds of what your customers will want to look at, read and watch. Some of the boards below will give you ideas, but as with all social media strategies you can utilize the content you ve already created for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and your own website. Pinterest just brings it to a new audience. Let s break your boards down into a number of categories with a few examples for each. Here you can either profile existing or develop new content. 1. Niches Your Firm Works In e.g. Trademark Attorneys Divorce Attorneys Injury Attorneys It s important that the results don t just show posts from your own site. The focus of social media is to be social, so therefore profile other firms as well. If you are in partnership with other legal firms in other geographic regions, then add pins of their firm to your board. 2. Boards Showcasing Your Firm e.g. Aria Attorney s Team Aria Attorney s Charity Day Aria Attorney s Vision and Values Aria Attorney s History
This is a way to bring attention to your wider team and celebrate their contribution to the firm, their specialties, what they are working on, and their hidden talents. 3. Boards from Your Community e.g. Boston Community Day Boston Red Sox Boston Legal News Boston Local Events Through these boards you re offering a service to those in your community. Your aim is to be reaching out to those who may be potential future clients, and to show the personal side of the company. 4. Boards with Knowledge e.g. Divorces Impact on Children Changes to Real Estate Laws in 2013 How to Become a Lawyer Legal Templates Each pin could provide links to YouTube videos or articles that provide a broad area of knowledge. Additionally they could link back to pages on your own site, where you provide that support and help. This will help people know your content is both helpful and essential to return to when they need further information. The key is the curated element to the content. 5. Boards That Entertain e.g. 10 Best Lawyer Films. Most Controversial Legal Cases. Most Inspiring Lawyer Quotes. The Laws That Everyone Breaks. A lot of people spend time on social media sites to be entertained. Attorney firms are expecting to be serious and formal. It s a breath of fresh air, when a firm is able to show their own personal touch and it helps them stand out from the crowd. 6. Group Boards e.g. Customer Testimonials Your Legal Questions
The focus of these moderated boards is to have others add content. Those adding questions could be your existing customers (testimonials), or leads (where people post up their questions). Best Practice Tips 1. Be Natural. Businesses often feel nervous about what to Pin. To a greater extent than Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is about expressing the personality of the brand. You may have brand guidelines that you need to follow, or alternatively pin stuff that represents your brand. 2. To Pin or To Re Pin. Do both. Re pinning shows that you enjoy other people s content and provides a curation of good content around a topic. Unless settings are changed, those you repin are notified by email and their name is on your pin. People are more inclined to share your content if you re taking an interest in their content. Pinning your own content shows that you are an original thinker, writer or creator. Clearly you have the opportunity to pin content from your own site, or other third party locations (YouTube, Guest Blog Posts, etc.). Always post your own content in moderation so you don t look self centered. 3. Good Quality Photos. Whether you are pinning content from your website or someone else s it s essential that every post have an image associated to it. Otherwise it cannot be pinned. 4. Don t Pin In Big Batches. This is the equivalent to sending lots of Facebook comments or lots of Tweets at the same time. It will feel spammy, and that you re only interested in talking and not engaging. Instead pin regularly and steadily. Drip feed your content in. 5. Sources. Pin and re pin from multiple sources and people. If you re only pinning your own content or from a couple of websites, than people are less likely to feel the need to come back to see what you ve pinned. 6. Good Descriptions with the Pins. This description will stay with the Pin wherever it is repinned, so make it strong. It s a good idea to add relevant legal keywords, so when people search for content it appears in the results. Where it s appropriate include your business name if it s a Pin from your own website. That way it will continue to raise awareness of your firm when it s shared. 7. Get Social. By using @username in the descriptions of your pins you tag other Pinterest users. Pinterest is a great platform to reach out and network with other lawyers, business people, or those related to your field. Like and leave comments on other people s pins. Not only can you compliment people on their content, but you can discuss thoughts and exchange ideas.
As with all social media platforms, once you understand your way around Pinterest and have established the best content for it, the majority of your time and energy needs to be focused on engagement.