Social media outlets are all about popularity, and when it comes to Pinterest, some companies are willing to go to great lengths to boost their public image, even as far as buying followers. But many other ways exist by which a company can gain real followers on Pinterest, through hard work and a little bit of ingenuity. Let’s examine some of the ways by which you can stand out from the crowd and grow your Pinterest following.

Differentiate Yourself

While Pinterest is organized into a couple dozen official board categories, the majority of content on Pinterest is concentrated on home décor, food, and scenery. A few other categories have drawn some popularity as well, but not as much as these three in general. To set yourself apart from the crowd, first rename your first boards from the standard “My Style” and so on. Then pick a category that relates to your business, and run with it.

Follow Others in Your Category

As you begin solidifying your position on Pinterest, try to follow others whose pins are related to the topic you are concentrating on. Even more importantly, look for group boards that have open invitations to pin. Since these boards draw thousands of followers and hundreds of pinners, they are a great way to draw people to your own boards, especially if you repin directly from your own collection. Lastly, look for pins similar to the ones in your boards and repin and like those. Not only will people begin to notice your presence on Pinterest, but they may follow simply out of curiosity.

Organize Your Boards

The more pins you have, the better, but only if they are all well-organized. For example, don’t just lump everything together in one board, and possibly consider splitting a board into two distinguishable categories if it begins to grow too large. Although boards with high numbers of pins are excellent when well-established, if you have 500 pins on one board and five followers, your sixth follower may miss the best photo in the board simple due to the fact that it was your 25th pin out of the 500.

Use Hashtags

While Pinterest is not like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in terms of textual content, hashtags are still an important part of a business pinner’s toolbox. Not only do hashtags help your pins be found through a search of Pinterest’s files, but they also help organize your pins in the overall grand collection of pinned images. For business purposes only, nearly every picture should contain some kind of keyword as a hashtag, simply to highlight the meaning of the photo and increase the SEO optimization of your page.

Pin Only the Best

Finally, make sure that not only do your pins represent your company well, but they represent your commitment to finding and sharing only the best images of your subject. Small, blurry, low-quality images not only degrade a board’s appearance, but they make the efforts of the pinner appear slovenly and uncaring. Remember, Pinterest is not about how much you pin, but on how good you are at pinning. The best on Pinterest may not update their boards 24/7, but their collections will continue to draw followers, repins, and like months after their original creation. For expert social media and internet optimization advice, turn to a professional online marketing firm like Orangesoda. With years of experience in social media management and online marketing professional online marketing firms will do whatever it takes to get your business to its rightful position on the world wide web.