Nonprofit Tech 2.0 - Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog Posts

Posted by nonprofitorgs on Monday Apr 2nd at 4:52pm

UPDATED 4/3/12: If your nonprofit has yet to start using Pinterest, then hopefully new data released for March 2012 revealing that Pinterest now generates more referral traffic than Twitter will motivate you to start pinning – or at the very least to sign up and reserve your first choice of usernames (hint, hint!). To get started, here’s a step-by-step tutorial for nonprofits, a list of nonprofits already using Pinterest effectively, and the Nonprofit Organizations Pinterest Profile. Also, below you’ll find nine Pinterest Best Practices for Nonprofits. That said, if you would like to be informed of when new best practices are added, please subscribe to the Nonprofit Tech 2.0 e-Newsletter.

1. Pin your own website and blog content, but only if it pulls up a good photo!

As mentioned above, Pinterest is quickly becoming a boon for referral traffic. Tap into that power by pinning your own website and blog content, but only if it pulls up a good, visually appealing photo. Powerful visuals are what is driving the Pinterest community and referral traffic. So, for example, I am going to pin a blog post from the Nature Conservancy Blog:

Step One :: Use Good Photos on Your Website and Blog

Step Two :: Pin It!

Step Three :: Review Pin and Test Link

Note that there is a link to the blog post in the pin and that clicking the photo
also links back to original blog post:
pinterest.com/pin/203154633160827750/

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 be used to call the Pinterest community to action. They shouldn’t be more than a sentence, but 2-3 words is usually not enough. That said, please also use proper punctuation and grammar in your descriptions! Most descriptions are a complete mess and as seen below descriptions get prominent placement, so make sure your descriptions give a good first impression:

3. Add website links to your Pin’s descriptions.

You can add a website 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 website URL. Keep the URL simple and short, but don’t miss an extra opportunity to increase your referral traffic from Pinterest.

4. Add #hashtags to your Pin’s descriptions.

Similar to adding hashtags to tweets, you can also add hashtags to descriptions to increase the likelihood of your nonprofit’s pins showing up in Pinterest searches. Be sure to use common search terms or hashtags and avoid being a hashtag spammer. One hashtag per pin is enough!

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 your images, but the extra step is worth your time. Here’s an example from Amnesty International:

6. Embed inspirational quotes onto your images.

Pinners love inspirational quotes! Tap into that phenomenon by embedding inspirational and quirky quotes onto your images, such as:

pinterest.com/pin/203154633160827892/

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 ten Pins in a row isn’t a good use of Pinterest. Most people won’t ever see those pins and those that do may be annoyed that the volume of your pins have 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 website – both those pinned by you and others – by simply replacing your website URL in the URL below:

pinterest.com/source/YourWebsite.com

For example, you can see the pins driving traffic to Nonprofit Tech 2.0 by visiting:

pinterest.com/source/nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com