Pinterest for Non-Profits: A 5-Step Strategy

Are you running a non-profit or charity and hardly get website traffic to your Branded Merch? Here is a Pinterest for Non-Profits 5-Step Strategy that could change that for you. 

 

We have been asked the question: should my non-profit or charity be on Pinterest? And where does it fit into our social media plan? We decided to answer these questions in this episode: how to use Pinterest for non-profits. Our simple yet effective 5-step strategy.

It’s been a hot minute since our last Pinterest-centric episode. Especially as we transitioned from Juleskalpauli.com to this platform that encompasses all our products and services.

 

So, if you are new to Kalungi Group, trust me when I say I’ve been a social media manager and Pinterest strategist for many moons. Plus, for almost a year, I’ve also been running a non-profit Women & Digital Inclusion (WODIN) as a Business Development Coordinator.

 

 

 

HEADS-UP

Before I wax lyrical about Pinterest, and in every Kalungi group episode, we share a Complimentary resource that you can download and Go implement Immediately to help you attract more eyeballs to your content, subscribers, beneficiaries, or clients.

In this episode of Kalungi Group, we are sharing our battle-tested Pinterest Domination Blueprint.

What I love about it is that it has off-the-beaten-track, unique, fast implementable tips to attract that much-coveted traffic to your content and offers from Pinterest. You can go ahead and download it here.

 

 

 

You must be asking Why Pinterest though?

Okay, first let’s get this straight, anyone can pin content from their website to Pinterest… If you have an image attached to that page/content and better still if you have a Pinterest icon attached.

You don’t even need to have a Pinterest account for people to visit your website from Pinterest…BUT your content has to be showing up over there. So, how do you ensure that happens?

By creating a Pinterest business account of course. How about you do that right now?

Of course, it may not be targeted right now, the traffic you get, that’s why I am going to give you my 5-step process. I highly recommend you download the complimentary resource above to get you started the right way, I’ll wait.

Cool, welcome back 👊⁠ 👏⁠

Now that you have created your account, let’s go play some… see the good stuff. 

 

 

My 5-Step Strategy for Pinterest for Non-profits

 

Step #1.

Open up and log in to your new Pinterest account and at the top is a little magnifying glass as shown in the image below. ⁠👇⁠

 

Type in the keywords you would typically use to describe your service or typical content and see what’s out there. Are similar non-profits or charities on Pinterest? Bingo.

Doing your keyword search as recommended in our free download above, can help you see the environment that your pins would live within and see what other charities are already pinning about your topic on Pinterest.

Create a spreadsheet and save your keywords. Save as many as possible, but for today, let’s start with 10 keywords, to get your creative juices and content development flowing.

With those saved, you now have, some ideas for content to share on your website and social media that you can pin to direct traffic to your cause.

 

 

Step #2.

You do know your goals for social media, right? Well, spread that love to Pinterest. Having clear goals is important for measuring milestones, progress, and results. We get into how to use Pinterest SEO, analyze your content, and see how to improve in this article.

 

So, now that you know your goals, does Pinterest fit in your target beneficiary or stakeholder’s journey, or needs to reaching out, purchasing or donating to your services?

Only you can answer that question.

We call it, the top of the funnel, it also links directly into where or If Pinterest actually fits in with your marketing strategy.

All I can say at this point is — Pinterest can and WILL drive traffic to your website and social media profiles if you use it correctly. And that cannot be bad for your SEO, right?

So, even if your goals are simply to attract funders, and you believe they aren’t on Pinterest…Your soon highly visited website could pop up on a funder’s google search…

You can also capture those visitors on your list and engage with potential beneficiaries and customers if you sell any services for sustainability via an email funnel.

WORD TO THE WISE: Don’t expect results immediately. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither does Pinterest traffic.

Pinterest is a visual social search engine where people go for inspiration. TWIT

 

The people visiting your website from Pinterest are possibly browsing to start with and WILL need a little bit more warming to build the KLT = Know, Lile, Trust factor.

 

Of course, you could argue that people actually can shop on Pinterest, via buyable or product pins…

 

Thing is, unless you are selling branded, charitable merch or even have a brand online store, you may not attract product pins, buyers.

But let’s test this theory, shall we?

 

Log in to your Pinterest and go to the search bar, type in a keyword that you would typically use to describe your service.

If the results show an “Explore” or “Shop Tab”, that means that Pinterest believes based on data that people want to buy something when they search for that keyword.

 

Which is great for you if you are selling something, right?

Well, what does that mean for your non-profit or charity?

 

 

Step #3 Pinterest for charity – Create Content.

The above is a good indicator that you should be developing and posting content online and that simply means “content marketing” is your next step.

Am talking about being intentional about creating content.

Having a Social Media Strategy — you can grab mine for FREE… No strings attached I promise.  

 

You probably need to have a volunteer or staff focused on your digital/social media marketing. That person would be your content creator and will write blog posts. They should then share that content on Pinterest in order to reach those potential buyers/donors/sponsors/collaborators.

 

And now that I’ve convinced you to market your non-profit or charity on Pinterest, let’s look at your pins environment because people search differently on Pinterest than they do on other search engines, say Google.

 

You are gonna have to create Pinterest optimised images. Don’t worry you can use the one FREE resource every digital marketer uses that doesn’t need earning a graphics designer qual degree to use.

 

You can add text overlays to your pins with that tool, just like your competition does, or use bright colours and optimise your description and headlines…if you follow our guideline resource above.  

Whatever you do, you want to make sure that you’ve customized your images, use your brand colours, use a specific font type and stick with it.

 

In other words, create the types of imagery and photography that you need to stand out in the Pinterest feed for the keywords you’re targeting.

 

And, this brings me to the next important step…

 

 

Step #4 Pinterest for social enterprise

Positioning your charity or non-profit on the Pinterest smart feed.

Did you know that all the places where your pins can show up on Pinterest are called surfaces?

Now you do.

 

They include the Home Feed, by the way, follow our baby Non-profit already!

 

The home feed is now a linked page under the business hub link that shows when you log into Pinterest,

You normally land on the Search Feed, as below.

 

The search feed shows you the profile Name, Description, “Followers & following Tab”, monthly views, most recent pins.

The surfaces that I find that pinners engage with the most are the Search Feed, the Home Feed, and More Like This.

The Followers tab and the Business hub aren’t as well known by regular everyday pinners. Yet, they are a place where they can engage with your content.

 

Let’s try this out…

My son loves pepperoni pizza and checks out Pinterest for inspiration…they do taste different. Go on to Pinterest and type in “pepperoni pizza” in the search bar. You’ll notice that there are lots of pepperoni pizza recipes… Which ones stand out to you?

The ones that have high-definition clear images or videos with a differentiator.

So, back to your pin environment – consider that your pins are going to be shared next to thousands of other pins that may look similar and offer something similar. Spell out what’s special about your product, your content, or your service.

What are users going to get if they click on your pin versus another charity? Be sure to create images that reflect and communicate Your UNIQUENESS.

And my final step…

 

 

Step #5 Include a Call to Action to your pinners.

People have an information overload, so unless you TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT them to do or where to learn more… They will scroll right past.

Your non-profit is competing with everything else in the world for their attention. So, make sure that they know what to do.

Add your logo to identify your brand, use bold text, arrows, and buttons on your image to help them clearly understand what the next step is. Example below:

Anything with the “how-to” tips, tutorials, recipes, steps element usually performs great on Pinterest.

 

I know, I know, you are thinking heck Jules, that’s for recipes and crafts and not for charity work or services…right? 🤷‍♀️⁠

You are oh so wrong there.

 

You see; what, how-to and tutorial content is to help people solve a problem. Right?

 

And what does your non-profit or charity or social enterprise do? You help people solve a problem.

 

So the trick is: how do you package presenting your service as a solution to people’s problems on Pinterest?

You can do it within short video tutorials and “how-to” content, podcasts, blog posts.

It’s not always about your projects.

 

If you wish to become sustainable and last the test of time, build a service inside your charity that you can offer to users possibly other non-profits or charities to BUY. Share that service all over social media.

Communicate Collaborate and cross thresholds in your goals 

 

You want your core costs covered, don’t you?

 

Yes, the path may be clearer for some charities, yet that doesn’t mean that you can’t create your own pathway.

We were able to connect with a Charity based in West Lothian via social media and are not planning on collaborating on a digital Inclusion project. 

 

It starts with understanding the intention of the Pinterest users.

 

Now, the mistake that I see a lot of service-based brands and non-profits make is that they create content that is inspirational…

While that may give you a beautiful tapestry of images on Pinterest, which pinners may even share far and wide, it doesn’t pay the bills.

Instead, think about a problem you can solve for the pinner that is linked to your work. What if you share 3 tips to better mental health and your workshop is packaged within that content!

Now, you are solving a problem for the pinner and the pins that convert the best are the ones that solve problems. TWIT

 

Once you get them pinners over to your site, you can pixel and re-target them with ads on other platforms. You can get them on your list and hey, now they’re in your funnel.

 

The above are just the first unique steps. I am sure this isn’t what you expected right? GOOD. 👏⁠

 

So why not hop on over to our sister brand for more Pinterest steps, tips, hacks to get your juices flowing.

 

And if all that sounds like hard work for your overstretched team, how about you create a project where you include social media management and invite K-Web Social Designs to do the heavy lifting for you?

They will set up your Pinterest, optimise it, set up your boards, create cover artwork, and your first pins to get you going.  

 

You want to run your non-profit like a business or it keeps living from feast to famine…Not great for your mental health.

 

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Julie Syl Kalungi

Email: admin@kalungigroup.com

Facebook: f.b.me/KalungiGroup/

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