Pinterest has become an interesting platform. Over 70 million people actively use this image-driven platform. While its often lumped together with other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Pinterest is actually more of a search engine and home builders should create a different strategy than the one used for the other social platforms.
Why should home builders care about Pinterest?
Simply put, the majority of Pinterest’s audience (women between the ages of 18-54 years old) are a home builder’s target market. Since women are more likely the ones making the final decisions when it comes to home purchases or renovations, it makes sense for builders to have a presence where the decisionmakers are. Not only that, but home and DIY are the most popular categories on Pinterest!
Pinterest is a great way to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and promote your new home products. It’s also a great way of staying on top of design trends your target market may be interested in. If Pinterest isn’t part of your content strategy, you’re missing out on huge opportunities!
Here’s how home builders can effectively add Pinterest to their content strategy:
Showcase your homes
Homebuilders have a natural advantage when it comes to Pinterest. Your website is already populated with visual content like photos, videos, and more that can be shared on Pinterest. Here are some ways home builders can organize their boards to showcase their homes:
- Individual boards for each region or neighborhoods populated with available home plans
- Room-based boards (master bedroom, living room, kid’s room, etc.) filled with images from model homes
- Available floorplans
- Video testimonials
- Homeowner photos
There’s no one way that builders can set up their boards. Create a pinning and organization strategy that works best for your business. Just make sure your pins are linking back to your website so you can capture website traffic.
Create themed boards
Pinterest is perfect for sharing images and ideas that inspire.
Need some ideas for themed boards? Try any combination of these:
- Interior Design: create boards that inspire interior design like boards focused on interior design styles (like minimalist, contemporary, rustic, or modern), color palettes, or even architectural styles.
- Lifestyle: curate photos that show homebuyers how living in one of your new homes or communities will be like. You can also create lifestyle boards focused on the life stage of the homeowner (i.e. single homeowner, couples, young families, empty nesters)
- Regional/Neighborhood: highlight local attractions, amenities, restaurants, museums, parks, and other hidden gems that are in the regional area or neighborhoods your communities are in. This will give home buyers a broader perspective of how living in one of your homes can be and can be especially useful for those relocating from out of the area.
- How-To/DIY: Pinterest is one of the most popular places people search when looking for how-to or DIY instructions. Fill this board with pins highlighting “home hacks,” DIY home décor ideas, even home maintenance or landscaping tasks.
- Holiday: these boards can be added to each season. Include seasonal home decoration, how-to’s or DIYs, crafts, recipes or even gift guides.
- Education: position your business as an authority by providing resources to understand the home buying process like mortgage information, budgeting tips, first-time homebuyer tips, and more.
- Blog posts: create a board dedicated to your blog posts. Pinterest can become an online source for all of your blog posts. This can be a great way to direct traffic back to your website.
Optimize Your Pinterest Content
Now that you’ve created a Pinterest content strategy, make sure your pins are being seen. Create a business account and fill in all of your business details. Whenever you upload an image or pin, add a URL that links back to your website and make sure to include tracking values so you can measure traffic. Continue to update your boards – you don’t want to “set it and forget it.” Rearrange boards throughout the year to place relevant boards up top (like holiday-specific boards) and update the cover image so visitors can see the most relevant content first. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine so you’ll want to optimize your pins for SEO just like you do for your website.
Is Pinterest worth your time? Absolutely. It’s a proven source for driving traffic to a home builder’s website. If you haven’t already added Pinterest to your social media strategy, now is the time to update your strategy.
Need help creating a Pinterest content strategy or management? Get in touch!