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In the world of blogging, a lot of recent attention has been paid to Google + and Search Plus – Google’s effort to integrate Google + into search results. But with all the hoopla over Google +, content marketers can’t forget about Pinterest, a new kid in town that’s driving traffic and taking names. In fact, Experian’s Hitwise report  just listed Pinterest as the #7 social network, beating out Google+ for share of visits.

Pinterest is a site where you can organize and share images that you find interesting. Images shared on Pinterest are known as pins. Users arrange their pins on boards, customized collections of the pins that often have themes. From wedding inspiration ideas to favorite recipes, you can create a board to collect ideas and images for just about anything.

Pinterest is still invite-only, but if you know any Pinners (chances are you do!) you can snag an invite from them.

You can now add Pinterest as a sharing option on your Shareaholic social media toolset. If you’re a WordPress user, you’ll want to edit your settings on the Shareaholic Bookmarks plugin in your WordPress dashboard. We also recently launched Shareaholic’s Pinterest Extension for Chrome. This means that with a simple Chrome extension, you can collect your favorite findings into a Pinterest Board. If you’re not a Chrome user, you can login to your Shareaholic account and add Pinterest as a service for your current Shareaholic plugin.

The Basics of “Pinning”

To get started with Pinterest, created an account on Pinterest.com. Next, add Shareaholic’s Pinterest Extension for Chrome or add it as a service to your Shareaholic browser plugin. Next time to see a photo you love, click on your Pinterest icon in your browser.

Next, select the image you want to Pin, create a new board, and pin the image to your board.

Continue collecting your favorite images to your board until your digital collage is complete. You can use photos you find from individual websites. Or, you can follow other users with similar interests and “re-pin” the images they post. Doing the later is a great way to create relationships with your blog’s target audience.

How to Use Pinterest for Content Marketing

Like just about any social network, your involvement will come off as much more genuine if you participate first. It may seem like fluffy advice to promote others before you promote yourself. However, few brands have such strong positioning that they will generate a following just by showing up to a new social network. Participating first is how you establish your presence. 

So, if you run a recipe blog, participate by pinning photos of delicious meals shared by others. If your blog is about interior design, show off your taste and curate photos of great design by collecting those shared by others first. Admittedly, because of the visual nature of Pinterest, it naturally lends itself to lifestyle blogs. However, B2B companies or business-oriented personal blogs can drive traffic to their content if their willing to get creative.

• Curate infographics relevant to your industry.
• Collect charts to share statistics for your industry.
• Create more visual content for your followers to share: Don’t list your tips – put them on a visually-appealing slide with a short phrase.
• Include a photo with each blog post – give your readers something to pin.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. It’s tough enough to come up with blog topics to fill your editorial calendar, and then also select a design for your blog. Now, with hundreds of social media sites to choose from, how do you decide which social networks to include in your social media buttons set?

Surely you want to optimize your blog for sharing and cater to all readers by offering their favorite social networks in your social media buttons. But if you try to be everything to everybody, you could clutter your site with too many choices.

How to Select the Right Social Networks

There are two ways you can be sure to select the social networks that matter most to your site. First, you can check out where your readers are already sharing your content the most with Shareaholic’s website profiles.

This breakdown for the NY Times shows that Facebook is the most popular site to share to.

Next, in your Google Analytics, check out which sites send you the most referral traffic and generate pageviews. Click on the Traffic Sources drop down menu to see a list of your referral sites.

Takeaway? Nevermind the endless infographics and reports that tell you what the most popular social networks. You know your readers. Include the buttons that are right for them.

The Social Network Breakdown

Facebook - With more than 800 million users, Facebook is by far the most widely-used social network. The Facebook “like” button shows your readers who else from their network recommended the article and enables them to post it to their Facebook profile. The Facebook “send” button helps readers send the article directly to a Facebook friend, several friends, or a Facebook group. If you’re going to choose either one, the Facebook “like” button is probably the one to get.

Twitter - Twitter is another highly popular site, processing more than 230 million Tweets a day! This button is a must-have, as the nature of how users get value out of Twitter lends itself to content sharing. Including this button on your blog, in combination with participating in the conversation yourself, will surely drive traffic to your posts.

LinkedIn - Professional social network LinkedIn has more than 100 million users. It features a Facebook-like newsfeed on the main page that shows the content users share. The most-shared content is curated on LinkedIn Today. If you run a B2B blog, the LinkedIn button is one you want to be sure to include.

Google+ - Google+ is a new kid on the block, but now that Google integrates Google+ shares into search results, it’s a must-have component of your social media button set.

Social Bookmarking - There are literally hundreds of sites that aggregate links for your potential readers to discover. Reddit, Stumbleupon, Digg and Delicious are among the most popular, with Reddit showing impressive growth and Stumbleupon sending more than 700 million pageviews to other sites in December 2011. Again, dig into your own analytics to find out the best site for your readers. That said, also pay attention to the mainstream trends of reading and sharing.

Pinterest – This photo story-boarding social network is yet another new kid on the block.

You may notice that you’re already getting traffic from Pinterest, especially if you run a photo-heavy lifestyle blog. Pinterest users collect photos (by “pinning” them) into online collages (called “boards.”) It is particularly popular among readers who consume lifestyle content. Think weddings, recipes, interior design, fashion, makeup etc. The Pinterest button is coming soon to Shareaholic’s button set, but in the meantime your readers can share photos from your site with our Pinterest Chrome plugin.

Think of your social media buttons as calls-to-action – if you offer too many choices, you may confuse your readers and they may not choose anything at all. Choose your buttons wisely. Like any feature on your blog, pay attention to trends, but include the ones that are the best fit for your audience.

How did you choose the buttons to put on your blog? Let us know in the comments!

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Get Shareaholic for Your Blog!

We’ve taught you before about the importance of optimizing your blog posts for SEO in order to make your content shareable. But beyond tags and keywords, there are ways you can structure your blog posts in order to generate traffic and shares. This perfect blog post blueprint from Business2Community shows you how to structure your posts for success. Follow this blog post blueprint to outline your content ideas and ensure you’re prepared to include the most important features when you publish them.

We may be biased, so we certainly agree that social sharing buttons are key. Recommending related posts at the bottom of your post and including a comments plugin like Livefyre are also quite important. One tip I’d add is to include a call to action to subscribe to your posts, either by email or RSS. However, the infographic creator may have left that out as you can include that in your sidebar and not below each post.

Top 3 Blogging Tips

These were my favorite blogging tips and takeaways from the infographic.

1. Blog post title: It should be creative and include your main keyword or phrase

The blog post headline is one of the most important parts of your post. It’s what potential readers see as a preview to your content when it’s shared on social media, and it plays a huge part in their decision of whether to click that link or not. So make it count.

2. Body copy and opening paragraph: State your purpose and objectives. Include keywords and variations of those phrases.

There’s so much content for your readers to consume these days. If you want them to share your content, you’ve got to have a hook to keep their attention so they read your piece and pass it along – versus quickly closing the page and moving on to the next intriguing link in their newsfeeds. Stating your purpose is a great way to hook them because it’s setting the value proposition right in the beginning. Answer these questions: What will your readers learn from your post? Why are you talking about the trend, research, or tools that you are talking about?

3. Include a list.

Breaking up your content into a list format makes it easy for your audience to digest. It shows off the teachings of your post in a simpler way than long paragraphs. Bold text, headings, H2 text and bullet points also serve this purpose. Give it a try.

What blogging tips did you glean from the infographic? Let us know in the comments!

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Get Shareaholic for Your Blog!