Pinterest is the second biggest driver of social media referral traffic to websites (behind Facebook), but it's still relatively untapped for Authoritative Content promotion. While women are the primary users of Pinterest, its audience of 70 million users has become more diverse over the past year, and it should be an integral component of your content promotion efforts.To get started, review the five ways publishers can use Pinterest to extend the reach of their content by creating relevant and creative pinboards. Next, consider the 10 tricks described below, which can help you increase the number of pins that your content gets. Remember, more pins lead to a broader reach for your content, which should translate into more readers.

Design Tips

In 2103, Curalate's data science team conducted a detailed analysis of what makes a popular Pinterest image. They studied over half a million images and analyzed 30 characteristics for each image. Follow the preceding link for all of the details. Here are some of the easiest tips to implement in your content in order to make it more pinnable:1. Use images in your content that stand out.As you might expect, unique images get repinned more frequently than images that blend into your website.2. Use colorful images in your content.The study found that images with multiple dominant colors were repinned more than three times more than images with a single dominant color.3. Use images in your content that do not include people's faces.Images that do not show people's faces are repinned 23% more than images that do have faces in them.

Timing Tips

Fannit compiled a long list of data points about Pinterest last year, including data that suggests the best times to publish content on Pinterest to get the most engagement. For the best promotional results, the data tells you to do the following:4. Pin your content on Saturday mornings to get the highest number of repins.Research shows that Pinterest users are most likely to repin content published on Saturday mornings.5. Pin content between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m or 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. to get the most repins.Pinterest users are most likely to repin your pinned content in the afternoon and evening.6. Avoid pinning your content between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.Content pinned during evening commuting hours or while people are most likely sleeping will not get many repins.

Prep Tips

There are several things you can do when you publish content on your website or pin it to your pinboards to increase pins, boost repins, and help people find your pins in searches.7. Write intriguing descriptions.When you pin your content, write interesting descriptions that encourage people to take a look and click the repin button. Longer descriptions typically lead to more repins.8. Categorize your pinboards.Make it easier for people to find your pinboards and your pins by taking the time to identify the categories your boards belong in.9. Use keywords in your pin titles and descriptions.Make it easier for people to find your pins by using relevant keywords in your titles and descriptions.10. Make it easy to pin your content from your website.Make sure the Pin It button is installed correctly and visible on all pages of your website.Image: Chris Cummings