Many businesses are missing out by not using Pinned Posts on their social media channels.
If you run a business page on Facebook or Linkedin, you may have noticed the 'Pin to Top' options for your posts, but what exactly does this mean and why should you be using it?
What is a Pinned Post?
When you update your Linkedin or Facebook pages, the posts are ordered with the most recent at the very top. This is great for general posts, as it allows your audience to look back day, weeks, months and even years, to find out what you were doing.
Occasionally you might find one post is more important than your general updates, and you might want it to stay at the top of your feed so it is the first thing viewed by your visitors. When you Pin and post to the top of your page it stays there until you unpin it, with all other posts continuing in order right below it.
So, that's the simple version, but as you will see a little later in this article, Pinned Posts can be used for more than just keeping an update at the top of your feed. First, let's look at how you pin a post.
How to Pin and Unpin a Post
Firstly, it's important to remember that you can only Pin one post at a time. If you try and pin a post when there already is one, it will just take its place. You can Pin any post, including those with links, videos and photos, but need to be an admin to do so.
Post to Facebook/Linkedin as normal. Make sure you include any relevant links, hashtags and user handles.
Once you see the post in your feed, click the • • • symbol in the corner of the post.
Select 'Pin to Top' - Your post will now have a Pin icon highlighted at the top of your feed. You can also pin older posts by searching through your feed and clicking the 'Pin to Top' option - the post will move to the top.
To Unpin a post, go to the same • • • of your Pinned Post, and select 'Unpin. If you have chosen an older post, it will put it back in place based on the date it was first posted.
Why a Pinned Post is important
As a business, the aim of your social media updates is to get the attention of potential customers and convert them in to sales. There is plenty of social media marketing advice out there, and all of it will tell you you should be posting regularly with interesting content.
From a customers point of view, visiting a business page can be overwhelming. They might have seen an initial post that has gotten them interested enough to click through to your page, but what then?
If you are regularly updating your pages, you will be doing so with a mix of content that, whilst interesting and informative, doesn't really give your visitor an overview of what you do.
The time has come to think about your social pages as worth more than just the social part. Your Facebook and Linkedin pages are really mini versions of your website, and a visitor should be able to get the same over view of your business across all your channels.
Aside from your page header, your Pinned post will be the first thing you visitor sees; not only does this post need careful consideration, you can actually use it to drive conversion.
Pinned Video Posts for higher conversion
As I am sure you know by now, video is a great tool for digital marketing. Pinning a Video post to the top of your Facebook/Linkedin pages can help your visitors find the key information they need as soon as they land on your page, in a welcoming and friendly way.
Consider all of your social media posts. You've put thought and time in to each one, so of course you want them to be seen, but how many of them would you put on your homepage.
The type of post you should pin will depend on your particular business;
• If you run an event, try pinning the next event date and location details post.
• If you sell products, try pinning your most recent sales post, or a video explaining your USP.
• If you run a service based business, try pinning mini Bragging Rights or Cornerstone videos.
Why does it matter?
The key thing to remember is your customer experience. Internet users have short attention spans and like to click. The last thing they want to do it search through your posts to find the relevant information. Make it easy for them by including the most important information in a Pinned post, with a clear call to action directing them what to do next.
It's also worth remembering that your videographer should be able to advise you on what to pin on your pages. When we produce Cornerstone or Bragging Rights content for our clients, we provide a short version specifically for pinning on social media, included as a standard. If you want to find out more about our video packages, get in touch.