So you’re convinced Pinterest is a must-have social channel and you’re now on it regularly (perhaps even obsessively). You’re sharing your images, linking back to your page, using hashtags, clever descriptions and great keywords. You’re pinning and repinning, creating boards and commenting on the right pins.

But are you using Pinterest to promote your videos? Did you even know you could? Well you can and it’s quite easy.

Keeping It Simple

Before you can upload your video URL to Pinterest, you’ve got to first create the video. Make sure you’re not undoing all your hard work with a long and (worse) boring video. Remember that Pinterest works because it’s quick and simple; so keep your videos quick and simple too. Keep people wanting more and clicking on more videos rather than dumping your all into the one or two videos.

Videos Are Images in Motion

Most people overlook marketing their videos on Pinterest because they can’t upload videos and (more importantly) they don’t think videos are images. But if you have a video, you’ll know that each video offers a still – although Vimeo video thumbnails are more customizable than YouTube’s. Knowing this, you can easily pull a thumbnail from an uploaded URL and have that set as your image.

If you’re on YouTube (and not a partner), you’ll have limited opportunity to customize an image – so you’ll likely be stuck with some thumbnail not entirely representative or favorable to your product/service. Get around this by making sure the video includes a couple of shots that can be turned into favorable thumbnails. If it’s a product, have it set against a white background. If it’s a person, make sure that person is favorably poised against the right background and with lots of lighting.

Take Advantage of Content

Pinterest doesn’t allow for a lot of words, so it’s important to take advantage of where words are allowed. Start with the description field by telling people what they’ll get from watching the video. What does it offer that makes it worth their time to click on?

You can even make use of other videos and curate them. Curation shows you’re not a Pinterest leper and are willing to share great content. But don’t just recycle what’s there. Instead, create your own title and description. This also helps prove there’s a wizard behind the curtain rather than a spambot.

Diversify Your Boards

Just like subpages on your website, you’re better off with more descriptive pin boards that describe the range of your videos than having one board with the generic title of “videos.” Don’t think of it as a video. Think of it as a theme still. What does the video cover? Is it a beauty product, interior design, lifestyle? Center it around this phrasing strategy, including strong keywords, and pair video pins with image pins.

You can also motivate others to pin by simply asking them to. And don’t forget to offer people a way to connect with you. It’s easy to get lost amidst all the boards, so also offer a link to your own profile – which goes a long way in helping people connect with YOU.

These tips alone will get you a lot more mileage out of Pinterest – and boost your video traffic. If you have other great tips, I’d love to hear them!