Why you should promote your business on Pinterest

Some ‘Pin’-tastic reasons to Promote your business on Pinterest

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.ne

Deciding not to promote your business on Pinterest could be a big mistake, especially if your business has a strong visual element, e.g. retail or lifestyle related.

In fact, with a little creative thinking and the right tactics, more businesses could benefit from developing a presence on the platform.

Written content is plentiful along with YouTube videos too, it’s just that some businesses are a match made for Pinterest and perform better when putting a voice to the visuals.

There are 70 million users ‘pinning’ worldwide, so finding the right niche to promote your business on Pinterest is crucial and if it’s done well the referral traffic can be phenomenal.

But first, I hear you weep – not more social media to frustrate and devour the little time I have left in the day while I play the waiting game and develop a fear of cute kittens.

I agree – we can’t be everywhere at once, but we can choose wisely where and how we concentrate our efforts so our brand is not diluted across a multitude of channels and choosing to promote your business on Pinterest could be the right one for you.

Pintastic facts

There are some misconceptions about Pinterest (no, it’s not just for girls) and although it is sometimes looked down upon by the ‘content heavy’ FaceBook and Twitter ‘referral’ giants it proves itself a strong contender when it comes to driving traffic and brand awareness.

Still not convinced? Pull your doubts over to the side of the social media pile up and read on.

Shareaholic released a social media traffic report in 2013, with figures showing that Pinterest drives more traffic to sites than Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit combined.

Wait, it gets better. Did you know that Pinterest accounts for 90% of all social media shares on the web?

It is now the second largest social media network next to Facebook and in comparison to the reigning champion, it is still more effective at driving traffic.

Check out these & other ‘Mind Boggling Stats About Pinterest & Business Impact’ that Anna C. Bennett, has compiled over at whiteglovesocialmedia.

The potential to harness this power and promote your business on Pinterest must surely be tempting. With ‘promoted pins’ having landed favourably in 2014, coupled with reports of the imminent launch of a ‘Buy’ button and its recent valuation at a whopping 11 billion dollars, Pinterest doesn’t look set to pop any time soon.

Let’s take a quick look at the basics.

The Fundamentals of Pinning

Pinterest is widely known as a ‘digital scrapbook’. Here users ‘Pin’.

That basically means, users or ‘Pinners’ can create, collect and ‘Repin’ content, and share inspiration with other ‘pinners’ across social media channels.

Think of each ‘Repin’ as a backlink, although it has no SEO value, it is still a functioning link that can drive traffic to your site.

Check out this short video on ‘The Art of The Pin’ from ‘Pinterest for Business’ YouTube channel for some helpful tips and advice.

Now, if you haven’t done so already, I recommend you sign up for a ‘Pinterest for Business’ account and check out there ‘Getting Started’ guide. It’s a relatively simple process that’s quick and free to sign up but you may need to call in some IT help to paste a little code into your website for verification.

Promoted Pins- The Lowdown

The ‘Promoted Pins’ mentioned earlier, are Pinterests answer to Paid Ads. They are CPC, which means you only have to pay when someone clicks on your add.

Cynthia Sanchez at Social Media Examiner explains that “You can target certain locations, demographics and devices and reach customers who are searching for or have shown an interest in what you offer” Check out more from her excellent guide to ‘Promoted Pins’ here.

In a recent article for The Guardian entitled ‘ Pinterest: how to market your business with the social media site’ , Hazel Davis said that in the coming year  ‘Promoted Pins’ should  become more “streamlined and detailed so if you’re promoting your business and developing brand awareness, Pinterest has a ready and willing audience”

She spoke with Dani Booth, a digital marketing specialist at Jelf Group,plc., who gave the example of retailers who “seed their product images into search results placing them alongside maybe more famous brands” and generate traffic to their site.

Booth went on to say that “an engaging approach with your followers and nurturing the popularity of your pins, will set you on the road to success”.

So how can your business tap into that audience to increase its visibility? Begin with your own target audience and ask yourself what exactly are they searching for, then start by placing these keywords in your tags.

Pinterest is highly competitive so ensure the content is relevant, compelling and shareable and don’t forget to add a ‘call to action’.

The ‘Buy’ Button

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Now an exciting new game changer is about to come into play. According to Jason Del Ray at recode.net, Pinterest is working on a highly anticipated “ecommerce offering” in the shape of a ‘Buy’ button.

This means that users will be able to buy on Pinterest without leaving the site which will “shrink the time between wanting something and buying it.” So instead of just showing an interest in an item by ‘pinning’ it for later, the convenience of a ‘Buy’ button could turn turn that ‘purchase intent’ into a purchase in seconds.

Jason sums it up nicely by saying that this move would transform Pinterest from “a digital corkboard into a digital mall.”

So do you have what it takes to promote your business on Pinterest successfully?

Are you already on the way to becoming a future ‘pin’ mall wizard?

Please share your thoughts with me.