What is Pinterest?
So, first things first, what is Pinterest? Chances are, if you have never used it, you think it is just where your girlfriend gets ideas for her nails, I mean she does, but it’s much more than that. It is a place where you “pin” things that “interest” you. Pinterest is a free online, visually focused search engine and social platform. It works on the concept of a pin board for pictures and has evolved to become one of the most influential interactive image-based search share and shopping apps and websites in the world.
Nine months after it was launched in March 2010 it already had 10,000 active (and returning) users. By January 2012, it drove more referral traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ (R.I.P Google+).
Pinterest allows users to discover, collect and share their favourite pictures based on their interests. Like other social media platforms, Pinterest can be used on a personal level or for the promotion of your business.
On August 1st of 2019, Forbes announced that revenue rose by 62% beating the predicted rise by almost $30 million dollars. If forecasts hold true, Pinterest is looking at generating more than $1 billion in annual revenue in 2019. If that didn’t get your attention this article will discuss why your business needs to take advantage of Pinterest, the platform that is taking the world by storm.
But First – Understanding the Pinterest Lingo
Board – This is your “pin” board or posting page. You make multiple boards with different headings where pinners can pin and re-pin images and links for other Pinterest users to see. It can be edited at any time or only be made available to certain users, or it can even be used as a private board for yourself.
Pins – The image, text and link you pin to a board.
To Pin or Pinning – This is the action of “pinning” or posting, uploading and adding a picture to your own or another board.
Pinners – Users actively pinning and creating boards or simply Pinterest users.
Re-pin/ Re-pinning – Pinning another user’s pin to your own board
Follow – You can follow someone’s board to see when they add pins to boards and these become part of your own home feed. You can follow a user or just one of their many boards depending on your shared interests.
Home Feed – This is the collection of pins from all of the other pinners and boards you follow. It updates in real-time as pins are added.
Why Pinterest is a Big Deal When it Comes to Your Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is about brand awareness, increasing traffic to your website, widening your audience and increasing rankings to ultimately generate more leads, right? CNN Business announced that Pinterest hit 300 million monthly users in August of 2019, which is 300 million potential customers you could be missing out on, so clearly Pinterest is the place to be.
What are People Doing on Pinterest?
In short, anything and everything. Ben Sibermann, CEO of Pinterest, told CNN that Pinterest’s popularity is based on the way it is applicable to everyone’s everyday life. Their future prospects aim to make the pins you save and share easy to access in your own personal capacity, so near you and within your price range – that could mean more business for you.
Fun Facts and Stats about Pinterest:
If you’re confused as to why a platform like Pinterest would be beneficial for your business, see just some of the reasons, as told by Sprout Social:
- The 175 billion Pins means there is something for every industry.
- Pinterest has an awareness reach of 72% (as of February 2019).
- Any company with a visual marketing strategy needs a presence on Pinterest.
- 55% of Pinterest users log in with the intention of finding products.
- The average time spent on Pinterest (per session) is a whopping 14.2 minutes.
- A great platform to provide engaging content for some of the most motivated shoppers online.
How Pinterest is Different from Other Social Media Platforms
When it comes to imagery dominant content Pinterest’s biggest competitor is Instagram. The biggest difference between the two, and arguably Pinterest’s greatest advantage, is that it directs people to external websites to discover new content. Where Instagram can be considered to be based on sharing, Pinterest is focused on helping users explore and discover new content. The best part of all, you don’t just have to choose one, you can use both in your digital marketing strategy! Learn how to use all social media platforms to boost your business with state-of-the-art social media training!
How Can Pinterest Boost Your Business?
Here are some of the ways you can grow your business using Pinterest, now that you understand the influence it truly holds as a social media platform.
1. Build Brand Awareness and Promotion with Pinterest
When using a personalised Pinterest business page, you can showcase your brand’s personality and values to current and potential customers. This is where being an active participant comes into play. The best part is that you can and should be pinning more than 10 things per day, but not all of them have to be your own original content.
Pinning Etiquette:
You should be pinning content ten or more times per day, it doesn’t have to be unique content. Related pins to products and services. You want the participation trophy, immerse yourself and actively participate in the Pinterest community. Don’t beg or rally for pins or likes (this ain’t Facebook), Pinterest isn’t that kind of lady and it will get you nowhere fast. If you go about finding your audience and appealing to them the rest will come naturally. This makes Pinterest somewhat easier to navigate as a business than other social media platforms which require huge amounts of finesse when creating posts.
When you are an active and engaging business on Pinterest, you can increase the exposure of your brand through the things you create and the content you promote yourself. This leads to more users becoming aware of your brand and what it stands for through original content as well as sharing like-minded pins.
2. Increase Website Traffic
The most powerful benefit of Pinterest is that it has a soaring potential for traffic generation. Each pin that a company pins to Pinterest is able to include a direct link to the website. For this reason, Pinterest effectively increases traffic to your website.
Use this wisely and it will only serve you well. Just be sure to always make use of pins which direct users to valuable content.
3. Grow Your Audience
When a company uses Pinterest frequently it is likely that their pins will gain popularity as it is pinned to different boards. As people share your pins around the globe, your brand gets exposed to potential clients. This is a highly effective means of expanding your reach and generating more traffic at the same time.
The Power of Pinning gets you seen by your community and helps to grow your audience and find your Pinterest tribe.
4. Increase Your Search Engine Rankings
Pinterest, like Google, works with keywords – in fact keywords are the most important part of Pinterest. When the correct keywords are used, Pinterest can increase your search rankings on Google as well as on Pinterest itself. As you would with any other content marketing strategy, be sure to employ best practices for SEO to see your audience grow, your traffic and your organic ranking, all as a result of including Pinterest in your digital marketing strategy.
