Have you thought about WHY you should post to certain platforms? Are you even posting to the right platforms to capture the attention of your target audience?
Our new series is here to help you! We’re diving into the major social media platforms to help you make better decisions about what platforms to use and why you should use them. We’ll even talk about why you might not want to use them.
This week, we’re exploring Pinterest, which by the way, doesn’t even call itself a social media platform. Think of it as a visual search engine.
The Basics About Pinterest
Pinterest had a small invitation-only launch in March 2010. With the explosion of the popularity of the iPhone, Pinterest also gained popularity quickly, hitting 10 million users by 2011. Today, Pinterest boasts more than 450 million monthly active users around the world, with 70% of them being female.
Pinterest allows users to share and discover interests by “pinning” images or videos to their boards (a collection of pins) or repinning others’ content. It’s also easy to browse for ideas to see what others have pinned.
While Pinterest is popular for those in the do-it-yourself market, its options have expanded in recent years that make it appealing to businesses to share content.
The Pinterest Lingo
If you’re new to Pinterest, you will hear some terms that are unfamiliar and may be a bit confusing. Here’s a sampling of the basics.
- Pin: A clickable image that links back to a third-party website, often a blog or a product in an online store. There are several types of pins including video pins, promoted pins, and Rich pins (which display much more information about your product).
- Board: Where a user saves pins that are of interest to them. Boards can be public to a group or secret.
- Pinning: The action taken when a new pin is created or saved to a board.
- Repin: When a user saves an existing pin to their board
- Idea Pin: A fairly new feature that is very much like a “Story” on other social media platforms. You can click on it and swipe to different cards within the same pin.
Why You Should Consider Pinterest 🤔
Whether you’re selling products or trying to increase brand awareness, there’s a little bit of something for just about everyone on Pinterest.
In recent years – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – Pinterest has transitioned to becoming an easy place to shop.
- Nearly 9 in 10 users on on the platform plan purchases and find inspiration for gifts
- About 25% of time spent on Pinterest is spent shopping
- 85% of users have bought something based on Pins from a brand
“Pinterest is where people find their favorite products – and actually have fun doing it,” Pinterest says on its website.
Pinterest also walks you through steps on its website of uploading products and how to use the business features to help drive traffic to your website.
“Reach your audience early, before they’ve made up their mind,” Pinterest says. “They find what they love. You grow your business.”
Reaching Your Audience Through Ads
If you have budgeted money for digital advertising, consider spending it on Pinterest ads. The company says their ads get two times better return on investment than other platforms.
You can define your audience by keywords, user interests, location, and other key demographics.
Advertising on Pinterest has the potential to drive more traffic to your website, increase engagement and generate more demand.
Nothing to sell? No problem!
If your business does not have products to sell or you don’t think you have a creative way to display things about your business, don’t give up on Pinterest just yet.
Think about how many tips you have for your audience. If you have a few simple tips you can showcase, you can create graphics quickly on a site such as Canva to create Pins.
For example, if you’re searching for a refrigerator organization, you may be surprised to find a brand like Whole Foods with some excellent tips on Pinterest.
This graphic may not have a direct tie to Whole Foods, but when you click on the image, you’ll navigate to their website for an in-depth blog on where to place certain items in your fridge. Next thing you know, you’re making a shopping list and thinking of going to Whole Foods.
Give a Try … For Free
Like all other social media platforms, it’s FREE to create a business account on Pinterest.
Pinterest has a detailed step-by-step guide on setting up an account, including how to link your personal account to the business account.
If you have a personal account, but want to convert it to a business account, you can do that as well.
Pinterest Success Stories 👍
Whether you want to bring more awareness to your brand, convert more sales, or create conversations, Pinterest has a dedicated page to business’s success stories. As we stated earlier there really is something for just about everyone on Pinterest.
Some of the Pitfalls of Pinterest
⏳ It Does Take Time
As with all things social media, staying dedicated to Pinterest takes time. If you’re feeling really full right now, you might not want to add Pinterest to your to-do list.
However, once it’s up and running, the time commitment is not too intense. if you take a half-hour each week, you can get things scheduled ahead of time so that it’s not a daily item for you. You can also then spend a couple of 10-15 minutes segments of your week to Repin items that interest you and engage with others.
🤑 Additional Advertising Money
While Pinterest is free to join and use, getting in front of even more users through promoted pins does cost money, as we previously mentioned.
Pinterest also has in-depth information about how to best showcase your ads if you’re sitting on the fence about it.
We suggest that you explore your options, test it out and see what kind of results you get.
More From This Series
> TikTok
> YouTube
If you’re looking for help on how Pinterest can benefit your business, The Social Ginger is here to be your partner! Set up a FREE discovery call today.
