Pinterest is a social network
that facilitates sharing through the use of a virtual pin-board. Users can
group content into various boards by “pinning” pictures they want to save onto
them. Pinterest’s focus on visual content makes posts quickly and easily
consumable and can be used to promote visual sites and services such as makeup
tutorials, recipes, quotes, and infographics. Over the last couple of years,
Pinterest has become a social force, with over 12 million users in the United
States as of February. In fact, in terms of traffic, it is the third most
popular social network in the country and it is one of the most effective sites
for engaging customers.
Business and Pinterest
Pinterest is a great resource for
businesses because the level of brand engagement is high and users do more than
just look at things; they actually buy products as a result of what they find.
For businesses in fashion and retail, 18% of content engagement is driven by
brands and the other 82% is driven by the community. Furthermore, 70% of brand
engagement on Pinterest is not driven by brands, but by the users themselves.
Pinterest users have no problem sharing and pinning content from brands they
love, so branded content moves rapidly.
When compared to brand engagement from
other social networks, Pinterest does better. Data from Sephora showed that
Pinterest followers spend 15 times more on products than Facebook fans do. This
trend has been borne out across other businesses as well, with the average per
checkout coming out between $140 and $180, compared with an $80 average from
Facebook-based customers and $60 from Twitter.
The average Pinterest user follows around
nine retailers and has a high level of trust for information he or she finds.
Finally, top brands in fashion and retail are averaging 46 repins for every pin
(meaning individual users pin the brand content to their own personal boards),
which means that brand visibility is high.
How to use Pinterest
It is not especially difficult to get the
hang of Pinterest, but it does operate differently than, say, Facebook. Here
are some tips to get your brand effectively engaged in Pinterest.
Go visual. Pinterest is focused on visual
content, which means that you should primarily use images (or video!) to
promote your products or content. However, visual content does not have to be
limiting. You can use pictures with a layer of text to promote a sale or
display a product’s price, create inforgraphics about how products are used, or
share gifs of your business in action.
Add buttons. Your business should include the
Pinterest “Pin it” button along with other social sharing buttons on its
website. There are lots of widgets available for this and it should not be hard
to install. Anything that lowers the difficulty level on social sharing is
good.
Be active. The more you pin, the better.
You can share a lot of your own content on Pinterest, as well as repin the
content of others (great for cross-promotion!). Pinterest uses an “endless
scroll” so older content doesn’t really get buried the way content does on
Twitter or Facebook.
Curate interests. Pinterest users organize boards
around interests like food, fashion, art, or whatever suits them. You can do
the same as a business. This shows users that you’re not there just to push
your own products, but that you are engaged in the Pinterest ecosystem.
Share customer images. Create a
board featuring customer comments or pictures of customers using your product
in action. It will make the customers happy, build good will for the brand, and
make pins that people will be happy to share.
There is a lot of room for brand
development on Pinterest. While almost every business already has a Facebook or
Twitter account, there are not as many on Pinterest yet. However, considering
the high level of brand engagement, there has never been a better time to join
Pinterest. Share images, engage customers, and build your brand using
Pinterest!
John Gower is a
writer for NerdWallet, a personal finance website dedicated to helping business
owners save money with financial tips on everything from social media marketing
to the highest cd
rates.