Addictive, creativity filled, inspiring, entertaining, and actually pretty darn useful. These are all words used to describe Pinterest, the newest social media craze that so many are talking about, including Mashable, Conversational Marketing, and country music star Taylor Swift. Although this visual pin board is currently filled with recipes, fashion ideas and dream travel destinations, it has fantastic potential for businesses.
Initially, the social marketing potential may not seem obvious but it most certainly exists. This post will share four reasons Pinterest deserves to be included in your marketing toolbox, as well as point out some companies that are experiencing success with the social media site.
Reason #1: The Users
There are millions of users on Pinterest and the numbers are climbing every day. By looking at this screen shot taken from compete.com, you can see the rapid growth. In November 2011, it was reporting 4,456,402 unique visitors. The Weather Channel viewed these statistics as reason to become a presence on Pinterest, engaging the users, allowing them to send photos of weather or simply upload to one of their boards such as “cold weather recipes” and “weather gadgets.” Getting your business involved early will give you a head start in a social network that is showing significant growth potential.
Reason #2: The Exposure
Pinning images of ideas and products that your company sells can expose your brand to a staggering number of consumers. For instance, if you sell clothes, pinning images of your catalog, like Lands’ End Canvas has done, could introduce a new customer to your brand. Lands’ End has virtually created an entire clothing catalog on Pinterest, with each image or ‘pin’ linking directly to their website. Pinterest gives companies a free service to advertise their brand and products to millions.
Reason #3: Driving More Traffic to Your Website
The images shared on Pinterest contain links, the title can contain a link, and then, if that wasn’t enough, you can also put links in the description. All of these functions lead users back to your website where the conversions happen. The Today Show is one of the most active businesses using Pinterest, allowing fan input as well as guest appearance listings, which lead to “shares,” “likes,” and “re-tweets” generating more links to their site exponentially.
Reason #4: Image Content Sharing
If you think that what your company offers doesn’t fit Pinterest’s style, think again. Just search for ‘infographic’ on Pinterest and the results are staggering. From digital marketing, to gun sales, to infographics about infographics, so many services and brands can be represented visually on this site. Amazon, Facebook , and other social media networks seem to experience the most activity on Twitter’s infographics, but any image can be displayed to send a message to the world.
As the visitor numbers for this nine month old site continue to grow, it is difficult to ignore the social marketing potential Pinterest presents. Are you going to add Pinterest to your marketing toolbox? What advantages or disadvantages do you think this social media site possesses?
