Pinterest – the virtual bulletin board that allows users to store and share images and links they find interesting or inspiring – grew to over 10 million active users faster than any standalone website. It immediately secured its place as the social media darling of 2012, and for good reason. But as a business owner or marketing manager you may be wondering, “Is Pinterest right for me?“.
We’d advise it’s time for you to consider Pinterest as an integral part of your social marketing effort, right next to the Big 3 – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Here’s why: businesses that have effectively used Pinterest as a marketing tool have experienced higher referral traffic, higher quality leads, more sharing through Facebook and Twitter, and increases in sales. Read on to learn how you can successfully market on Pinterest, and follow the example set by the companies that have increased their social reach and sales as a result.
Quick Tips to Improve Your Pinterest Presence
Increase Your Social Reach – Social reach is about expanding the number of people your brand can tap into across different social platforms, and Pinterest offers a substantial opportunity for finding new customers. Optimize your social reach by publicizing your Pinterest page on all other social platforms, embedding Pinterest widgets or buttons on your company’s website, and consistently creating pin boards that are populated with images unique to your brand.
Increase Content Engagement – As with any social channel, engaging content is vital to a successful social media strategy. Captivating visuals are often the most important piece of the Pinterest puzzle, so don’t hesitate to showcase your best assets. Photos, product packaging, and infographics can provide the visual boost that will grab the attention of your followers and attract new ones.
Identify and Engage (P)Influencers – Identify the users that are top pinners on topics relevant to your brand with tools like PinReach and PinPuff. Both tools also measure the social reach of individual pins and pinners. Use this information to craft off-line relationships with your top pinners. Honda and Kotex both delivered special care packages to their top pinners, based on the kinds of products they pinned.
Increase Lead Generation – The goal of an effective Pinterest page should be to drive traffic back to your website. Achieve this by creating catalogs of pin boards and pins based on your products. Retail brands should add prices to their products on Pinterest to attract qualified buyers. Give your followers a mix of lifestyle pins and catalog or product pins to increase lead generation while maintaining engagement.
Apply Analytics to Know What Works – Learn what makes your followers returning visitors by studying referral traffic, conversions, and visitor demographics in Google Analytics. Tools such as Repinly and Pintics can also be used to analyze your competition and optimize traffic to your site.
Companies Effectively Using Pinterest
Ideeli – The retail daily deal site Ideeli creates pin boards that showcase products from their website, and they also incorporate uplifting images and quotes from blogs. This has done wonders for their company. According to Mindjumpers, web traffic has increased by 446% and sales five-fold as a result of using Pinterest as part of their marketing strategy.
Whole Foods Market – Whole Foods understands the importance of compelling content on Pinterest. They know their customers’ passions and interests and have successfully designed their pin boards to appeal to the environmentally conscious, the home cooks, and everyone else in between. Notable pin boards include ‘Whole Planet Foundation’ and ‘We’re used to reusing!‘.
For more information on how to use Pinterest to as an integral part of your social marketing strategy, download our free e-book, Beyond the Big 3: Five Killer Strategies to Dominate LinkedIn and Pinterest.
Are you using Pinterest as part of your brand’s marketing strategy? Have you seen an increase in traffic, leads, social reach, and sales as a result? Don’t be shy, share your experience in the comments or tweet to @awarenessinc!
@BostonMike
