Although it’s been around for a few years, we’re all well-aware that Pinterest has seen a huge spike as of late. What makes Pinterest unique is its visually-appealing platform, ease of use, and lifestyle-oriented content. It provides an opportunity to show your customers how to implement a product or service into their lifestyle, rather than just being another social media outlet for posting blogs. It’s more than crafts, recipes and travel bucket lists — it’s about engaging with your fans, customers and people whose interests you share. So, how can you expand your Inbound Marketing reach with Pinterest?
- Referral Traffic – Measure traffic in your analytics reports.
- Brand Awareness – Build your brand awareness by interacting with a new demographic.
- Market Research – Look at who’s pinning your content and what their interests are. You can measure the engagement on your pins by the amount of “likes” and “re-pins”.
What it is: For the user, it’s a place to share, admire, learn, inspire and express yourself. Also, it’s easy and it’s fun. More is more on Pinterest. You can pin away without flooding your Facebook newsfeed or Twitter stream. For the marketer, it’s a place to interact with your customers and introduce yourself to potential new customers – on their terms.
What it isn’t – a place to broadcast. Pinning is not unlike any other social media sharing, so you will want to diversify your posts by not only pinning your own content, but by pinning interesting content from other sources, re-pinning other users’ content, and sharing what you think is interesting and what might interest your customers.
Example 1: Whole Foods
Whole Foods is featured on many lists of top brands engaging on Pinterest, and here’s why – they have something for everyone. They are a grocery store, but what they’re sharing is content that educates their followers on implementing their products into their lives. Whole Foods pin boards include the likes of cheese collections, recipes, entertaining ideas, cooking gadgets and more.
Example 2: Small Business
Let’s say you own a tile installation company. In a search for tile, the results show design ideas, trends, types of tile and color palettes. So, in this case, it would be wise to pin projects you’ve completed, designs that you offer, inspiration from other sources like industry leaders and popular designers, color and textures of tile that are available, etc. It’s a great way for your customers to find ideas and for you to share yours. The more pins and boards you create, the more content you will have to expand your reach on Pinterest and build your following.
Takeaway: Since the very idea of Pinterest is to share your interests, customers that interact with you are genuinely interested in your product or service and are validating your content by liking or pinning it. So, if you aren’t already – get there now and populate your boards with pins daily, so you’re there when your customers come looking for you.
Expert Webinar Panel on Social Media Influence – Join Us!
Join us for an exciting new webinar on Thursday, March 22nd at 12PM EST, 9 AM PST and help us welcome Jay Baer, Laura “@Pistachio” Fitton and Jim Kukral for an all-star webinar panel to discuss social media influence, what it means for your business and how to best take advantage of it.