Team meeting on whiteboard

Who uses Pinterest?

For example, according to research carried about by Pinterest Insights, half of all US millennials use Pinterest regularly. That’s not to say, it’s just for the kids as the same research shows that 68% of US women between the ages of 25 and 54 use Pinterest regularly. And whilst it is true that Pinterest target their platform at female users, as many as 40% of new users are, in fact, male.

Pinterest is becoming more and more crucial for businesses, and if you don’t have a plan in place as part of your Digital Marketing efforts, you are missing out on key opportunities to reach potential new customers.

Why use Pinterest Marketing for Business purposes?

One thing that is for sure is that people use Pinterest for different reasons than they use Facebook or Instagram. People use Pinterest to look for inspiration or something that interests them and the opportunity to connect or provide feedback is inherently limited.

However, this inspiration is oftentimes translated into purchasing power. According to eMarketer, only Facebook outranks Pinterest in terms of driving purchasing decisions from end users. This equity is not lost among savvy marketing teams these days.

Pinterest continues to promote themselves by saying that more than two-thirdssayPinners says they’ve discovered a new seller or brand on the platform and a mindblowing 93% – that’s nearly all of them! – say that they use the network to plan purchases.

But it’s not just planning. Over half of Pinners have actually made a purchase direct from a promoted pin, and two-thirds have admitted to looking at Pins whilst they are in a bricks-and-mortar store purchasing goods!

Pinterest Marketing for Business Overview

Since Pinterest is a little different from other social networks, it’s worth looking at some of the key terminology involved. A ‘Pin’ is simply an image or video that someone chooses to save on Pinterest. Every pin links back to an original source. For businesses, this link is more important than the image itself as this is a crucial revenue stream of social media referral traffic. 📌 In order to keep things organised, these pins are arranged onto ‘Boards’. A board is to be thought of as exactly that – a pin board on which to attach ideas to. An individual user, or ‘Pinner’ also has a traditional ‘Feed’ similar to other networks. This is a feed of pins that are uploaded from your favourite pinners, accounts or boards.

Add Save Buttons to your Site

Everyone in the world of marketing knows that if you want people to take action, you have got to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Since adding a save button to your website allows people to Pin your content with just a click, even if they don’t have the Pinterest browser button installed, it should be no surprise that doing so can quintuple the number of content Pinners save from your site. You can choose buttons or even the option to pin on a hover.

Pin Consistently

Pinterest recommends that in order to see success, you have to pin something at least once a day, preferably during peak times. This is normally evenings and weekends. Pinterest also points out that consistency is key – building a brand tone and sticking with it. This helps people recognise you. If you’re planning a pin for an event, planning way in advance is important!

Focus on Great Visuals…

Pinterest is a highly visual medium and therefore, it’s totally worth the effort to create stunning visuals using high-quality imagery. Your pins should always be well-lit, well-composed and in focus – unless out of focus is what you’re going for! Taking your own imagery is preferable, it is deemed easier to simply pay for stock photography, but there is always the risk that someone else has beaten you to it!

Up to 80% of Pinners use their Pinterest account exclusively on mobile devices – this means it is super important to ensure the image is mobile-friendly. This is increasingly SEO-101 these days, images are required to be up to 1:2.8, but 1:3 is best – 600×900 pixels.

… But Don’t neglect the words

Sure, Pinterest Marketing-wise is a visual platform – but that doesn’t mean you can just throw any old words into the pin. Great visuals alone are not enough to create significant engagement. Keyword research is essential as is feathering these keywords into the content. Pinterest Marketing is also very hot on duplicated content – so don’t just write one description for multiple posts.

Use ‘Rich Pins’ where Appropriate

‘Rich Pins’ are enhanced Pins that use metadata pulled from your site to provide extra information about what Pinners will find when they click on a Pin. Rich Pins are available for apps, recipes, products, and articles—in other words, they are almost certainly applicable to the content you are Pinning or hoping that others will Pin from your site. You can use Rich Pins for enhanced social equity on pins including names of authors or book titles, for example.

Get Social

It’s important to remember that Pinterest is a Social Network and not just a billboard of content. And like all social networks, if you want people to engage with you, you have to be engaging with others. Follow boards or accounts from relevant, but not competing, brands in your industry. Make sure you actively like and engage with Pins related to your corner of the market.

Use Analytics to Improve Results

Pinterest Marketing Analytics provide important information about what types of content is performing and well and what content is struggling. This allows you to analyse and tweak your marketing plan to optimise your strategy. You will be able to see how much traffic is being driven to your website and will inform your future strategising. As an example, we have recently learnt that pins with current events and things we are doing – such as this – perform pretty well over more traditional and transactional marketing posts.

Try Promoting Your Pins

Pinterest Promoted Pins (which is such a delicious abbreviation – PPP) are also known as Pinterest Ads. They are a great way to get your Pins seen more people, creating more exposure for your brand. In terms of the nuances, they are fairly similar to other social media networks in the sense that you get what you pay for! Run even a small-scale advertising campaign, and you can gain major traction. Although interestingly, Pinterest identifies Promoted Pins by placing the word “Promoted” below the Pin. Clicking on the more icon (…) brings up a statement describing who paid for the ad.

Make your pins more Accessible

As we previously said, Pinterest is a hyper-visual platform and it relies heavily on imagery to establish context. This has meant that users with certain disabilities, low visibility, or those in need of screen-readers struggled to use the platform, even more so than they do on other platforms like Facebook or Twitter, which are more text-focused. Keep this in mind when planning your content!

Try Pinterest’s Buyable’ Pins

Promoted Pins are doing exceptionally well, and buyable pins are driving major conversions. Buyable pins enable users to purchase directly off of a pin, without ever leaving Pinterest. As users are browsing Pinterest, creating wishlists and getting ideas, they can see a product, the price, and purchase it all with a few quick clicks on their mobile device.

For even more Pinterest tips and best practices, check out Hootsuite’s post highlighting ideas from top bloggers who use Pinterest as part of their business strategy.

Managing a Pinterest Account – worth the Commitment?

To cut a long story short, it depends on the type of business you are, the type of products you sell and your business goals. However, maintaining a strong presence on Pinterest is going to be beneficial at some stage. Pinterest Marketing is FREE to set up and start with so you really have nothing to lose, right? 📌 With that being said, as a business owner or a marketing manager, you are a busy person and what you could be losing is your oh-so-valuable time. At Big Gun Digital, we have a proven track record of success with Social Media platforms including Pinterest. Want to know more or book a meeting to discuss supercharging your social media efforts? Give us a call on (01494) 629007, or email letschat@biggundigital.co.uk. Speak soon!

PING US A MESSAGE 💬

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