Promoting with Pinterest

The social media platform, Pinterest, is getting all the attention lately with millions of unique and active visitors each month. People are pinning all of their favorite, most stylish, yummiest or just downright cool products onto their boards and sharing with the other users they have connected with on the site and other sites, too.

 

Millions of people sharing images of cool stuff with their friends through Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and basically any other social media site that lets you upload pictures and links. While this sounds like a great pastime, you may wonder why Pinterest would be valuable to your business.

 

The Potential of Pinterest
Pinterest is gaining attention in the business world. For instance, a recent article on Forbes noted that the social networking site is becoming an important tool to use for promoting businesses – small and large.

 

Additionally, Search Engine Journal noted some interesting Pinterest statistics about the number of users as well as the 400% growth on a month-over-month basis to help it already reach 10.4 million users in the relatively short time that it has been around.

 

How Pinterest Works
As with all social media platforms, you will need to put some time into it and learn the ropes. Tthere are plenty of users on the site and it only seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. The trick is to get your pictures (of your products) pinned on the more active users so they get seen quicker and by more people who then pin and share with their 'friends' in their realm of social media.

 

In short, when you join the site, you are given a bulletin board of sorts and then you get to put a pin in it. If you like a movie or a particular recipe, then you ‘pin’ to it. Once you have pinned your image(s), they will begin to get shared by people who think they are cool, in other words your potential customers.

 

Others click on the picture and are presented with a blown-up version of the picture, comments, and, most importantly, a link to the origin site. This means that while they can't buy a cool product from Pinterest directly, they can have easy access to your site its products and possibly become your next customer; which can make you money or just simply get you noticed.

 

Things to Know about Using Pinterest

 

When using Pinterest, there are a few things you should know:

• The prime demographic of the website are female users. Although there are men, the primary target is who often make many of the purchase decisions in the home anyways. This should help shape the kind of information that you post on your board.
• As with all social media platforms, Pinterest does have its share of non-sense that people have to wade through so make sure your content is relevant and valuable.

• Make sure you put the time and effort into managing it effectively by sharing your products, engaging with your pinners, and taking note of the competition as you shape and update your content.

 
Your Experience with Pinterest
Have you used Pinterest for your business? If so, please share your experience with our readers.