If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Why Isn’t Your Business Using Pinterest for Marketing?

A Few Reasons Why You May Not Be Leveraging the Power of Pinterest…

1. You think Pinterest won’t reach your target audience.

Ask the next person you see if they’re on Pinterest. Go ahead. We’ll wait…

Chances are, they said yes. More than 70 million people actively use the visual social network Pinterest, and that number is growing astronomically. And, only a small fraction of those users are businesses. That means less competition for you.

If you happen to be a non-member, here’s how Pinterest works: “Pinners” create and share “pins” of visual content that interest them. There are pins for almost anything you can think of—clothing, hairstyles, decorating ideas, vacation spots…the list is endless. As with any social media, your reach with Pinterest increases exponentially as people share your content. (Bonus: Pins show up on other social media feeds, like Facebook.)

2. You don’t think your product or service is visually-oriented.

In the words of Dwight Schrute, “False.” People are visually-oriented, so if you want to reach an audience of people through Pinterest, find a way to make your product or service visual.

Images can establish an emotional or intellectual connection with your audience that entices them to take the next step and BUY. Let’s say you’re the social media director for a bank. You can’t exactly pin a photo of a savings account. But, you can use photos that create a need for your savings accounts: vacation destinations, cars, colleges, home renovations – the list is endless!

3. You want to use Pinterest, but you don’t know where to start.

You’re using Pinterest to drive traffic to your Website, right? So start there. Here’s what you need:

• A PLAN—Please, don’t just randomly slap pictures onto your site! Choose images that help you reach your goals and show off your brand’s image. (By the way, Prime Concepts Group creates amazing Websites. Just saying…)
• Lots of GOOD images on your site—Pinterest’s best practices say images should be at least 600 pixels wide, and at least 100 x 200 pixels.
• Pin It buttons on your images—Give people a way to pin the images.

Back to the bank example—try using car photos on your auto loan page, house photos on the mortgage page, families and couples in exotic vacation spots on the saving page… get the idea?

Once you have pin-worthy content on your site and a way for people to pin it, spread the word! Use every avenue you have—email marketing, social media, print materials, etc., and ask people to follow your company on Pinterest.

4. You’ve set up a Pinterest board, but it’s only updated here and there.

Pinterest is like any other social media—it has to have current content, and you have to use it regularly. And, you need some organization.

Pinners see a “feed” of recent pins, so pinning at regular intervals ensures that your content stays in the forefront. Don’t go pin-crazy and pin 50 things at once, though! That can be a big turn-off to your followers.

Organize your pins into boards people can follow. Give your boards names that are clear but also fit your company’s personality and the audience you’re trying to reach. For example, “Family vacations under $2,000.” Think about your pin titles and descriptions, too.

Don’t get overwhelmed. Pinterest has a wealth of information and tools to make it easy for business users to get started: how to create boards, when to pin, how to pin, and more. Pinterest Analytics lets you see what’s working, and what’s not. It’s worth an hour of your time to do a little research and make it easy for yourself.

What are you waiting for? Get pinning!  Here are a few helpful Pinterest for Business links:

Pinterest for Business

Getting Started with Pinterest for Business

Tell me what YOU THINK in the comments below!