Pinterest is a very versatile app in that it appeals to every kind of patron. Businesses range from clothing to cookware to tourism to interior design. Any industry can use it and the app is quite addictive, creating a lot of exposure for businesses, small and large.
Creating a Pinterest account for your company gives you an opportunity to showcase your products, your activity, your community and of course, your boards. Pinterest allows you to create boards revolving around any theme that you want.
The objective isn’t just to get people to look at your boards–you want them to follow your boards, repin your boards, “like” them and ultimately, visit your website.
Discover how to use Pinterest for business in the most effective ways possible.
How can Pinterest help my business?
Getting started
If your small business is new and you don’t have a Pinterest account, not to worry, setting it up is very easy, you just create a profile with information about your company and start populating your boards with photos of your products.
I’m going to use Target as an example throughout this article because it’s very successful at marketing its brand and it’s my favorite store because of that very reason.
Below is Target’s Pinterest profile that displays the amount of monthly viewers, its slogan, and its website URL.
Think locally
Local businesses attribute their success to their demographic and a surefire way to pinpoint your audience is by location. Including your business’ town or city name, in addition to state on your profile, board names, board descriptions and pin descriptions will help your company pop up in a narrowed search of the area.
Supplementing your business’ individual pins with your location can also help people find you when they do a Google search, as Pinterest pins, boards, and profiles can be indexed by Google.
Create a sense of community
One paradox about Pinterest is it’s not a true social network and that’s a very attractive characteristic about the platform. People can make their boards as personal as they want without the fear of receiving negative feedback. There is a messaging tool, but other than that, there’s very little interaction other than following each other’s accounts or boards and sharing pins.
As a business, it’s your job to stand out in such a low-key marketing environment. Be sure to provide what you feel consumers are looking for. Whenever a shopper goes to your website and buys a certain product, pin that product to a board and reveal how many other people bought that same product and how much they saved if it was on sale.
Target does this under its “People are saving” tab.
Another thing that Target’s community tab reveals is who its followers are. This way, consumers can follow each other and get more ideas of what to pin from each other’s boards. If your pin is linked to your website, this creates a very easy gateway to increase traffic.
Show off your boards
The more boards you create, the more exposure your business gets. Compartmentalize everything you have. Take photos of your products and upload them to an associated board with the product’s description, reviews, and especially the price. Don’t be afraid to list the price, and if a product is on sale, list what consumers would be saving. Remember to link each pin to your site and that product’s landing page so it’s easier for consumers to access what they want to purchase without having to hunt.
Target created a shortcut to its top boards using a scrollable thread. There’s also the option to see all boards and scroll through them at leisure while taking a peek at all of their products organized by department.
Pinterest’s algorithm also keeps track of consumers’ searches and provides them with similar products in an effort to further entice them into spending more in your store. The “Just for you” section reflects which products you’ve pinned and which boards you’ve followed, creating an irresistible urge to pin and follow more (it’s that addictive!).
Get your consumers to shop
As mentioned above, Pinterest allows you the option to link directly to your website and individual products so users can just click on through and make a purchase.
This is your chance to showcase what you’ve got. Flaunt your products in the most attractive way possible.
You’ll also want to ensure you customize your promoted pins’ content and keywords to your particular audience so your company’s pins keep showing up on their feed.
Directing your pins to a target (no pun intended) audience and optimizing descriptions based on the search behavior of your consumers will help you see more traffic and conversions. Pinterest is just another great tool to help people find your business, find something they like and buy it directly from your store.
