Pinterest has become a powerhouse in the social media space. Having been initially very slow out of the blocks, it has recently grown into one of the top social networks, with over 70 million users, with 45% of new users in June, 2013 coming from outside the US. (Semiocast). According to comScore and Tech Crunch, “Pinterest hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history.
What You Need To Know
Pinterest is a virtual pin board that has been incorporated into a social network. You can think of it as a digital scrapbook – where people used to paste images onto a canvas board, they are now posting digitally.
Basic Terms
- Pin – an image or video added to Pinterest
- Board – a group of themed based Pins
- Pinning – sharing and adding pins to Pinterest
- Pinner – someone actively pinning content on Pinterest
- Repin – pinning a fellow pinners content that had previously been pinned
- Like – showing appreciation by letting people know you like their Pin
- Repin – like a Pin so much, you repost it to one of your boards so more people will see it
- Pin It Button – button added to your website to ease the act of pinning your content to Pinterest
But What Can Pinterest Do For My Business?
Having learned the basics, you still have one question – how is this relevant to me?
It’s simple. This social network is another platform that all businesses (regardless of size) will want to be part of – and why not?
With over 70 million users as of July, 2013 (Semiocast), Pinterest is the largest social network after Facebook and Twitter. The platform refers more site traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined, with Pinterest’s share of referrals highest in home and furnishings, accounting for up to 60 percent of all social traffic (Rich Relevance).
Do we use Pinterest?
Hell yeah we do! Pinterest generates so much traffic to our site that it would be rude not to include this network in our online strategy …and the best part – it never, EVER gets boring.
Check us out today: Viddyad
Here are 5 Simple Ways You Can Use Pinterest For Your Business
1. Show Off Your Products – You don’t need to be a professional! Some common sense combined with a relatively high quality camera and your all set (if you are using Pinterest, the chances are that is on a smartphone and that camera should suffice)
Once you have taken some high-quality photos, you can begin pinning them to your boards – if you have a wide range of products, create individual boards for separate topics (*avoid blurry photos, they’re not ‘pinteresting’!)
2. Highlight Business Culture – as more and more businesses move online, it is very rare that businesses and their customers will ever come face to face. Why not use Pinterest to resolve this? Give your consumers that ‘behind the scenes’ access by posting photos of the workplace – create a “Behind The Scenes” board for example and grant all the employees access. Within no time it will be loaded with fun and quirky photos – all positively adding to your users experience.
3. Launch Competitions – let your users become brand ambassadors. By running a simple “Pin It to Win It” competition, users are more than happy to share your content to be in with a chance of winning one of your products – 80% of pins are reported to be repins (ClickZ)
Using a restaurant as an example; run a simple competition where the prize is dinner for 2 people – to enter, share a picture or video that has been chosen by your restaurant. Minimal effort is required by the entrants and it is an extremely quick and affordable way to build your brand awareness! The average Pinner drives between 4 and 30 page views a month (Internet Retailer)
4. Help Your Followers – share information with your customers. Useful tips and tricks are always appreciaeted! Pinterest is a great platform to give tutorials and provide help to your followers. If you have enough content, why not create a separate board? Tips and advice are there to be shared – let Pinterest help
5. Partner With Other Brands – why not run a promotion with a partner business? Using a restaurant as an example; why not promote your suppliers business on your boards and in return they will promote your restaurant! Double the exposure with minimal effort #Simple
If you still need convincing, check out the amazing infographic below, courtesy of Sarah Arrow & www.pintalkradio.com:
