It’s important that your business understands which social media platforms your target customers are using and how best to reach them. If your business is based around products rather than services, could Pinterest social media marketing be the best way to find new business?
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social sharing site based around images. Users create pinboards that cover their interests, and pin images that they like, with notes about why they like them. Followers can see and comment on images and see where the original image has come from. Pinterest users are collaborative and engaged. That means that if you handle your Pinterest business marketing well, you could enhance your brand profile
Importantly, Pinterest is also known as a visual search engine. People use it for inspiration and discovery, so if you are there with the right content, the right tags and the right approach, Pinterest could be a very valuable tool.
Who uses it?
- Pinterest has over 70 million registered users, of which 20 million are regularly active
- Women outnumber men by around five times
- Users pin more than five million pins every day and spend at least an hour on the site each month
- Pinterest users are shoppers – they tend to spend more when referred from Pinterest than from other major social networking sites
- Communicators – Pinterest attracts community-minded people. They will comment, share, advise and support
How Pinterest works for business
It may look like Pinterest is a social media site for hobbyists, but it’s an extremely valuable site for businesses of all sizes. Because it is image-based, it’s particularly useful for those that have products to sell, or who can advertise their services visually. Leading brands use it very successfully to connect with customers and, unlike Instagram, you can add a website link to each post, so there’s plenty of opportunity to drive new people to your website and build your brand profile.
Setting up a Pinterest account
If you already have a Pinterest personal account, you can either convert your account to a business account, or set up a new business account that links to your existing account. If you’re new to Pinterest, you can go straight to setting up a space for your business – you don’t need to sign up as an individual first.
Just go into the site, click on ‘Sign up’, then choose ‘Create a business account’, Then just fill out the fields with your business information, including an engaging description, and don’t forget to include essential contact information. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go with your targeted content!
Building a Pinterest content strategy
Like all social media marketing, Pinterest requires a good content strategy. Know who your target markets are, and why they’re on Pinterest in the first place. Take the time to learn what they are sharing and why, so that you can see what sort of content appeals to them. Pinterest is all about sharing and pinning content that appeals to you and to others, and it’s a fundamental thing to get right if you want to succeed.
Ways that you could connect with your potential customers include:
- Showcasing your products
- Suggesting new and different ways to use products or services
- Sharing content that is complementary to your business
- Showing customers how your product is made or sourced
- Using humour to attract attention
- Hinting about new product development or release
Don’t forget to make your content pinnable – that means adding the Pinterest button to your website and other places where you post content so that people can share it easily – the easier you make it, the more likely it is that your content will get shared.
Pinterest relies on the quality and quantity of pinnable content. Some experts suggest that you pin between five and ten pieces of content each day. That’s quite a stretch for some smaller businesses, so make a plan to pin as often and as consistently as you can, so that people get to expect some content from you on a regular basis.
Track, measure, refine, repeat
Like all marketing, it’s important that you can see the impact Pinterest is having on your business. Although it’s a free platform, there will be a significant time investment to get things up and running and to maintain a good content stream. So it’s important that you track your progress, measure your impact, refine your content – and continue to do so all the time, so that your campaigns are as relevant and timely so you get full Pinterest business benefits. See our page on content marketing help if you are looking for help with generating your content.
Like most channels, Pinterest offers analytics, so you can see what’s working and what’s not. This helps you to keep doing more of the posts that are getting lots of engagement, and stop doing the posts that aren’t working. This makes you much more effective, and gets the right posts in front of the right people.
Don’t forget to link your other social media accounts with Pinterest, and to add the icon to your website so that visitors can automatically pin your content from elsewhere. Research the keywords and hashtags that are relevant to your business and to your customers so that your content is always targeted and relevant – all this will help you to get more from your Pinterest account.
Getting help
Making sure you’re ready to use Pinterest can be time-consuming, so it’s worth thinking about getting some help and advice. That’s where virtual admin solutions come in. We can create extra time in your business by taking over time-consuming administrative tasks and allowing you to focus on your business. With an understanding of Pinterest and other social media sites, a virtual assistant for social media can get you up and running quickly, understanding what you want to achieve and managing your activity on your behalf.
And, like all the other social media sites, there is a range of apps and support tools that can help you manage your Pinterest account and keep an eye on its impact. One of the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant is that they can help you choose the right tools to use, and monitor the analytics on your behalf so that you can make positive changes to your campaigns and continue to attract new business.
Ready to investigate Pinterest social media marketing?
If you think that Pinterest might be a good social media fit for your business, helping you to reach new customers and raise your brand profile, why not talk to us about our social media and marketing services. Or, if you would like to know more about our UK virtual assistants and how they support small businesses feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.