Social Media Spotlight: Pinterest
Spent too many hours scrolling on Pinterest? This addictive platform is easy to lose time on, and that makes it a great platform for marketing your business! But it can also be intimidating if you aren’t familiar with the platform. Here, I cover important information about Pinterest so you can be comfortable with promoting your business on this social media platform!
Pinterest was founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp in August 2010. Inspired by the idea of creating a catalogue of ideas, Pinterest quickly gained popularity, and nine months after its launch it had 10,000 users. In December 2011, the site was one of the top 10 largest social network services, with 11 million total visits per week. Since then, Pinterest has continued to grow; in 2018 it had 291 million active users. As Pinterest grew, it has evolved from a social media company into one with increasing emphasis on visual search and e-commerce, making it a prime social media platform for marketing your goods and services.
Pinterest is comprised of two concepts: pins and boards. A pin is an image that is uploaded or linked from a website that can be saved from one user’s board to the other. A board is a collection of pins dedicated to a specific theme. Users can repin images from a user’s board to their own board and can also follow other users’ boards to see new images on their feed. This visual medium is great for collating ideas and interests. Pinterest is a great social media platform for businesses because of the ability to collate your products onto boards that users can follow. In fact, 83% of US Pinners have made a purchase based on pins from brands!
Pinterest’s emphasis on e-commerce makes it a great tool for promoting your business. Pins can be formatted as images, or even as products that show real-time pricing and availability. Additionally, you can gain a shop tab on your profile that allows you to showcase all of your products in one place. Pinterest Business Hub shows analytics on the performance of individual Pins as well as general engagement metrics. Additionally, their audience insights give you information on who you are reaching and what their interests are. With the ability to turn your product pins directly into ads, Pinterest is an ideal platform if you have a product catalog you are trying to showcase.
Pinterest’s popularity among businesses means that its even more important to get the marketing right. So, I recommend using Tailwind, a scheduling tool to schedule and monitor activity on Pinterest accounts. This official Pinterest Partner specializes in Content Marketing and helps you schedule pins to post at specific times. Additionally, they offer analytics, reporting, monitoring, and trends. With Tailwind, you can ensure that you’re posting the right content at the right time.
Social media is becoming more and important for marketing, and Pinterest is one of the most popular platforms out there. Have any questions or issues with Pinterest? If you have a small business and need help navigating Pinterest or any other social media platform, reach out to us!