Marketing with Pinterest Viable for Business. 5 Reasons to Consider it.

Now is a good time to take a serious look at marketing with Pinterest – if you’re not one of the 500,000 or more businesses already doing so. Later this month, Pinterest will introduce “Buy it” pins – available for direct sales by businesses using Shopify or Demandware for online commerce.

Initial “Buy it” pins, expected at the end of June, will operate on iPhone and iPad. Later phases of the roll-out are planned for Android and desktop shoppers.

For businesses, this new development adds to the already popular appeal of Pinterest. Here’s a look at some of the reasons why the platform has become a darling for businesses of all sizes — and deserves consideration for those who are still on the fence.

“A discovery universe”

“… beyond a social network or scrapbooking site, Pinterest is actually an enormous discovery universe (not to mention one of the greatest selling engines ever devised), one ultimately more like Google than Facebook,” reads an online Fast Company article.

The writer of the tailwindapp blog also compares Pinterest to search engines such as Google and Bing. “Users are on Pinterest to discover new things,” she writes.

Accordingly, the lifespan of content on Pinterest is much longer than on other social media — a pin can be viewed months or even years after it is created. A Pinterest blog post reveals that the average pin is repinned 11 times and one-half of a pin’s clicks and views happen more than three months after its inception. As a result, Pinterest marketing can provide the opportunity to keep your product or service in front of the customer through-out the entire sales cycle – from inspiration to consideration and ultimately to purchasing.

Easy to use

“We work really hard to make the site feel really simple,” said Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann, quoted in the Fast Company article. Jay Baer, social media and content strategist and speaker, writing in a post on convinceandconvert.com, calls the platform “drop dead simple.” That’s a plus for you and for your customers and prospects who are actively using the platform. Jump right in and create your ‘Pinterest for business’ account. Search for words that describe your business to see what others are sharing – or ‘pinning.’ Create relevant boards and start pinning the best of what you find as well as creating your own pins. Pinterest provides help pages and videos for getting started as well as more advanced uses.

Visual

Pinterest is built on visual content that has long been touted by Facebook as the most valuable and effective on its platform. Even Twitter, which began with text characters only, now accommodates both photos and videos.

“You can enjoy Pinterest without reading anything,” writes Baer. “In a world where the tweet and status update have reigned supreme for years, you can now immerse yourself in a powerful community experience that is 100% visual” — a natural byproduct, he says, of the photo-driven culture created by the fact that proliferous adopters of smart-phones are now carrying a camera at all times.

Traffic

These numbers speak for themselves:

– 73 million users log into Pinterest each month

– 2 million people per day post product pins

– Known for being popular with women, the number of male pinners doubled in 2014. Popularity is also increasing outside the U.S.

Sales-oriented

“People pin in a buying state of mind,” according to a post on the Pinterest blog. In May 2015, MilwardBrown released results of a study proving that the platform plays a huge role in influencing purchases.

Of 2,000 people who have actively used Pinterest in the past 6 months, the survey results showed:

– 96 % have used it to research and gather information

– 93% have used it to plan for purchases

– 87% have purchased something because of Pinterest

Key categories in which pinners are using the platform for help in purchase decisions include: Food (79%), Clothing (53%), Home Decor (60%), Beauty (51%), Health/Fitness (47%)

“Pinterest is a place where people go to plan their futures,” reads a post on the Pinterest blog. “As they plan, they use Pinterest through all stages of the ‘customer journey’ – they start with an idea and narrow in on what they’d like to buy or do, and your products and services can help make their plans come to life.”

9 Best Practices for Pinterest Marketing

Ready to jump on board? Here are 9 best practices that can help your business flourish on Pinterest:

Research your market on Pinterest. Search for your competitors by name, then search for terms related to your business to find out what is attracting pins.
Create a business page. Fully complete your profile, including targeted keywords in your “about” section (to help pinners find you in relevant searches). Validate your website – don’t skip this important step.
Have a plan for using Pinterest that fits into your overall marketing and social media strategy. Pinterest should work hand-in-hand with your website, blog and other social media. Know what you want to accomplish through your activity on Pinterest, what boards and pins you will create, and why.
Link with your website. Use ‘Pin It’ and ‘Follow’ buttons on your website. Include a link to your website in the pins you post.
Use attractive visuals accompanied by accurate and detailed descriptions for your page, boards, pins and product pages. Know what terms customers are searching for to find products/services such as yours, and use those terms in your names and descriptions.
Incorporate relevant hashtags with your posts to help targeted pinners find your pins.
Create “rich pins” for apps, movies, recipes, articles, products and places. (Rich pins provide detailed information that help in buying decisions.)
Share links to your pins and boards on other social media channels.
Use Analytics to measure your impact and plan future pins according to what is working best.