The name Pinterest feels like an old friend. It’s the sleeper cell of social media platforms; made for the typical suburban mother to fuel her DIY crafting obsession and now for brands to stretch their marketing muscles on, as well. More than anything, Pinterest is visual and can help you cement the visual story you have in mind for your startup. It may not be talked about much, hardly considered, but with over 250 million people using Pinterest and 90% of those users saying they look for content to make purchase decisions, it should be considered.
It’s a unique platform in which users store visual content they find interesting, inspiring, and helpful on boards they create themselves. It’s incredibly organised for a social media platform, as users Pin content to boards they’ve categorised. Essentially, they Pin their interests. In turn, other users can find new content related to their interests through searching and following.
As a company, you’re probably wondering how you can use this to your advantage and not get sucked into another social media platform for personal use. Firstly, you can create a business profile. This lets other users know they’re following or seeing posts from a business and allows you access to Pinterest business tools where you can see your analytics, use a visual search tool, and the ability to run ads, amongst other perks. Secondly, it is a platform that centres around engagement more than any other as it hinges on users uploading, categorising, and re-Pinning content.
It’s the perfect platform to distribute your content to potential customers. The nature of the platform is to share and inspire both content and users, and with such a variety of content on there (there really is a board for everything), any startup can find their audience. There is no limit to the number of boards you can have, and the categories in which you identify them, making it easy for your audience to find content related to your niche. There’s also opportunity for users, and perhaps other businesses, to collaborate on boards which serves to increase interaction, conversation, and engagement.
The most popular content posted to Pinterest, alongside being visual, are tutorials, infographics, and how-to’s that all link to further educational content. People on Pinterest are looking for solutions to their problems which makes it a valuable platform to include in your social media marketing strategy. Like with any piece of content you create, you want to make sure it appeals to your target audience and answers those questions they’ve been searching to solve. Providing this establishes you as a leader in your industry, cultivating startup loyalty and trust – all from posting a Pin.
Unlike other platforms (we’re looking at you, Instagram), Pinterest allows to link your posts to another website. So, if someone would like to find out more about your business, product, and services, they can be taken to your website and pages with a simple click. The ease of this, and how easy it is to include a link to the caption of each Pin, means traffic to your website will only increase over time. If you can create content which entices your audience to click-through to find out more information, you’re in the money. You’ll be forming a backlog of links that will be a continuous source of traffic and potential customers.
In addition to links, you can also use the wealth of keyword and hashtag knowledge you’ve gained from posting on other social media platforms and implement them into each Pin caption. You can add keywords throughout your entire profile that are related to your niche and sector, allowing you to be found organically in users’ searches and feeds. Use of them ensure that you’re making the most of your visibility on the platform. This will help the categorising aspect of the platform, which is like gold dust. Once you’ve chosen the correct categories for your Pins, with the most popular ones being health, beauty, and travel, you’re maximising your reach. The correct categories in the correct niches means you’re more searchable and thus, easier to find.
This traffic will also result in a community of like-minded people that will endeavour to interact, consumer, and support you and your startup. There are over 355 million people who use Pinterest each month which is a wealth of support and engagement just waiting to find you. As stated before, Pinterest hinges on the social aspect of social media, so you’ll be able to count on your followers more than on other platforms to engage with your Pins in all the ways you’re looking for.Branded videos that are between 30 and 90 seconds long are the way to go as 75% of Pinterest users say they’re more likely to watch branded videos if it’s one that interests them. They’ll share it with their friends, followers, champion it, and click-through to see everything you have to offer. People on Pinterest have the highest purchase intent of any other social media platform, so if you can get a sizeable audience on Pinterest, your sales will grow.
Regularly posting and engaging with the platform will see it being one of the most powerful marketing tools your startup can have. You can achieve startup awareness, loyalty, a boost in sales, conversations, and a solid customer base… all of which should convince you to boot up your computer and sign up for a business account.
If you still feel trepidation when it comes to Pinterest, contact us at blazon and we can help you strategize your way to killer Pins and a unique, untapped source of social media marketing.
