What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a virtual bulletin/pin board that enables you to share and organize images/links found on the web. Once shared, these links become “pins” that you can post on your personalized “boards”. You can explore different categories such as home décor, Do-it-Yourself (DIY), food, wedding, etc. You can browse other user’s boards and follow specific people’s pins to then be “repinned” or “liked”.
Pinterest’s popularity has grown rapidly, especially within the past few months, reaching 7.51 million unique visitors in December 2011 alone. With this growth, it is impossible to ignore. So how can you use this social site to benefit your business?
Like many other social sites in their infancy, Pinterest has yet to have branded pins or branded pages for businesses. So until this function is enabled, here are some tips on using Pinterest for your initial marketing efforts.
Make Sure Pinterest is Relevant for Your Business
First things first is to making sure Pinterest is a relevant social outlet for your business. Because it is bookmarked through images, if your company’s product or service isn’t very visual it may be difficult to tie or link directly back to your brand. In my opinion, for the time being, Pinterest is ideal for retail companies. However, I highly encourage trial and error and creative ways of “pinning” for “less visual” companies.
Interaction is Huge
One of the most powerful aspects of Pinterest is its ability to link your product image directly back to your website. So, definitely post and link your product(s) to share, but remember to “re-pin”, “like” and comment on other users as well. Interaction is a huge aspect to social media and want to be sure to use Pinterest correctly to gain loyal followers and credibility. This will result in more re-pins, likes, visits to your site, and if managed wisely, profit.
“Listen” For a Pin Drop
A great social media feature is the ability to “listen” to your consumers. When you post a product, along with re-pins and likes, the comment ability can enable you to truly listen to your consumers on your specific products.
