Did you download the Pinterest app a few years ago while searching for a recipe and then forget that it existed? While Pinterest has proven itself to be a powerful digital marketing tool over the years, it’s often overlooked as just a place to find decorating inspiration or DIY projects.
This, in our opinion, is a huge missed opportunity, especially if your company uses any type of visual branding or marketing whatsoever. Pinterest is still one of the most popular social media networks out there, and it can indeed help you expand the reach of your business to potential customers you might not engage otherwise.
In case it’s been awhile, Pinterest is an image sharing social media platform that uses what they call “pinboards” instead of profiles. Users can “pin” digital clippings to their boards in the form of images, gifs, and videos, and they can also like and comment on other people’s pins and boards to engage.
So what is Pinterest doing that Facebook or Instagram isn’t, and is it worth investing any time there? We broke down exactly what you might be missing out on if you aren’t using Pinterest, who the platform is good at targeting, and why it might be good for your business. Here are the reasons why you should
The more eyes on your site, the better. If you want to drive more traffic to your website, Pinterest is one of the most straightforward ways to do so, especially if your business offers physical products. Because you can post pins that link directly to your website, you can bring users to a specific landing page in order to promote your products and services.
Pinterest has over 320 million monthly active users and over 12 million unique users. Though it’s not quite as big as the other social media giants, it still has a strong audience base, and companies shouldn’t miss the opportunity to leverage their brand on this platform.
Why? The interesting thing about Pinterest is that as opposed to other social media platforms who may boast a bigger user base, the Pinterest demographic shows a unique ready-to-buy attitude. Users are on Pinterest when they’re in the stages of planning and making decisions, so you don’t necessarily have to convince them to want your product or service. If they’re on Pinterest, they’re likely already interested. That’s huge.
One of the great things about Pinterest is that every pin includes a link leading back to the source of the image (which will be your website). Links built through images are some of the best links you can acquire when it comes to actual engagement.
Additionally, compared to most other social media websites, Pinterest reduces the number of steps from discovery to conversion. This means that visitors from Pinterest can convert into leads or sales faster than from other social media sources. With the right pins, Pinterest can greatly help your content climb to the top of the search engines results page, and when users are using the platform as a “path to purchase” (as many of them are), you can more easily drive sales and increase your conversions.
The level of user engagement on Pinterest is very high. Unlike many social sites where the aim is to get followers, Pinterest users are often content in simply finding what they like and sharing it with small groups. This is good news for businesses and retailers, because it means your pins are more likely to be seen, repinned, and engaged with.
Another notable mention is that Pinterest isn’t as popular among marketers as Instagram and Facebook, so the cost per click rates tend to be lower on Pinterest than other platforms.
We all know how important telling our story is to growing our brand and our customer base, and Pinterest is the ultimate platform for storytelling. With so much time being spent online today, brands have a great opportunity to get in front of their audience, and doing so with visual ads and campaigns is the way to go.
Creating a board on Pinterest, gives you the opportunity to not just to show your product but to tell your story and communicate your brand values. When you can accomplish this visually, the message is more likely to stick with the audience than it would by writing it via text on LinkedIn or Facebook.
A Pinterest marketing strategy can prove beneficial for long term results and can fit into many different stages of your acquisition funnel. And if you use Pinterest for advertising, you can not only boost brand awareness but also drive sales and increase conversions.
If you have any questions about growing your business, we’re always here to help!
