Already aware of the benefits of social media, many businesses are currently actively maintaining Facebook and Twitter accounts to relative success, but are making minimal effort to branch out into other trending social media sites despite their increasing popularity.
Although it is important to pick and choose social media wisely, there are some platforms which are near-guaranteed to be beneficial to all businesses- Pinterest being one of them. In regards to personal use, a Pinterest account is a great way to create online mood boards that include favourite quotes, personal photos, wish lists, recipes and party plans, which when combined with the huge popularity of the site means that professional account are very valuable to businesses. There are many ways in which a Pinterest account can help your business-
Increase your Web Presence
Within the internet-centric society that we live in, businesses need to make every effort to increase their web presence and therefore their audience, and a Pinterest account can help achieve this. With the ability to link to Facebook and Twitter, your Pinterest boards will easily merge with your existing social media efforts and branding, whilst allowing your company to become more prominent to more consumers, widening your market reach.
Despite the links on Pinterest being ‘no follow’ and therefore having little real benefits for SEO, it does help attract more visitors naturally to your site, especially in the case of ecommerce.
Allows Customers to do (some of) your Marketing
Setting up and maintaining a business Pinterest account will help increase the awareness of your brand and allow for an incredibly natural approach to marketing, as individuals can repin the images and articles that you upload to the site. This ‘easy’ way to spread your brand means that your images, products, and company name can quickly be spread through the site and be shared on other social media and blogging sites.
By adding ‘Pin It’ and ‘Follow’ buttons to your website, you can encourage Pinterest members to share images and articles directly from your website, meaning that spreading awareness of your site can be simple.
Allows you to Show your Wares
Statistics show that a high percentage of Pinterest users purchase many of the items that they repin, and that they are more likely to make impulse buys of items they view on the boards they follow, meaning that all retail businesses should invest time, or money, into managing an account in order to drive sales. Posting clear, stylish images of your products on carefully curated boards will help boosts sales, so is a marketing must for any retailer.
With the ability to add descriptions to your pins, you can optimise your images by adding relevant keywords that will make your images appear in Pinterest searches, and with the site also incorporating hashtags, you can quickly attract image views.
Pinterest offers Promoted Pins
Working in the same way as Facebook ads and promoted Tweets, Pinterest offers businesses and individuals the chance to promote their pins and target their Pinterest audience. Along with introducing paid pins, the site is also currently experimenting with placing suggested pins in users feeds to help them find boards that they will enjoy following to create a more enjoyable Pinterest experience.
Featured images:
License: Creative Commons image source