How Marketers Should Use Pinterest
I resisted writing about marketing on Pinterest, as a pinner myself, I viewed it as an oasis – a place that had not been overrun with tasteless marketing tactics. I enjoy skimming the pages of pins for inspiration, house design ideas, and, especially, the humor section. It seems most pinners enjoy my style of dry sarcasm.
If you are not familiar with the site, Pinterest is a place to organize and share online images that you find interesting or inspiring: thus your “Pins”. You can create “Boards”, or collections of Pins, for any topic imaginable, from apples to architecture to architectural designs of apples. The possibilities are truly endless.
At this point, the site is by invitation only. But that hasn’t stopped their insane growth. The site recently clocked in over 7.2 million users!
If you are lucky enough to know a pinner, they can invite you. Once you are inside and able to pin, you may see some possibilities to market your brand or product.
With reservation, I recommend certain brands use Pinterest. Since they do not have brand pages available yet, you will need to create a user account and name for your brand during sign up.
I especially recommend using the site if your brand’s target audience is women. Reportedly, 70% of active pinners are female. The site has a highly engaged audience with 3.3 million users logging more than 421 million pageviews.
All this being said, let’s cover who should be taking advantage of these amazing numbers:
Who Should Be Using Pinterest
- Photographers should put all of their best work on Pinterest. Including a description, inspiration, cost, and where to buy the piece.
- Restaurants and bakeries should post photos and simple recipes for folks to try at home.
- Cosmetic and style professionals should post their hot tips and trends to be shared. The chic makeup and clothing markets will likely see the biggest bang on Pinterest, as their products photograph and share well.
- Lifestyle professionals – if you are selling an experience, your expertise, or an inspiration, AND you can package it tastefully, you belong on Pinterest.
Tips for Marketing Your Brand on Pinterest
A Picture is Worth A Pin
Pins are perfectly framed to highlight a product image. Invest in a few high-quality images of your top products.
Smart Pinning Goes A Long Way
Pin from your website, the pin will maintain the original hyperlink – forever allowing a potential customer to click back to your website or product page.
Think Like A Pinner
Understand the demographics of Pinterest users. Many are women searching for recipes, style tips, places to travel, arts and crafts, or make-up tips. Products that appeal to this audience must fit nicely on a Pin Board, blatant marketing doesn’t look good on a Board.
If you haven’t already, get the “Pin It Button”, there is one for your browser’s toolbar and one for your website.
Bottom line, if you are going to use Pinterest as a marketing platform for your brand, keep it tasteful. The idea is to get repined, thus expanding the number of people who view your product. Think about it, with a single picture or video, you can reach millions of people if your “pinned” content goes viral. Don’t go overboard on the branding – that will get you unpinned in a hurry.
