Using Pinterest for business

Today I thought I’d talk a little about Pinterest, one of the fastest growing social networking sites out there, and how it can help grow your business through advertising, marketing and branding.

Pinterest launched in 2010.  By December 2011, the site became one of the top 10 largest social networking sites with 11 million total visits per week.  In January 2012, the site had 11.7 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark.

If you’re unaware of the platform, Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, etc.  Users can re-pin images to their own boards or “like” other peoples’ pins.  The mission of the company is to “connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting.”  Pinterest also allows its users to share pins on both Twitter and Facebook, enabling its users to reach a broader community.  

To gain access to Pinterest, potential users can either receive an invitation from a friend already registered, or request an invitation directly from the Pinterest website. An account can also be created and accessed by linking Pinterest to a Facebook or Twitter profile.  When a user re-posts or “re-pins” an image to their own board, they have the option of notifying their Facebook and Twitter followers.

So how to use Pinterest for business?  Any business that relies on driving a high-volume of traffic to their website to increase sales should consider joining Pinterest.  In fact, early research indicates Pinterest is more effective at driving traffic compared to other social media sites, even Facebook.  "While there's no mechanism for potential customers to buy your products directly from the site, consider the marketing potential: Popular images (with links back to the original source) can get repinned on hundreds of other users' boards."

First off, spend time getting to know the site.  One key is to build relationships with those who are known for quality “pins” at the site.  Once people (or potential customers) get to know more about your business, they will be more likely to post about your products.  Focus on users that get the most likes and repins.

Keep it simple.  One of the main draws of Pinterest is that it is incredibly easy to use.  Hanna Abaza, the co-founder and CEO of Wedding Republic says: “It’s best to mimic Pinterest’s uncluttered aesthetic so your boards are clean and elegant looking.”

Make sure you’re business is a good match.  A lot of users are looking for “do-it yourself” ideas so make sure your content is original and enticing.

You should consider launching a daily pin “theme” to promote your brand.  This keeps visitors interested as you are changing your content daily.

Promote more than just your products.  Think of Pinterest as a visual blog.  When you are blogging about your company, you want to give your audience information about more than just what you’re selling.  You are cultivating a relationship and dialogue flow.  By giving users information on things that are of interest to them, you will get their attention and most importantly, hold their attention.

A good tip in helping raise awareness about your company is to follow the big names on Pinterest.  This method has proven to work on Twitter.  When you follow popular people and they follow you back, other users start to as well – kind of like a follow the leader type model.

Think visually.  Pinterest is a visual social network so highlight some of your best visual content.  "Remember, visuals elicit emotion in users which drives their desire to purchase a product that can take them where they want to go."  Think about using images that cultivate your company’s culture so you can give your customer a better idea about what your products and goals are all about.  Encourage your customers to share photos of them using your product so that others might repin such an image enabling you to grow your customer base.  You can also pin videos so consider that option as well.

One great idea I read about a company doing was hosting a contest that asked users to create a pinboard on their own account to demonstrate what they loved about their brand, product and service.  Remember, engaging your customers and getting them involved in the process can only help you succeed and grow your brand.  Once the contest was over, they picked a winner who had the “coolest” pinboard and gave them a prize.

Most importantly, add a “pin-it” button to your own website so you can expose your brand to your audience both old and new.

I’ll leave you with one important thought: the trick to succeeding on Pinterest isn’t necessarily about showing off your products or services directly; “it’s about finding creative ways to show how these products and services fit into the lifestyles of your target audience.”  Take the best practices you’ve learned here and start pinning content that represents your company’s vision and goals so you can identify and attract visitors back to your website and allow your product to gain traction in the broader marketplace.

Here a great tutorial about using Pinterest for business that you might want to check out.  “How to use Pinterest for Business”: http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/howtousepinterestforbusiness.pdf

Here’s Pinterest’s own ideas for business: http://pinterest.com/newspapergrl/pinterest-for-business/

Here are some videos of Pinterest founder, Ben Silbermann talking about the site: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/08/pinterest-startup-mountain/

Until next time...