Every business, regardless of its size, would do well to have some sort of social media program. A photographer may post pictures of their latest event on Instagram. A consultant may cozy up to potential connections on LinkedIn. A company may showcase permanent labor certification ads over Twitter. Whatever your platform, social media has evolved into an essential part of promoting a brand and relaying information to your customers and potential customers. Pinterest is a unique case here, in that many businesses seem to be ignoring it. Could it be a piece of social media gold hiding in plain sight? Maybe.
Make no mistake, Pinterest is no shrinking violet in the social media world. It currently has 10 million users. Not only is it the second highest social media referrer of traffic behind Facebook, it is the fourth largest traffic driver in the world, period. This beats out internet giants like Yahoo. Pinterest is also proven to be a driver of sales, in the right areas. When it comes to high-value orders to e-commerce sites, your average Pinterest post has 400 percent more revenue per click than Twitter, along with 27 percent more than Facebook. Not too shabby.
For those who don’t know what Pinterest is, let’s go over quickly how it works and what it covers. Essentially, Pinterest is mainly a visual site. Users can create, share, and collect information in the forms of video or images. Most people have the idea that it’s mainly for homemade crafts or food. While this is true, there’s also much more items out there, and anything with a design element may be worth putting on Pinterest. You can also grow the reach of your Pinterest items if it is shared/re-pinned by other users on the site.
As a business, start on Pinterest with a formally verified business page, being sure to take the time to get it verified. After that, try creating various “boards” on the page. This can include your products themselves or areas that are relevant to your business. You can be creative here, just stay on brand. When it comes to converting this into sales, you want to make sure that anything with an applicable purchasing page has a link on each page. This means that if a person sees something they like on your page, they can go and buy it right away rather than waiting or thinking about it.
Pinterest is interesting because its financial benefits are generally for e-commerce companies, and even then, it’s generally a specific set of those. However, many companies in that niche get a bulk of their customer base through the platform. See if it is a fit for you, as the payoff may be well worth it.
