Is Pinterest Right for Your Company?

Pinterest can be a powerful platform for businesses to generate revenue and to increase their brand exposure. Find out if Pinterest is right for your business and, if so, how to use it strategically.

Does Pinterest seem niche? Think again.

Pinterest has over 291 million active users. Over one third of Pinterest’s users are from the United States, but 80 percent of new signups are from outside the United States. Of these users, 79.5 percent are female, 40 percent are college educated, and 39 percent make more than $75,000. In short, Pinterest has an educated, affluent, primarily female user base.

What do these users do on Pinterest? They research, they get inspiration, and they plan live events. Pinterest users actively seek new products and new ideas when they log in.

Does Pinterest Make Sense for Your Business?

Any company that has a highly visual aspect to its products, services, or brand should incorporate Pinterest in its social media marketing plan. Companies that fit this profile include architectural firms, interior design firms, florists and landscaping firms, and wedding and events planners. Also, if your company tries to engage females, you should add Pinterest to your marketing mix.

If Pinterest makes sense for your company based on these parameters, you’re in for a pleasant surprise once you engage with the platform: Data indicates that 59 percent of millennials have discovered new products on Pinterest, 55 percent of users are specifically looking for products, and 51 percent of women discover new brands on Pinterest.

The strong visual focus of the platform and the users’ aim to use Pinterest for inspiration can result in strong opportunities for lead and profit generation.

What Should Your Pinterest Hub Include?

Pinterest hubs include “pins” and pins are organized on “boards.”

Imagine old-school pinboards in virtual form, and you’re on the right track. If you can then imagine having separate pin boards filled with images and snippets for each topic of interest to you, then you can imagine Pinterest.

Each board your company creates on Pinterest should have a separate topic, and each topic should be as specific as possible—while remaining broad enough to give room for multiple pins on a board. For example, if your company sells plants, you could have a board for succulents, a board for perennials, and boards for each planting season. If users search for garden or home décor ideas with any specificity, your board will more likely show up in the search results if your title for the board is specific enough.

Since both pins and boards can show up on a user’s Pinterest feed, how you title and categorize your pins and boards affects your rankings. Use keywords strategically in your titles and descriptions for boards and pins. Be clear and concise, yet descriptive. And don’t forget calls to action!

Advertising on Pinterest

You can advertise on Pinterest in two ways:

1. Promote a pin.
2. Feature a product in a pin.

Promoting a pin boosts the pin you’ve promoted, helping it to show up more often and higher up in relevant searches. Promoting pins is a great way to reach users who aren’t following your business but have similar interests as your target audience. When you promote a pin, you only pay if someone clicks through to your websites, not when someone sees the pin (but doesn’t click through to your site). Depending on your business and goals, promoted pins can be a great way to boost revenue.

Product pins make it possible for users to purchase directly from a pin, connecting your e-commerce platform to the Pinterest platform. To enable this capability, you need to ensure your platform and Pinterest integrate and set up the functionality correctly. This can be a very profitable feature for businesses that sell clothing and other consumer products.

Depending on your industry, promoting a pin or implementing product pins can be a great and profitable addition to your marketing plan.

Is Your Business Ready to Pin?

Image-based social media platforms are big venues for some companies, and Pinterest is one of the biggies. Pinterest can be an incredibly valuable and profitable social media tool for certain businesses.

Sound like Pinterest is right for you? FrogDog can help you get set up. Contact us today!