Hmmm Pinterest. Most of us have heard of it but what exactly is it, and what is Pinterest good for? Well, you’ve come to the right person for the answers – I LOVE this social media platform and I LOVE the results you can achieve from it too!
Throughout this blog, I’m going to explain how to use Pinterest for business 2021 by using screen shots. Very apt as Pinterest is primarily a visual platform.
Pinterest traffic
This platform is so unique and performs differently from other social media channels. Purely because it actively encourages the use of links. It actually wants its users to find something they like and head off to look at another website.
Great news for you as a business owner, as you’ll experience a high volume of traffic to your website – or any link that you are promoting. This could be your eBay or Amazon shop too! The possibilities of where you send people is limitless!
Its superpower is that it acts just like a search engine. Simply type in the search bar what you are looking for and you’ll be shown what is trending and given the link to go off and do some further reading, or a spot of shopping.
A quick Pinterest tutorial
Imagine a pin board on your wall at home. You’ve put that board there to act as a central hub for keeping all your ideas, wish lists, pictures, etc. on one subject in one place. This is what Pinterest is all about – it’s like a filing cabinet to keep everything together and easily accessible.
Let’s say the pin board on your wall is there so you can plan a birthday party. You’ll have one area dedicated to the different food options or cake ideas, another area full of inspiration on how to decorate your venue and another area for present ideas. Pinterest boards and pins are the same.
Here’s what Pinterest’s jargon means:
Pinners: the people who use Pinterest
Boards: theme headings that contain the pins
Pins: the ‘posts’ that sit on boards to provide visual ideas and inspiration
Repins: the sharing of another Pinner’s pin
Promoted pins: these are the ones that have been paid to be there, the adverts.
There are lots of options too. You can create boards and invite others with a common interest to join that board. This is a great way of sharing ideas and creating a strong community. You can also create secret boards that only you can see – perfect if you’re looking for a present for someone close!
Pinterest Marketing Strategy
Pinterest should be considered as part of your marketing strategy. Particularly if you sell products online, you definitely should consider it.
Pinterest is huge. Not quite as big as Facebook, but it’s getting there. Currently it is on par with Twitter and LinkedIn. Statistica reported that there were 442million active users on Pinterest in January 2021. This figure continues to rise too. It launched in 2010 and was the fastest growing social media site in history, it achieved 10m active users quicker than any of the others.
Around 70% of this figure is made up of females with an average age of 40. So, if this sounds like your ideal customer you really need to be using Pinterest. This leaves around 30% being male – but with the number of users running into the hundreds of millions, that is a massive audience not to be ignored.
A staggering 87% of pinners purchase from Pinterest, it’s a pathway to purchase.
Pinterest business account
Unlike other social media platforms, your pins (‘posts’) do not disappear down a timeline never to be seen again. As it operates as a search engine, even the stuff you pinned years ago will still show up. Wonderful news for businesses – it saves so much time as there’s no need to keep reposting to keep in front of your customers’ minds.
Always be mindful of your keywords and use the most appropriate hashtags. Think of the things your customers will be looking for.
There’s also no pressure to gain lots of followers. Remember, people will find you by using the search bar. There is an option to follow, but you can still get found with your keywords and hashtags.
With no ‘like’ feature, the way you find out what people value is to look at the number of repins. This is a true indication of what is trending as it’s all too easy to just click on a ‘like’ button, it’s another thing to openly share with the world what you are interested in.
Remember, as your website gets more visitors, Google will reward you and rank you higher too.
Plus, you can attract anyone, anywhere at anytime.
How to use Pinterest for business
Not only can you drive traffic to your website and sell your products, you can use Pinterest as a valuable market research tool.
Put your customer’s head on for a while. Search for something they would be interested in. Pinterest will show you boards of things that are trending. You can use this information and really give your customers what they are after.
Pinterest for bloggers
By using the best hashtags and keywords your customers can find your blog. On Pinterest you will have to use an image that will resonate and, as prompted by Pinterest, you will have added the link for the pinner to follow to read the blog. Yay – more traffic to your website!
It really works well for infographics and top tips too.
Here’s an actual case study: it proves that Pinterest is not just about a lifestyle.
I manage the Momentous Maps Pinterest business profile. It’s for pinners who enjoy Dungeons and Dragons games – this audience is mainly made up of males around the age of 30.
As you can see from the screen grab here, we have 361 followers and get 13.9k monthly views. The last Pin was in November 2020, we’re not consistently posting content but we’re still getting a high number of views. This account refers the most people to the website out of all the social media channels. Now, that’s powerful stuff!
Scroll down from the logo and the brief biography and click on the “Saved” button to see the Pinterest boards. I’ve created boards I know my target audience will enjoy. All they need to do, is click on a board that interests them and see all the pins within it. Here are some of the boards ….
Below you can see a pin which sits under a board. Can you see where I’ve circled the link to buy the product? That is how easy it is to share a link! This demonstrates how a website gets an immediate hit.
On some of the Momentous Map boards, I simply repin from another pinner because I believe that their content will be valuable to my potential customers. This won’t drive traffic to the website but the pinners who have searched for the topic have been directed to Momentous Maps’ Pinterest profile page.
In other pins I direct the pinner to the Momentous Maps’ Facebook page which helps that account gain more followers.
Marketing on Pinterest
As with all aspects of your marketing, make sure to check the analytics. Luckily, Pinterest makes this super easy. As you can see here, it’s easy to discover how well your top pins are performing. One of my top pins is from 2019 and it achieved over 1.6k views last month. And look, my 2nd best pin was pinned in 2018! These top performing pin are all my products, the link goes straight to the shopping cart check out for the corresponding item.
In the image right I want to show you what a private pin looks like. You can identify two of mine by the lock icon in the top left hand corner of the board. And the boards with multiple circles at the bottom right corner – these are the community boards which shows the profile of who else has joined as a contributor.
What is Pinterest and how does it work for business? The next time I get asked this question, I’ll show them the example below. This profile for ‘Business Insider’ has 224.2k followers and 616.8k monthly views. There is no product, it’s purely business news with links to external sites.
Pinterest: how it works for business 2021. The search engine.
Your customers will be using the search bar to type in things they are looking for.
Here I’ve typed in ‘suits men’. It brings up an option to view ‘explore’ or ‘shop’ as Pinterest has recognised that this is typical of something people purchase.
When the pinner clicks on the pin they like the look of they will be able to head straight to the website and usually straight to the shopping cart.
Here’s another example for you. I’ve typed in a popular Dungeons and Dragons hashtag #RPGMap. And look, the pin that says ‘The Bakery’ is one of Momentous Maps’. And when I scroll down, I can see lots more, in fact, Momentous Maps has nearly monopolised the top 20 trending pins! This is because I’ve researched exactly what my customers are after and what appeals to them
I really hope that this blog has got your creative juices flowing, and if you’re wondering what boards and pins you could use for your business, just have a look to see what’s trending.
What’s coming up?
Still wondering, ‘What Is Pinterest UK’? Wonder no more!
My next workshop is called, ‘Pinterest For business’. It starts on 23rd February for 4 days, for just one hour a day. I’ll be showing you how to create a Pinterest profile for your business, how to create boards and pins, how to drive traffic straight to your website and how to make more sales!
To book a place head to Eventbrite today, it’s only £99 for the whole workshop!
Bye for now,
Becs
Becs Bate, Social Media Executive
