By Jason McClain | September 11, 2016 | 1 Comment
If you are considering Pinterest for business, I say, “Do it!”
Well, there are a few things to consider, like:
It all really depends on the size of your business and how you currently do your social media management. If you have a social media marketing team, it’s probably nothing to throw another platform into the mix. If you are doing everything yourself, then time can be a factor.
I know businesses that get up to 50% of their traffic from Pinterest alone. While I don’t necessarily suggest going after one traffic source or putting all of your eggs in one basket, if you will, I certainly do encourage taking advantage of platforms that are performing well. Pinterest for business is one of those platforms.
Pinterest allows you to convert an account or sign up under your business. This is quite different from other social networks like Facebook where your business Pages must be “owned” by your personal Profile. So, if you have a Pinterest account laying around that you created out of curiosity when the site launched, you can either convert that one or create a new for your business altogether by visiting https://business.pinterest.com/.
Make sure to verify your website through Pinterest for business in the settings. Don’t forget to add a Pinterest link on your website and the share options so visitors can share your content on Pinterest.
When you are sharing your own content, be sure to write detailed captions of your work. This is beneficial for search on Pinterest as their algorithm will return the most relevant information for a search. Pinterest also gets a ton of mobile traffic, so keep in mind that people on a mobile device can only see 4 lines of your description.
While it’s certainly important to build boards based on your business and establish yourself as an expert, it’s also important to avoid droning on too long about one topic. People want to see you sharing a variety of interests as they have rather than only pinning on one or two topics. Yes, even for Pinterest business accounts.
Obviously, you will want to avoid pinning from the competition. For example, if you’re a plumber, and your business is Gold Plumbing, you don’t want to be pinning items from The Silver Plumbing Company’s blog. However, you do want to pin from other people just as a good Pinterest for business strategy. Your customers want to know what you think is relevant, and Pinterest is a good way to share that with them.
The more stuff you share from others, the more of your own stuff you can post. There’s a sort of unspoken 80/20 rule in social media marketing that says for every 20% of your own content you post, you should post 80% from others. No one is asking you to get out your calculator. If you do your job making your content the best stuff you are sharing, everything will even out fine.
Information like pricing can be very important when you share pins about products and services. We all know that the first things customers want to know is the price. Here’s a guide from Pinterest on how to get started using rich pins.
Pinterest released buyable pins this year which allow you to sell directly from the social network with pins that say “Buy It” instead of “Pin It”. The transaction is handled inside Pinterest, and the good news is, they don’t take a commission!
Sure, you will see competition on Pinterest, but if you view that as a chance to network and grow together, it can really be beneficial. We all have things to learn from each other, and Pinterest for business can be a place we do that. With Pinterest group boards, you have an opportunity to provide content to your customer-base alongside others in your industry. See what kind of opportunity is out there by using a tool to find group boards like PinGroupie.
Remember when I said above that I know businesses getting half their traffic from Pinterest? Get this…Pinterest drives more traffic than these 3 HUGE Internet players COMBINED:
I can’t begin to tell you how huge that is. Reddit is known for making things go viral. We hear about the other two ALL the time, and yet, Pinterest outdoes them all. That’s why you should be on it!
You can easily measure your Pinterest efforts using their robust analytics platform by going to: https://analytics.pinterest.com.
I wanted to include a sort of bonus tip. Pinterest also sends out some pretty helpful emails on a regular basis:
I really find these emails helpful in diversifying the content I’m sharing and helping me network better with others on Pinterest for business. I’d love to hear from you in the comments about your experiences!
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Hey Jason, I am glad that we have a community here to share on our social media issues and other online marketing experiences. I believe when the Pinterest began I was one of the first to subscribe. But like many other online products/services I purchased, I never really made full use of them due to my lack of experience or just that thing call "information overload". I remember two sisters and a man friend got together to start up this business. To this day, I have not really taken advantage but just recently I began to give it a second look. I am now following some of their educational pins for science, health, parenting, children and schools and related matters. Happy to be getting reminded and help to rekindle my interest. (I started a blog on internet marketing years ago but is dormant at this stage and would like it active sometime soon- under my own name)Thanks.