Have you heard about the wildfire spread of Pinterest but haven’t yet bought into the concept? Are you wondering what you could really accomplish from an all-image social media website? From the onset, the idea of promoting your business through a website with just images may sound limiting. Yet more and more businesses are seeing the benefits of integrating Pinterest into their social media solutions with successful results. With over 25 million users, perhaps it’s time you considered adding Pinterest into your social media plan.
As many companies are discovering, there is more potential to Pinterest that you might think. Here are 5 business goals you can accomplish using Pinterest:
Create a compelling brand presence online. Pinterest offers an amazing opportunity to stand out and make an impact on your audience with images, which is often more powerful and memorable than words. To showcase the style and image of your company you pin and repin images that relate to your company branding. For example, if you have a restaurant in the hip neighborhood in Seattle you can pin more than just your food, drink and images of your location. Pin images that represent the same style of your business. You can find images with sleek lines, vivid colors, and slick imagery that are similar to your restaurants interior.
Promote your projects. If you have a product based business, Pinterest offers you a new platform for getting links to your website and blog. Pin your products with descriptions including keywords, links to the product pages, and pricing if appropriate. Think beyond the traditional images. If you have an ebook, pin the cover. Has your company produced any flow charts or infographics? Pin those. With each of the products, you can link back to that product page on your website, giving your business additional opportunities for traffic. And don’t be afraid to put a Call to Action in the descriptions. A Call to Action message with your image can increase engagement by 80%.
Tap into people passionate about your business. One of the benefits of social media is that you can build a community of followers. Pinterest boards (a collection of images you choose to group together) is perfect for showcasing your community. Invite customers to contribute by pining photos of them posing with your product or wearing a logoed t-shrit. If your project is a raw material, have them contribute photos of the finished product .To gain momentum, make these boards a contest with a prize and recognition given to best pin. Remember that Pinterest users are a highly engaged bunch, and they enjoy the process of sharing images and information.
Efficiently learn which products users favor. One of the benefits of Pinterest is the quick response you get in seeing which products your follower, and their followers, are popular. Pinterest notifies you every time one of the images you pinned, gets repined, so you find out right away which images have a following. In addition, when you sign up as a business with Pinterest you have access to their analytics programs so that follow metrics of repins, click through rates and other engagement of your product images. Not only does this give you valuable insights for your social media strategy, but for your overall marketing strategy as well.
Offer step by step guidance. Pinterest can even help you show people how to use your product. Use an online imaging tool to show assembling instructions or a how-to guide. Not only does this help your audience become familiar with your product, but it can also lend a hand in your customer service activities with step by step instructions being available for customer use. There are several online imaging tools that you can use to make a collage for your how-to guide, such as PicMonkey.com. These programs also allow you to add a text to your instructions with photo editing tools that are surprisingly easy to use.
As Pinterest continues to add dedicated users and develop its business applications, it will be more and more of a key player in the social media world. Maybe its time your business considered which business goals you could achieve through Pinterest and tapped into its social media opportunities.
