If your business doesn’t have a Pinterest account, it’s time to get building your profile. According to Business Insider, Pinterest is rapidly growing, sending more traffic to e-commerce websites in the first quarter of 2013 than it did during the holiday season of 2012. It drove twice as much traffic to e-commerce sites compared to Twitter, and it delivered the highest average order of social media referrals at $80.54, twice that of Facebook. Maybe this is why 69 of the top 100 companies in the U.S. have Pinterest accounts?
What makes Pinterest unique is that it has an effective social commerce platform that allows businesses to actually boost sales. Twitter and Facebook, on the other hand, are best at building brand awareness and gaining high-quality leads. It can be difficult to turn this into actual sales, which is probably why Facebook’s share of referrals dropped from 62 percent to 55 percent between two consecutive quarters.
If you don’t have a Pinterest account or haven’t been using it to its fullest potential, you need to be working this site into your online marketing strategy. The good news is that Pinterest is continuously making changes that deliver more potential for businesses. For instance, last month, the social media site introduced rich pins that allow users to include more information about the pinned images. Also, the “Pin It” button has been integrated for mobile apps.
Not to mention, Pinterest has plenty of great features exclusive to businesses, such as new buttons, badges and widgets for their blog and access to visual marketing practices and case studies. Here are a few tips for getting started with this emerging social commerce platform:
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Create a business board as opposed to an individual board
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Add “Pin It” buttons to all website pages
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Include hashtags that relate to your brand
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Set your logo as the profile picture
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Write a short, unique copy for the “About” section
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Include strong keywords and link back to your website
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Know your audience. Hint: 79 percent of users are female! (via Simply Measured).
Pinterest has been delivering a standout performance, and with numbers growing, it makes sense to spend more time building your involvement on this site. With a clean, user-friendly interface and new changes for marketers, Pinterest is truly the place to be seen and heard.
