Pinterest: The Hot New Social Media Marketing Platform For Businesses

There is a flash new kid on the social network block that is proving to not only be an engaging social pastime, but a powerful new digital marketing tool for businesses as well. Pinterest has taken the online world by storm.

Growing by a whopping 400% from September to December 2011, it registered 1.6 million users in this short amount of time. Even more notable, statistics show that referrals from Pinterest grew from 2.5% in December to 3.7% in January topping the well-known Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn sites.

This social bookmarking and discovery site works as an organized social photo sharing platform. Users can create, manage and follow themed based photo collections known as pin boards. New photo pins are visible to followers, and there is the option to ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ on or ‘Repin’ the images viewers find interesting.

The marketing power behind Pinterest, like many other social networking sites, lies in its viral tendencies and the capability to reach a large audience. Here is how to use this visually appealing site to advance your business and drive sales.

1. Start off by creating a couple theme based pin boards related to your company. Fill them with intriguing, general photos you find online and take within your community. For example if you are a florist post a variety of natural photos featuring appealing flower arrangements, natural floral landscapes and maybe even a pin board of not so appealing floral arrangements/landscapes you find to keep it interesting.

2. Once you have a general base established, the next step is to follow, re-pin and like other people’s related pins. By engaging with others it will attract followers to your pin boards.

3. Next start creating some pin boards featuring your company’s products. Make sure to link them back to your website and add descriptions. This will make it easy for viewers to jump to your website and the added links will add value to the search engine optimisation of your website.

4. Pinterest can act as a social online catalogue for your business but make sure you don’t make it too promotional. Like all social networking sites, it is important to keep engaged with others posts and interact with other pinners. It also helps to add a bit of personality to your pin boards by adding some funny, inspirational or beautiful images you find.

Companies that have recorded an increase of traffic to their website due to Pinterest have stated they enjoy giving feedback outside of their businesses category. Showing your company’s personality outside of the products sold will create a more intimate connection with your brand and consumer and a more loyal follower as a result.

5. Pinterest campaigns can be conducted by uploading a created image of a coupon or special deal just for your Pinterest followers. To encourage it to go viral, offer a special prize to the individual who gets the most likes or comments on the re-pin of your coupon.

Make sure you add pinterest.com as a referral source on your website to track the amount of traffic generated from Pinterest and evaluate whether or not you need to tweak your social strategies. We hope you enjoy using this visually enticing site to display your business in a beautiful and thought provoking way.