In the social space, Pinterest is relatively new, and many companies are still trying to navigate the landscape of this dynamic platform, which has undergone various changes. The opportunities for businesses to incorporate this new platform into their social media marketing strategy are virtually limitless, but it's important to understand the community and how it functions to maximize the return for your company.
Pinterest is a social sharing site, which allows users to post or "pin" images or videos of things that interest them onto their pinboards or friends' pinboards. Items can be pinned from an image on the user's computer or from a website using the bookmarklet tool or just a URL. Users can explore topics of interest, follow friends, discover new ideas and, most importantly for businesses, interact with companies through business pinboards. Sharing is even expanded to other social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
The site is very important to businesses as it drives huge amounts of traffic through referrals. When a user "pins" an object from the pin-it button, the original URL stays consistent no matter how many times the item is repinned, resulting in huge amounts of potential exposure. This is also very powerful link building. Although the links are automatically no-follow, they are still important for building exposure. The site also contributes to lead generation and is a major social sharing tool.
Unlike other social media platforms, the site is very visual. Pins that are shared the most, or repinned, are often the ones with beautiful photography and stunning graphics. This site is about telling a story with pictures and not status updates.
While the site originally started out as an invite-only, consumer-centric space, the company recently added business profiles to give companies a way to market their products and services in a unique fashion. The latest tool, Pinterest Web Analytics, allows businesses to track how many users are referred to their sites as well as see how users interact with their content.
Building your online presence within the community can be done with the many tools offered by the site. The pin-it button is a great way to begin to allow users to share and post your online content. This can even be implemented before you create your account and can help to determine what to create your initial pinboards around based on the analytics.
Setting up an account on the site is relatively simple and requires very basic information regarding your company. Once your account is created, you should begin by setting up a few boards. Start by creating boards around very specific topics that are relevant and interesting to your target audience. Use inspirational imagery that captures the viewer's attention. Be sure to balance your boards with both your products and the inspiration behind them. Holidays, how-to tips, wish lists, product showcases, hobbies, color themes and styles all make wonderful pinboards. Like other social media, this is a place to really display the culture and personality of the company.
Once your boards are created and you begin to interact, it's great to promote your account on your website. You can even add follow buttons and widgets to make social interaction with your users fast and easy. Engagement can also be boosted through contests and promotions. Some companies are beginning to use the site as a contest forum to ask users to submit photo entries, increasing their user-generated content as well as their engagement. Many have also begun to harness the power of Instagram and combine it with "pinning" to create visually stunning boards.
This new platform is limited only by your imagination. So get creative, have fun and start pinning!
