How to Use Pinterest for Your Small Business
Pinterest is a visual idea sharing platform with over 450 active monthly users who share ideas through pins. Over 60% of Pinterest users are female, and while the dominant user group is 35-55, millennial users are the fastest joining.
On Pinterest, users create "boards" of like things. For example, you may have a board for cooking recipes, another for home decor ideas, and another for painting inspiration.
Pinterest uses the like/follow model like Instagram and Twitter.
Source: Demographic Information
Why even use Pinterest for Business?
If your target demographic is anyone between the ages of 20-55, often female, have disposable income (more than 49% of North American users have an income of >$100,000!) and are looking for (to do some degree) creative ideas, Pinterest may be for you.
But the best part of Pinterest: more users go from Pinterest to purchase than any other social media platform. Translation: people are buying from Pinterest! Often, and more than Facebook and Instagram and others (step aside Facebook ads).
So here's my top methods for using and growing on Pinterest:
- Install the Pinterest extension on your internet browser so you can just click and pin as you navigate the internet day to day.
- Also to #1: add the save button to your website!
- If you sell products, obviously set up Pinterest shop so we can buy right from the platform!
- First make sure you have LOTS of images that you're updating regularly on your website. This will make it easy to...
- Pin regularly (read: almost daily) pins of images and videos from your website.
- Comment on other pins! This strategy is wildly under-utilized. Get your name out there by engaging with others.
- Run ads! Pinterest ads can actually be cheap and cost effective.
- Watch your analytics, and monitor your top boards/pins.
- Write keyword rich descriptions on your pins. Pinterest's search function is surprisingly very powerful, and picks up on words in your description. For example, don't just write "vegan chilli recipe" - try "at home slow cooker vegan chilli the whole family will want for dinner time"
- Post beautiful visuals. This doesn't get said enough, but sometimes in my practice I look at Pinterest accounts that aren't growing and the visual quality just isn't there.
- Use rich pins. Rich pins tell Pinterest what exactly you're pinning so they can make it easier (and more engaging) for other users.
Try these things and let me know how they go!
Intrigued by this, but need a little more or want to continue the conversation? CLICK HERE to send me a message and keep the conversation going about hashtags.
Feel free to also email me, tim@timcampbellstrategist.com