Pinterest is growing in popularity, with more brands using the social network to engage with potential customers and using it to build their visual brand identity. When used correctly, Pinterest can help boost SEO, reach some very popular target markets (including women and high income households) and can increase engagement.
What is it and how does it work?
Pinterest calls itself a “visual bookmarking tool” and is, in essence, a virtual pinboard. Users create an account and then start following and creating boards that are of interest to them. Each board is made up of “pins” (images, websites, videos, etc.) around a central theme, which could be anything from food ideas to film quotes to fitness tips. Users can also leave comments below their pin. The boards are grouped by common categories and are also searchable. When a user sees something they like, they can “pin” it to one of their related boards. Users can choose to pin items from other boards and can also pin items from all over the Internet.
Most Reddit users are Internet savvy and are on multiple social media platforms. They are comfortable engaging in online conversations and publishing content online. In September 2014, reddit had almost 175 million unique visitors (RJ Metrics).
Who uses it?
- ComScore data showed that Pinterest’s users are over 70% female. No other social network has such a large disparity between male and female usership. (Digiday).
- Pinterest is growing in popularity with millennials. The percentage of 18-29 year olds with a Pinterest account grew from 25% to 33% from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014 (Harvard University Institute of Politics).
- 28% of online adults use Pinterest (Pew Research).
- Pinterest is popular with highest income households – 34% of online adults living in the highest-income households use Pinterest (Pew Research).
How can Pinterest be used for marketing?
Pinterest is a great marketing tool for brands that are visual and have a lot of graphical content to share (this can include images, videos, infographics, etc.)
- Be sure to create specific, targeted boards that are easy to understand, making them more likely to be followed.
- Remember to be continually adding to your boards to ensure that your pins are regularly showing up in a user’s home page.
- Try to infuse your Pinterest with creativity. This could mean fun board names, unique pins or creative comments on others’ pins of your products. Also, don’t forget to be as descriptive as possible in your pin description and names. This can help boost your SEO and increase click-throughs.
- Consider applying content marketing principles with your approach to Pinterest. Think of all of the supplementary content that relates to your brand and your target market’s likes, habits and behaviours. You can have boards around all of those areas, helping to boost your reach and making your Pinterest more likely to be followed.
- Group boards are an interesting way to interact with your consumers and related brands. A group board allows multiple Pinterest users to add to the same board. You can choose to add approved users (for example, users that have related boards to your brand) and can create a collaborative approach.
- Even if you’re not ready to start on Pinterest, make sure you’re offering a “Pin it” button or some way for visitors to pin your content to their personal Pinterest account.
