Pinterest is a frequently overlooked site that is rife with possibilities for exposure of your business. In fact, it’s the fourth most popular social media platform in the United States and more than 52% of Pinterest users report that Pinterest helps them find items to buy. That’s why Pinterest marketing is worth looking into if you’re a business owner.
It’s one part social media and three parts search engine, so if your “pins” match a certain keyword or idea, the person searching could be immediately directed to your post. This means a large amount of exposure for your business and a large audience that never goes away.
How Pinterest Marketing Works
Pinterest users are on the platform to look for creative inspiration, so “pins” can be images or videos that have a link to an online source. The platform runs on content so you don’t need to be a blogger to be successful. In fact, most of the successful people on the site aren’t bloggers.
However, you can use the content posted to link back to a blog post, video, podcast, squeeze page, sales page, or even directly to a product page. Users love the content, but be cautious about the verbiage used so the users don’t feel as though they’ve been tricked if they click on a “how to” post and wind up on a product page.
The Benefits of Using Pinterest
The real treasure of Pinterest marketing is that 97% of the searches on the site are not brand-specific. So, if your content fits an idea or keyword, the user could be exposed to your product and have an open mind about brands, looking deeper into the product or business mission instead.
Pinterest also gives you instant traffic without paying for ads (although you can get paid Pinterest ads which will be discussed later in this article) and the content lives forever!
As long as users are searching keywords that align with your posts, your content will constantly be exposed to new audiences. In addition, it can be automated with affordable tools and the paid ads are much cheaper while also yielding better results than other social media platforms.
Creating a Pinterest Strategy
To create a strong Pinterest marketing strategy, you’re going to want to start at the end and then work backwards. What do you need to sell to the customer? What is your end goal?
Knowing where you’re going makes it easier to find a way to take the user there and will help you create your content. You want to create your own “Sales Funnel”. At the top is free content, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, whichever type of content you will be posting on Pinterest.
Then, after they click on the free content you move to the next part of the funnel, which is leads. This is where you introduce content upgrades such as checklists, cheatsheets, guides, ebooks, or challenges. This will get the user further interested in your business or product, which will bring them to the end of the funnel — sales.
The sales portion of the funnel consists of tripwire offers, email nurture sequences/newsletter page, and continual value. This encourages people to remember your brand and become part of your following.
Advanced Growth Strategies
Once you’ve established a base and content plan for Pinterest, there are three ways to really boost your company’s exposure.
- Tailwind Tribes: This is an online Pinterest software meant for automation of your account, but it has a cool feature called tribes. Tribes is much like a Pinterest group board in that people collaborate and share their pins to the tribe, but unlike the group board, it has data. You can see how many people your pin reached, how many re-pins it has, and how many people in the tribe have shared it. The best part is, Tailwind Tribes is just $10 a month.
- Pinterest Group Boards: The way Pinterest group boards work is that people collaborate and add their pins to a “board” which offers more content exposure for your pin. They do not have data, however, they do have followers that guarantee a certain number of people in your audience seeing your content.
- Promoted Pins: These are paid ads on Pinterest, but they can be as cheap as $5-$10 for an ad. What promoted pins do is supercharge your content, making it more likely to appear when your keywords are searched. This also helps your organic results because with a promoted pin, there are more clicks, which signals to the Pinterest algorithm that users are enjoying your content. Because of this, your company gets boosted up on the site and gives you even more exposure.
The most important thing to remember is that no matter whether you decide to promote or not, include online services or do it yourself, Pinterest still gives you increased exposure for your company and will increase your reach significantly. With little effort or investment, Pinterest is a great addition to your overall social media marketing strategy.
