For Pinterest fans, this could literally be a love story. This site enables the creation of everything from stunning cakes to innovative organizational ideas, and it’s also become many people’s favorite way to waste enjoy time off. Pinterest is fast becoming one of the top competitors in the world of social media, but it focuses heavily on beautiful and visually appealing elements of life and style.
Pinterest, like the others social media platforms, has also earned the attention of businesses around the world, but it can be one of the most difficult to get to, and used well. Despite the potential pitfalls, Pinterest is also a huge driver of traffic to individual websites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Often businesses have concerns about spending time and resources on Pinterest, and many of the same questions are being considered, including:
- Is Pinterest only for B2C purposes, or can B2B businesses use it?
- Is this site primarily for female consumers?
- Are only product-based businesses finding Pinterest useful?
When to Avoid Pinterest
It’s true that B2B and service-based businesses can use Pinterest, but not all of them. There are some businesses that won’t be successful—for example, if you sell highly specialized industrial products. You have to consider your target customer, and whether or not they will use Pinterest. Even if you create an account that’s fun, entertaining, and engaging, and maybe not even directly related to your business or product, it won’t do you any good if the consumers you’re targeting don’t see it.
In fact, your target customer base is one of the best ways to gauge whether or not Pinterest will work for you. Are you targeting mainly men or women? What age group is your desired demographic? What is the income level of your main customer? These are all things you might need to consider with Pinterest, which aren’t as important on other sites as Facebook and Google Plus.
Pinterest, like others social media sitesit does take time and dedication to see results, so it’s important to really think about how it can benefit your business, and whether the necessary allocation of resources is worth it.
How to Effectively Use Pinterest
If you consider Pinterest to be an important part of your social media and marketing tactics, there are several ways to take advantage of virtual pinboards.
- Use your creativity. Too often, businesses only use Pinterest as an opportunity to share their own products and services. Think beyond your direct offering, and be inventive with what you embed. For example, if you own a restaurant, pin recipes you find interesting, or information about local foods.
- Add incentives for your followers. Everyone loves coupons, and that seems to be the case for Pinterest fans, so promote your business by posting great coupons.
- Use a combination of interesting and valuable images and content. Pinterest is all about visual appeal, so it’s important to keep this in mind when creating content. Users need to be interested in the content you provide, for it to have any impact.
- Educate with your Pinterest account. By providing educational information, you are not only providing useful content to your followers, but you are also establishing yourself as an authority in your industry.
Future Pinching
Regardless of whether or not Pinterest is a good fit for your business, it is undeniably important in the world of social media. Even if you don’t think your business is Pinterest material at first glance, if you have the time and resources to stay creative and think creatively, you may have a place on Pinterest.
