Pinterest. Relatively new to the UK social networking field, unless you've kept your finger on the pulse, you might not even know what it is.
However, if your brand is your selling point, or your products are what catches people's attention first, you should know all about 'pinning it'.
Launched in California in 2010, it's taken a few years for Pinterest to really become a force in the maze of social networking - although we should point out that Twitter took a while to 'boom' too. This platform really is so simple and so addictive – hours could go missing just from playing around with this fun, visual, creative space.
A 'pinboard-style, photo-sharing' website which encourages users to share their own images, 'repin' others' photos (i.e. share them) and create their own unique identity, is the best way to describe this platform. Or, we could take Pinterest's own description, “Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organising the things that inspire you.”
This platform is fun to start-up and easy to keep updating – you'll want to update it. So, begin by asking yourself the familiar questions of, “What do you want from your social media presence” and “Who are your audience and what are they using online?”, then, if Pinterest sounds like where you want to spend some time, step in.
Firstly, let us walk you through the basics of using this network and what you'll need to know to make Pinterest work for your business.
Understand the Pinterest language
An image or video posted on Pinterest becomes a pin, this means that anyone can 'repin' and share the picture further. Your pins are all stored on pinboards, the beauty of Pinterest being that you can organise different boards and store your pins however you want. Other users will often 'repin' images they like, and if they like what you post they can 'follow' you. The 'home feed' is the home of your followers pins, meaning you can keep an eye on what they are up to.
Pinterest's main selling points for businesses are what it can do for your brand, audience and traffic. If you aren't sold on using Pinterest, even though these factors should be a focus to improve business, consider these points:
- Brand Identity: Compiling images can portray exactly what you sell, or the kind of business you are, and the 'repin' function means this identity can be shared amongst absolutely anyone. Pin images of your own company/logo/products or repin informative and worthwhile materials that reflect your business, it should all come together in a uniform way to represent you.
- Audience Reach: Expanding your audience network can be done through Pinterest quite easily thanks to the 'shareability' on the website. Being able to repin other items from other users – and ultimately, having them repin yours – allows for a greater amount of people to see your pins and then your page. Remember, Pinterest has a bio section in which a company’s 'about me' and web link can be included.
- Drive traffic to YOU: Consider what you are pinning and what it means to people. For instance, as a business you might have a few boards that reflect your company but then have a few hobby/activity-focused boards – these draw audience figures up. Coming up with pins that are excellent images and have excellent content which 'solve a problem, inspire, offer something desirable or appeal to interest in a hobby or activity' (Social Media Examiner).
A step-by-step image guide to using Pinterest
1. Pinterest has images of everything. Without even logging in you can find an image you require, whether it's a statistical infographic for a presentation, facts and figures you can reference in a document or simply a funny picture of a cat – it's all on there.
2. When you've found your desired image and logged in, you can 'pin it' meaning it goes on your 'pinboards', for your 'followers' to see. Remember, your pinboards can be organised to fit whatever you like.
3. To help you understand the concept of 'boards', this is our 'thrive QUOTES' board, which contains some marketing images of our own.
4. And to get a clue of just how versatile Pinterest is, here's our profile page. You can move boards around and even move pins to different boards, as your profile expands and needs change. At the top of the page you can see our 'bio', so that followers and 'repinners' have the option to find out more about you – meaning increased website traffic.
The added bonus with Pinterest is that it really has considered businesses since launching it's 'Pinterest for Business' platform in 2012, as you can now view statistics about your Pinterest profile. The free analytical web tool makes it easy to see just which pins are working the best to drive traffic to your site.
To summarise, Pinterest is one of the trendier new kids on the block when it comes to social media, but it's easy to use, with great functionality and design - what's more is it's enjoyable, unlike some of the bigger networking platforms can be.
If you are serious about increasing web traffic and audience reach – and you have great images and brand awareness – then it's worth trying, after all you can view your statistics and see if it works or not.
