Small business owners can have fun using Pinterest to make their social marketing a more visual experience. Not familiar with Pinterest? No problem.
In simple terms, Pinterest is a giant virtual Pin board where people go to share ideas, photos and videos they find on websites across the internet. This method of sharing is called “Pinning”, rather than Tweeting or Posting. People who use Pinterest to Pin images and videos to their Pin boards are known as “Pinners”. Every Pin board has a theme and the Pins on that Pin board tell a story showing how a product in that theme can enhance, enrich and even transform a consumer’s quality of life.
Pinners can Pin other Pinners’ pins. (Say that ten times fast). People can comment on Pins and the Pinner can comment back, creating another social space for conversation. Pins can be shared on Twitter and Facebook greatly expanding the number of people seeing and responding to products and services from our businesses.
Pinterest has developed Product Pins which give the consumer information on price, availability and purchase location. The great thing is that clicking through on a Pin can lead back to the e-commerce site and/or brick and mortar location of the business. There is no way a consumer can get lost trying to track down those lovely throw pillows she now wants to buy. Business owners can use the free Pinterest web analytics to determine which pins on a website get the most traffic. And the Pinterest Pin Count tool shows the Pin count on a specific site page or blog post. There is also a handy downloadable how-to guide with best practices for business owners.
And Pinterest isn’t just for women anymore. Men are actively Pinning from Pin boards set up by such companies as Men’s Health Magazine and the National Hockey League. Small businesses selling brands that appeal to men might want to look into the number of ways Pinterest can help them reach their target audience.
Etsy is also a great example of a unique company using Pinterest to their advantage. They are effectively promoting their own brand by Pinning the stories of their 800,000 storefront owners who are small business entrepreneurs. One of those entrepreneurs, Ivy Lane Designs,is a successful one woman business using Pinterest and Etsy in combination with her Blog. Large brand or small, companies are using Pinterest to their advantage.
The power of Pinterest for business is how it allows us to create a story around our brand rather than a hard sell. We can have fun with it. By engaging consumers through visual creativity, we allow them to imagine the story of how our brand of shoes would carry them comfortably along the cobblestoned streets of Venice, Italy. Or maybe the way our line of custom furniture would look in their living room against the backdrop of that “perfect paint color” we offer. And think how lovely their wedding day will be designed around our flowers, our photography, our cake, our clothing, and our honeymoon destination. All of these items can be chosen from Pinterest. Imagine that.
Pinterest is where people are visually telling their life stories in the form of Pins. As business owners we have ample opportunities via Pinterest to connect to those life stories by showing how our products and services can enhance them. This is how a social media site such as Pinterest differs from traditional advertising venues. It’s a place where we don’t have to chase down consumers, because they’re already there looking for us. And they’re eager to see how we can make their stories come to life. Got Pins? Show us!
