Pinterest was relatively late to the social media party, launching in 2012 – but hit 10 million users in record time. But how does it work?
It’s a very, very simple concept. You create virtual notice boards for specified subjects and pin digital images to them.
The site works by people looking at what other people have pinned to their boards and then repinning some of their images onto their own boards. This means that each pin board is a combination of original and shared content. Some people only have shared content and rely on having an interesting collection to gather interest.
So how does Pinterest work for marketers?
There are 291 million people on the platform every month – so lots of people looking!
People only see what’s more recently been pinned or repinned on the home page – unless they search. However, that’s exactly what many users do.
Around 80% of users are female and they do tend to use Pinterest as a search tool for products they’re looking at buying. They use it to plan life events, such as weddings, anniversaries, business courses and such like. It’s a great place to gather examples of what you want to include in an event.
It’s also a fantastic goal development tool. People use it to plan décor, workplace equipment, holidays and more.
People shop based on Pinterest. The current stats state that 55% of Pinterest users actively use Pinterest to find the products they want. They use it to find clothes, food, accessories, beauty products, fitness, therapies and more. Put your products or services in visual format and you’ll stand out. Pinterest has proven to be four time more effective at generating sales than other digital platforms.
Infographics are really popular on Pinterest so use a graphics tool like Canva to create useful information relating to your services and you’ll find it spreads throughout the Pinterest community. Remember that you have 500 characters to write a description of your pin – and that will include your website – and you can see how powerful it can be.
Great original pins with a promoted pin campaign can do wonders for your sales.
So start planning some interesting pin boards and make Pinterest part of your marketing campaign.
