Pinterest is the trendy social network. It is becoming more and more popular and the website has shown the highest growth of content sharing of all social networks for the last quarter. So you are probably asking yourself the same question as most business owners who want their business to grow: is it good for my business? Can this "new" way to share information on the web allow my shop to get more exposure, and by this can it bring me more leads? More business?
As usual we will start at the beginning (it seems like the best way to start): what is Pinterest? Pinterest was created in March 2010, and it is designed to be an interactive online pin board that you can share with your network. The main feature of this media is the button Pin-it, that allows the user to pin on his or her board anything that he or she likes on the Internet by simply clicking on it. It is a very cool concept that grew fast and now Pinterest is part and parcel of the social media scene as well as Facebook and Twitter. According to Reuters and ComScore, Pinterest had 48.7 Million users around the world.
So what makes it so attractive? The concept itself of Pinning some images is not new on the web, but the way that the website displays it is very graphic and visual, which is very attractive to the human eye. Moreover, you can pick your main interests and have pictures related to them displayed in front of you. The interface is very intuitive and very user friendly. This "easy-to-use" aspect allows Pinterest to get users that are usually not at their ease with social media. It makes Pinterest very addictive, which is also a strength for a social network. Users spend hours browsing through all the boards and Pins that interest them, which makes it a perfect tool to engage an audience. Then last but not least, the content posted on Pinterest is very viral. You can repin something you saw with just one click. It becomes even more viral if you linked your Pinterest account to your Facebook and your Twitter.The website also support hashtags, which makes it a very good tool for an online marketing campaign.
Ok that sounds nice, but should I use it for my business? The answer is yes. It is a growing social network that is no too big yet, which could allow you to be ahead of your competition and increase your market share. But to be really successful on this particular networks, there are some main guidelines to respect:
- Your content needs to be graphic. Pinterest is mainly populated by pictures and infographics
- Be original. Cease the opportunity of this new medium to show another face of your business. It will help to humanize your brand and increase your brand awareness
-Entertain your audience. We will never say it enough, the content you post has to be entertaining, fresh to appeal to your audience.
As an example let's take the Pinterest account of Starbucks:
We can see here that even if this page is the page of the famous coffee brand, there are no mention of any of their products on their boards. They choose to pin images that tell a story around the coffee, from cupcakes to coffee pots, but not a single Starbucks bag. And this strategy pays, their Pinterest page as now more than 125k followers.
So if we summarize, Pinterest is the new big thing on the web, regarding Social Media. It is new, it is growing, and the content is viral. What more could we ask for? So it is an opportunity for businesses to increase their visibility and lead creation, but you have to do it right. Be fresh, be creative, be human and take it EZ.
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