Pinterest is the most effective social platform for product knowledge and shopping inspiration. If you are in the fashion and beauty, home decor and design, or hospitality and food industry, Pinterest may be the platform for you.
Neustar's research shows that Pinterest is 2.3x more efficient than other social media platforms, 1.5x more valuable than paid search, and 1.1x more efficient than display (Johnson, 2019).
In March 2010, Ben Silbermann, and his friends Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra, launched the social media platform, Pinterest. It is now the eighth largest social media network in the Western Hemisphere, with over 300 million active users.
Silbermann defines Pinterest as a “catalogue of ideas,” considering the primary reason people gravitate toward Pinterest is for inspiration. The virtual pinboard is a popular destination for users who wish to explore over 200 billion products, places, and things – often inspiring a positive and informed purchase down the line.
Reaching The Right Target
According to a 2017 eMarketer survey, Pinterest is one of the most influential platforms for Americans to make a purchase decision, superior to Instagram and Snapchat (eMarketer Inc., 2017). Pinterest resonates with the “deciders” – women between 25-54 who are known to make the majority of purchase decisions in US households.
Comscore, a company that evaluates marketing data across platforms, supports this claim by confirming that 83% of users on Pinterest are of the female gender, between 25 and 54 years old (Carp, 2018). This demographic is “responsible for 80% of household buying and control more than 50% of the wealth in the US” (Hutchinson, 2018).
The “deciders” have a high buying power, with 52% spending more than US$500 on beauty, fashion, or footwear in the past six months. Moreover, 67% of the “deciders” go to Pinterest for brand-centric ideas (Carp, 2018).
Compared to other social platforms, approximately 51% of the female users on Pinterest are reported to be married, 41% have children under the age of 18 years old, and 18% are home-makers. Much higher than Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (Hiebert, 2016).
Start Organically
Publishing content on Pinterest requires a unique strategy that follows particular rules often applied to other social networks. Though, unlike Instagram or Facebook, your audience does not experience an overwhelming influx of content when publishing 10, 20, or 30 items a day.
If an active Instagram user were to publish 10 pieces of content a day, the audience that follows this user account would have a negative experience due to saturation, which can ultimately result in disinterest, annoyance, and lack of trust regarding which content is worth engaging.
Creating a profile full of quality and compelling content to your target will better enable your brand to stand out amongst the masses, and help to build credibility in your industry.
Explore the following ideas to generate a good, insightful profile and invite organic traffic from potential buyers:
1. Create A Business Account
Getting Started
Create a free business profile on Pinterest and have access to specific tools that will help to grow traffic and increase sales, such as analytics and paid ad promotion. When creating a business account, the next step is to claim your website. A meta tag and properly uploading an HTML file to your website’s HTML code is required to gain access to analytics and track content.
2. Create Pins That Engage With Your Audience
Quality Is Key
Pinterest has an algorithm that grants visibility preference to specific media (i.e. images, video tutorials, etc.). Media must be derived directly from a blog, eCommerce, or additional verified platform as a means to decrease the bounce rate.
When you behave like an audience, you will better understand how your product will fit in real life — often resulting in quality and inspirational lifestyle images that are both aspirational and relatable. On average, lifestyle photos get 18% more engagement than product images (Hutchinson, 2018).
Content Ideas
Explore various ideas for creating and producing quality content:
Seasonal events and high holidays are popular on Pinterest due to saving and categorizing capabilities. Pinterest is commonly used to plan, so providing content one month before an event will prove valuable to your service, product, or idea promotion.
Infographics are valuable and engaging — with 9 common variations, the most common comparative, educational, statistical, or timeline-based infographics.
Show Your Product
You must establish trust before attempting to attract and convince users. When selecting images, it is essential to display the product or service alongside real people in everyday situations.
Talk To Your Audience
As if sharing an intimate conversation, it is often valuable to use “you” and “your” when attempting to reach an audience. Analytics will show insights into your Pinterest audience and behaviour, so you can better understand language preference and specific demographic interests.
With a free business profile on Pinterest and a collection of valuable and exciting content ready for sharing, you and your business are steps away from establishing a longterm, memorable brand identity on one of the most efficient and effective social media platforms.
3. Get Your Website Ready To Share
Add the Save Button
Create a save button! Once installed, images and videos from your site are easily shared. Configure the size, shape, and colour of the save button to match your website aesthetic. When an image is shared, you create a viewing channel for content and can experience an increase in website traffic.
Pinterest is often used to search ideas, and as a result, creativity must be at the forefront of your process. From recipes to DIY and how-to videos, the more creative and compelling your content is, the more likely it is to be discovered and shared.
Create Pinnable Content
The following rules contribute to what content is eligible to pin:
Original images as opposed to stock images.
Using a 2:3 aspect ratio with a vertical orientation (e.g. 1,000 x 1,500 pixels). Images larger than 2:3 may appear cropped.
Create images with at least 600 pixels wide, and a rich alt text;
Always use PNG or JPEG images with max. file size of 10 MB.
Use your logo. Be discreet and avoid the lower right corner to prevent any disruption with the Pinterest icon.
Videos that are 6 to 15 seconds long have the best results. A cover frame, simplicity of the piece, and immediate attraction (within 4 seconds) will contribute to success. Try to use text overlays or subtitles to get your message across without utilizing audio.
Pinterest Buyable Pins
Pinterest offers a “Shop the Look” capability that can allow users to master an objective based on tailored suggestions. This feature helps users purchase products or services with just a few clicks without leaving the Pinterest platform. Moreover, users can see what other people have chosen to match the item, giving more ideas on how to use it.
Though this is not a simple task for some, digital marketing agencies will often provide insight and resources regarding the more comprehensive steps that can encourage growth in the form of brand awareness and conversion.
4. Create Search-Friendly Pins
Use Hashtags
Pins require unique hashtag creation and attention in search and rank strategies. A strong title with a detailed description (max. 500 characters) can help, but proper use of hashtags is critical for search. The recommendation is at least 3 hashtags (20 max.) per post. Lastly, Pinterest hashtags can help to boost user-generated content and can exist in various paid campaigns or contests.
5. Be Sociable
Cross-promotion with other brands and engaging with followers are two key components to establishing trust, humanizing your brand, and inviting online activity. Commenting and liking industry or competitive content, and responding to audience remarks will help to ensure authenticity.
6. Create A Unique Experience From Offline To Online
Pinterest Pincodes
Like QR Codes, Pinterest Pincodes act as a bridge between your offline and online products – designed for offline customers to access boards quickly and easily.
“Pinners are already using their Pinterest camera to find visual inspiration and ideas. With Pincodes, now you can be a part of that magic, and use visual discovery tools to connect people out in the world to your specially curated content on Pinterest.” (Jeng, 2017)
With social media capabilities, consumer behavior, and industry trends always evolving, it is essential to unpack each platform to uncover which one is best for performing your unique business objectives. Let us show you how to successfully establish an online presence while maintaining transparency and humanizing engagement.
Uncover essential buyer personas and behaviors, and be a part of the shopping experience first-hand. Explore the many ways meaningful and relatable content can resonate with and reach your target audience on Pinterest.
Speak with an expert today about including Pinterest in your digital marketing strategy.
Andre Havro, MBA