By now you may have heard about the hot web property receiving well-deserved attention in social media circles. Introduced in 2010, Pinterest is an image-based social bookmarking site that allows users to collect and “pin” content in a digital scrapbook of sorts. The visual format of the site is proving wildly popular with users, resulting in a 4,000 percent increase in traffic in the fourth quarter of 2011 and a new spot as a top ten social site according to Hitwise. By finding the right way to utilize Pinterest for your business, you may just find the site makes a positive impact.
Pinterest resonates strongly with women in the 25-44 age group and interestingly, is most popular in the central United States. From a business perspective, it has demonstrated tremendous reach, driving more referral traffic to third party sites than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
While the site works best for visual products, consider sharing content that relates in less overt ways to your business. Example: A wine store might share wine pairing recipes, inspiration for event planning, and gorgeous mental vacation photography. In this way, the pins stay relevant to the product, but avoid hard selling to prospects.
Another idea – consider using Pinterest to access consumer intelligence by analyzing the frequency with which users interact with certain products featured in the platform. By doing this, the site becomes your own low-effort focus group.
To get even more mileage out of this new hotspot, try hosting contests within the site. Land’s End recently encouraged users to create pinboards featuring their products for a chance to win gift cards. Not only did the contest engender an increase in brand loyalty, it also flooded Pinterest with Land’s End products and site links at no cost to the company.
By all appearances, Pinterest popularity is going to increase exponentially in the coming months. Make sure your business is well positioned to take advantage of the boom.
