Pin Your Way to More Business

“Pin” your way to more Business!

You may have heard about a new social media channel called Pinterest, and you likely rolled your eyes and thought, “Just what I need…another social media fad to take up more of my time.”  In reality, Pinterest is rapidly becoming another great avenue to promote your business and build your brand.

A few facts about Pinterest that might convince you to start pinning:

• Pinterest drew 23.7 million first time visitors in February alone (up from 3.5 million in September)
• Pinterest is ranked by Experian Marketing Services as the third-most-popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter.
• Approximately 70% of Pinterest’s users are women – studies have suggested that 85% of household decisions are made by women.
• 21% of Pinterest users have purchased products after seeing them on the site.
• Lowe’s reports a 32% jump in followers on their Facebook page after incorporating Pinterest.

Get Started on Pinterest

Currently Pinterest is invite-only, so you will need to request an invitation to become a member or have someone who is currently a member request membership for you.  Go to www.pinterest.com to request your invite.

Set up categorized “boards” relevant to your business.  While the site is for pinning things that interest you, try to keep in mind that you want to interest your clients and potential clients.  Just like all social interaction, you want to provide value messages that inter-mingle with promotional messages for your products or services. 

Engage Followers

Follow, Like, Comment, and Re-Pin are key words in Pinterest.  Start “Following” other Pinterest users (typically this is reciprocated) and interact with them.  Interaction comes in the form of “Liking” or “Commenting” on their “Pins” and “Re-Pinning” content.  In my opinion, the most valuable interaction is the “Re-Pin” – this translates to a referral.  When someone re-pins your content, they are telling all of their followers “this is valuable and worth looking at.”  How cool is that?

What to Avoid

Don’t be a one hit wonder.  Use your account often to introduce specials, cool products, and ways to use your product or service.  Become an influencer by being active, involved, and by providing content of value.

Pinterest has also recently changed their terms of use, so be sure to get educated at www.pinterest.com/about/copyright.  Once you have an understanding of what you can or can’t use on Pinterest, have fun growing your brand and business!