While Pinterest is usually lumped in with other social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook it is not one in the same. Often overlooked and undervalued, Pinterest is an amazing discovery platform that can help scale and grow your business. While there are tons of benefits that a Pinterest account can do for your small business, we will dive into five that I find to be the most impactful. It is amazing what a properly managed Pinterest account can do to grow and scale your business.
Website Traffic
Starting with the most important groundwork to an online business, website traffic. Basically, with every visit to your webpage, you increase your chances of connecting with potential customers and them interacting with your content. If that means reading your post and sharing or purchasing a product, it is a crucial step in growing your online presence. How Pinterest helps with this is that with every pin that is created, there is an option to include a URL that can direct users back to another website. Giving them direct access to more information on the pin they clicked on; being a blog post, landing page, or link to where they can buy your product. This helps your brand be discovered by someone who may have never found it before. With over 450 million monthly Pinterest users, your business’ webpage gains the opportunity to be discovered and visited by a vast amount of people.
Brand Cohesion
A key difference in Pinterest compared to other search engines is that it puts a large emphasis on visual content. The grid format encourages pins to be eye-catching and visually pleasing while still providing valuable content. This allows you to control the appearance of your pins and helps with brand recognition. It’s no secret that people enjoy pretty things, so why wouldn’t you extend that to your online presence? Giving your brand a unique and exciting look to grab the attention of potential consumers creates a more complete brand cohesion. Having a similar design to all your pins allows people to connect it back to your brand and helps strengthen the consumer relationship.
Email List Growth
Piggybacking off of your increased website traffic, this gives businesses an opportunity to grow their email lists as well. By including a URL in your pins, this drives traffic to your website where you then have control over the user experience. Including a relevant opt-in and call-to-action within the linked page can encourage the user to sign up to your mailing list and we all know how important a mailing list is. Giving your business a direct line to the people who are interested in your idea and can lead to growth and sales, while also providing invaluable feedback.
Organic Reach
While the amount of organic reach in social media may be dwindling, that is not the case for Pinterest. This platform strives on organic growth, essentially through the sharing and re-sharing of pins. In comparison to Instagram, it focuses on discovering something new and exciting rather than following those who you know you already like. This allows for user’s pins to be discovered and “go viral” without having a large following. Pinterest focuses on content that people find interesting and valuable, which drives users to save and share these ideas, creating an organic web of free advertising.
Search Engine, Not Social Media
A huge misconception people have when it comes to Pinterest is that they lump it in with other social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. While there is a social aspect to Pinterest, that is not their main goal. Their focus is on discoverability, making Pinterest more like a search engine, such as Google. It is also not a popularity contest, since it is not technically a social app, the number of followers is not as important as the content that is being published. So, looking at Instagram compared to Pinterest, the number of followers drastically influences the reach your post will have. This is not the case for pins, with the correct SEO and strategy, they have a much higher chance of being discovered by non-followers. People commonly go to Pinterest to browse and search for inspiration, rather than search for a specific item or brand, allowing there to be a more level playing field in your pin being discovered.