5 Reasons you Should be Using Pinterest for Your Business
If you are anything like us, you are worried about the idea of using Pinterest as a marketing tool for your business. Our thought process was something along the lines of ‘Another platform to stay on top of, even more time spent in front of the screen, and more content to be created… Noooo, we can’t justify that!’, and I think we’re right in saying that you’ve been telling yourself the same?!
After seeing our business consultant (we have one, and so should you!;) we took the plunge and set up a Pinterest account, and in just under one month on the platform we’ve made some interesting discoveries.
1. Pinterest drives traffic (and lots of it)
Did you know that Pinterest creates back-links to your website, which in turn drives more traffic? In fact, it is more effective at steering traffic back to your site than any other social media platform!
This will of course rely on good content, which you do by creating quality visuals. We are in the process of adding a large amount of content to our Pinterest profile, but have so far seen an increase in website traffic despite not yet having posted any generated content. How? We have simply built a few boards with pins (pins are in many ways the same as your posts on IG or Facebook) of other account’s posts as inspiration for all Pinterest users to enjoy.
2. Pinterest converts browsers into buyers
In a way, Pinterest is a visual search engine used for research or inspiration. And that’s exciting for you, because visitors led to your website from Pinterest are more likely to convert from browsers into leads or sales faster than on any other form of social media! This is because the platform helps reduce the number of steps from discovery to conversation, making it easy for people to get straight to the source.
Did you know:
- Pinterest is one of the largest website traffic drivers in the world
- In 2012, many considered Pinterest to be one of the fastest growing websites in history
- Pinterest is 80% more viral and 3x more effective at generating leads than Twitter
3. Pins get you more inbound links
All pins posted includes a link, which leads back to the source of the image. So every time someone saves your pin to one of their boards, they have shared a link to your website. What this means is that you can generate an awful lot of traffic by posting curated content once!
The user engagement on Pinterest is also seriously high, as users are happy finding and sharing pins with groups of people, again making your Pins more likely to be seen and for new audiences to stop by your website.
4. Pinterest integrates with your website, Facebook profile and Twitter account
Whether you are a fan of cross-platform posting or not, this enables users to automatically post new pins to their news feeds for others to see. Again, this creates links to your website, and your content is even further.
Psst: Some web design agencies will advise you not to have social media feeds displayed on your website. Whilst this is a valid point with respect to load time and that you don’t want visitors to leave your site by clicking on content that takes them to a different platform, we advise you to make the images on your site shareable on Pinterest. Why? Again, let’s get those looking at pretty images to help spread your content far and wide for free!
5. Content that lasts is content that converts
Perhaps unknown to you, but there is a lifetime of social media posts. Considering the amount of time you spend on curating content, considering this may very well shift how you view your social platforms all together.
Twitter: 18 minutes
Facebook: 5 hours
Instagram: 21 hours
Youtube: 20 days
Pinterest: > 4 months
The reason the last two (YouTube and Pinterest) have a longer life span than other platforms is simply due to both being search engine platforms. And hey, we are not saying that after 21 hours your image on Instagram can’t be viewed by your visitors, but that these hours is your prime opportunity for generating leads and/or be found by new potential customers. Considering that Pinterest posts will continue to deliver for 4 months and beyond, you will perhaps reconsider adding your business to this platform?