Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to discover, save, and share visual content they find inspiring, helpful, or entertaining.
How to use Pinterest For Business
Pinterest can be a powerful tool for businesses. It can help to increase brand visibility, drive traffic to your website, and ultimately, increase sales. Here’s how you can use Pinterest for your business:
- Set Up a Business Account: Start by setting up a Pinterest business account. It’s free and provides access to additional features such as Pinterest Analytics and advertising options.
- Create Boards Relevant to Your Business: Create Pinterest boards that are relevant to your business and your target audience. For example, if you own a fashion business, you might create boards for different types of clothing like “Summer Fashion”, “Formal Wear”, “Winter Coats”, etc.
- Pin High-Quality Images: Make sure the images you pin are high-quality and visually appealing, as Pinterest is a highly visual platform. Each Pin should link back to a relevant page on your website (like a product page or a blog post) to drive traffic.
- Use Keywords and Hashtags: Use relevant keywords in your board titles, pin descriptions, and even in your business profile to make your content discoverable. You can also use relevant hashtags in your Pin descriptions.
- Engage with Other Users: Follow other relevant businesses, engage with their content, and participate in group boards to increase your visibility on Pinterest. Commenting on pins and answering questions can help build relationships with potential customers.
- Promote Your Pins: Consider using Pinterest’s paid advertising options to promote your Pins and reach a wider audience. You can target your ads based on demographics, interests, location, and more.
- Measure Your Success: Use Pinterest Analytics to measure your success. It can help you understand which Pins and boards your audience likes, what they save from your profile, and how much traffic your site gets from Pinterest. Use this information to refine your Pinterest strategy and create more of the content your audience enjoys.
- Use Rich Pins: Rich Pins provide more context about an idea because they show extra information directly on a Pin. There are four types of Rich Pins: app, product, recipe, and article. These pins could include real-time pricing, stock availability, ingredient lists, etc.
Remember that success on Pinterest, like any social media platform, takes time and consistent effort. Regularly update your boards with fresh content, engage with your followers, and always be optimizing your strategy based on what works best with your audience.
Comparison Between Pinterest and Other Social Media Platforms:
Pinterest, as a social media platform, is unique in its function and design. Here’s a comparison with some of the other popular social media platforms:
Pinterest vs Instagram:
Instagram focuses on sharing photos and videos, often revolving around an individual’s personal life, interests, or a business’s behind-the-scenes content. Pinterest, on the other hand, serves as a discovery platform where users search and save ideas or ‘Pins’ on different topics to refer back to later. Instagram content is more ephemeral, especially with features like Stories that disappear after 24 hours, while Pinterest content is more evergreen.
Pinterest vs Facebook:
Facebook is a broad-spectrum social networking site where users can post comments, share photographs, post links to news or other interesting content on the web, play games, chat live, and stream live video. Pinterest is more specialized, functioning as a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. Pinterest lacks the personal networking aspect of Facebook but has a stronger focus on topic-based content discovery.
Pinterest vs Twitter:
Twitter is designed for the rapid exchange of ideas and information in short, succinct posts called “tweets”. It’s often used for news dissemination, real-time discussions, customer complaints, or brand engagement. On the contrary, Pinterest is built for more in-depth content, focusing on visual discovery and long-term planning (like planning a wedding, home remodel, or a vacation), and its interface is heavily reliant on visuals.
Pinterest vs LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform where users can showcase their professional skills, experiences, and network with other professionals. Pinterest is more consumer-focused, revolving around hobbies, DIY projects, fashion, exercise, recipes, and more. The purposes of these two platforms are significantly different.
Pinterest vs YouTube:
YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can upload, view, share, and comment on videos. Pinterest also allows for video sharing and viewing, but the platform isn’t primarily designed for this purpose. Instead, it’s more focused on image-based Pins with links back to sources of further information.
Pinterest vs Snapchat:
Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app where users share short-lived content with their friends. Its primary features include stories that disappear after 24 hours, filters, and augmented reality (AR) lenses. Pinterest, however, serves as a catalog of ideas with more permanent, lasting content.
Here’s How it Works:
- Signing Up: To get started, users need to create an account. They can do this through their email or by linking an existing Google or Facebook account.
- Home Feed: Once a user has an account, they’re presented with a customized home feed. This feed is populated with Pins (content pieces) based on the user’s interests, activities, and people or boards they follow.
- Boards: Users can create thematic boards for various topics (like recipes, fashion, home decor, etc.) and save related Pins to these boards. Boards can be personal or collaborative, where multiple users can pin items.
- Pins: A Pin typically consists of an image or video and a description. Clicking on a Pin will often lead to the source website for more detailed information. Users can save Pins to their boards or share them with others.
- Search and Discover: Users can use the search bar to find specific content or explore categories and trending topics to discover new ideas and inspiration.
- Interaction: Pinterest also allows users to like, comment on, and share Pins, similar to many other social networks.
Conclusion:
While all these platforms fall under the umbrella of ‘social media’, each serves a distinct purpose and has unique features that differentiate them from each other.