Why Your Business Should Be on Pinterest

Though it may not yet have the number of visitors that sites like Facebook and Twitter possess, Pinterest is quickly growing in the social media marketplace. And with a very targeted audience and growing user base, the potential payoff is why your business should be on Pinterest.

Pinterest Growth Story

While being new to the scene, Pinterest is the website to reach ten million users the fastest. Pinterest offers a specialized market, with members posting to boards much like cork boards in a community area. Pinterest really lends itself wells to images and inspirational messages. A typical board may contain recipes, travel destinations, new fashion, and craft and design ideas.

Pinterest makes it easy to share items on your pinboard with other users. So not only is Pinterest growing, individual and business boards can grow in popularity and gain followers.

Even better is that Pinterest users are largely female, a demographic not always so easy to reach online. More than 80% of Pinterests users are currently female. And we know who holds the purse strings in a household.

How to Use Pinterest Effectively

For a business, these pinboards can be a great way to promote goods and materials as well as interact with customers. The site is very visual driven, which means you get a chance to show your products, customers or employees. By breaking up your own promotion by sharing an interesting photo or message, rather than just posting a wall of your products, you can earn goodwill with your customers.

It will also earn your more followers who regularly check your board. Pinterest users are smart and can recognize self-serving boards and learn to avoid them.

Use Pinterest to Build Your Brand and Network

Marketing on other sites can be elaborate and costly, but with Pinterest, you can promote your business merely by making solid connections. By following the popular users, you can get your own company’s board noticed. And you can do all this for free.

Additionally, Pinterest has recognized very early on how important it is to connect with other social media sites, expanding your exposure beyond the realm of Pinterest itself. Your Pinterest pins could appear on Facebook or Twitter, should someone like your pin and choose to re-post it to friends.

Businesses may also be able to host a contest through the use of Pinterest. Contests have long been one of the tried and true methods of promoting a business, and that remains true even in the Internet age. By hosting a contest that can award free goods or services, your company can attract new customers and generate interest in your Pinterest board and your business, itself. You can also get a lot of shares and attention, if done properly.

How Does Pinterest Make Money?

Pinterest can be a fantastic way of promoting your goods, but you should be aware that it does not come without a price. The site can make money by adding its own affiliate link code to pictures and then they can get a commission for a sales made generated through the image link. Some have accused Pinterest of skimming off the top of transactions users make.

Though the commission percent is generally low and will probably not outweigh the benefits of using the site, you should be aware before you begin using Pinterest for your business that this is a practice.

Pinterest is another social network that should be on a business’ radar. People are drawn to visuals and the ability to “pin” your favorites to what is essentially an online pinboard and easily share them, is what makes Pinterest so popular.