Pinterest has emerged as a powerful marketing platform, driving significant traffic and sales, particularly for niche retailers like Etsy. Its efficacy in the realm of marketing is undeniable, making it a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. Whether you view Pinterest as a time-consuming distraction or a treasure trove of opportunities, its marketing potential is undeniable. Let’s delve into why you should consider incorporating Pinterest into your marketing strategy.
Why a Pinterest Marketing Plan Deserves Your Attention
Pinterest’s marketing prowess is evident in its ability to generate more referral traffic for some websites than even the social media giant, Twitter. Before we proceed, let’s examine some noteworthy Pinterest marketing statistics and facts:
- Pinterest boasts a predominantly female user base, with women constituting 90% of its users.
- A significant portion of users, 21%, have made something they found based on what they found on a Pinboard.
- The platform’s most popular categories include Home (17%), Arts & Crafts (12%), Style/Fashion (12%), and Food (10%).
Pinterest for Businesses: Beyond Retail
While retail stands out as the most apparent beneficiary of Pinterest, given its visual nature, the platform holds immense potential for businesses beyond the retail sphere. The key lies in showcasing images that highlight the desired outcome of using your product or service. For instance, if your business revolves around lawn care, seeds, or gardening supplies, consider pinning captivating images of vibrant flower gardens, bountiful fruit trees, and other picturesque representations of the idyllic outdoor spaces customers could achieve with your assistance. In essence, you are selling them a dream! When leveraging Pinterest for marketing, your objective should be to ignite a thought process in the viewer’s mind through compelling imagery. Encourage them to ponder, “How can I achieve this? How can I create this? How can my space resemble this?” Once you’ve piqued their interest, guide them on how to translate that visual inspiration into a tangible reality. Pinterest as an advertising platform: For many businesses, Pinterest ads and Pinterest video ads present a lucrative opportunity. This is particularly relevant considering 98% of Pinners have embraced new products or services discovered on the platform, and a staggering 85% rely on Pinterest as a valuable resource when embarking on new projects.
Pinterest Marketing Strategy: The Appeal of the Craft & DIY Section
One challenge with the “selling the dream” approach on Pinterest is that a single image can evoke a multitude of interpretations. To illustrate, let’s consider an image of a sailboat I recently came across on Pinterest:
While the intent behind pinning this image might be to awaken a desire to purchase a sailboat, my interpretation leaned more towards the allure of seafaring adventures and exhilarating vacations rather than boat ownership. Although images are often regarded as worth a thousand words, you lack control over the specific narrative they convey, unlike other online marketing avenues like PPC, where you have the power to select precise keywords to target your audience. Moreover, you relinquish some control over the user journey after they encounter your image. While some might follow the original link to its source, others might simply be inspired by an image of a flower bed and initiate a Google search for “flower seeds.” To gain further insights into an image’s journey on Pinterest, you can explore the details below the image itself.
Pinterest Marketing Ideas: The Power of How-To Tutorials
The ambiguity surrounding user intent diminishes significantly when you delve into the DIY Craft section of Pinterest. Here, users’ intentions are more transparent – they are actively seeking to create something tangible. While there’s a possibility of encountering budget-conscious individuals who might prioritize spending hours crafting a necklace from old ties over purchasing one, there’s also a high probability of engaging with an audience that thrives on creativity, experimentation, and possesses an unquenchable thirst for crafting adventures. As an avid crafter myself, I’d like to believe I belong to the latter category, although it’s likely a blend of both. By providing these crafty souls with the necessary tools and materials to bring their artistic visions to life, you’re tapping into a receptive market. To effectively engage this audience, consider crafting instructional how-to images. Drawing inspiration from the immense success of YouTube tutorial videos, the same principles can be applied to Pinterest. For instance, imagine you own a business specializing in handmade jewelry, but you also offer jewelry-making supplies. Creating a tutorial image demonstrating the process of crafting a beaded bracelet could be highly effective. Strive to develop a comprehensive step-by-step guide adorned with clear, vibrant, and visually appealing images. These image-centric tutorials, often referred to as “instructographics,” represent a specialized form of instructional infographics. A meticulously crafted tutorial is advantageous as it allows for the use of a longer image, commanding more prominent real estate on Pinterest. Here’s a prime example:
As you conclude the image, remind viewers that they can acquire the necessary supplies by following the original website link. Incorporating a logo or a concise web address within the image is also advisable, ensuring users can easily locate the source even if they encounter difficulties finding the original URL.
Upon clicking the link, Pinners will be directed to your website. At this juncture, it’s paramount to emphasize the importance of relevancy. Similar to PPC campaigns, where alignment between keywords and landing pages is crucial to ensure users find precisely what they’re looking for, relevancy remains paramount on Pinterest, with your image serving as the keyword. In the context of our example image, your aim should be to guide viewers to a page dedicated to jewelry-making supplies, specifically those required to recreate the bracelet featured in the Pinterest image. To reinforce their confidence that they’ve arrived at the right destination, consider displaying the same image on your landing page. If you also sell finished jewelry pieces, this presents an excellent opportunity to showcase other bracelets and necklaces you offer, particularly those with intricate designs that might be challenging to replicate. However, ensure that any additional offerings don’t overshadow the primary reason Pinners are visiting your site – to purchase the jewelry-making supplies.
Cultivating Brand Identity Through Pinterest
Beyond product promotion, Pinterest serves as a valuable tool for shaping your brand identity. If you already have a well-defined brand persona, browse through Pinterest and identify images that resonate with the lifestyle you aim to project. When you find a match, pin it! For smaller businesses still in their growth phase, take the time to define your ideal customer and the personality traits that would resonate with them. If your business revolves around rafting expeditions, for example, pinning images of outdoor adventures and rugged landscapes would align with your target audience’s interests. The key is to curate a visual experience that reflects the aspirations and desires of your desired clientele.