Leveraging Pinterest as a Marketing Tool

Beyond extending their reach, brands can now easily connect with customers (and at a faster rate) while gathering feedback to make changes that benefit to their users and leads. While “the big 5” usually crowd the stage, there is another site that marketers are starting to use that’s proving to be unexpectedly effective: Pinterest.

How is Pinterest being used as a marketing tool to help businesses sell products?

Pinterest has become the customizable and creative outlet for people to showcase their interests, style, and taste. It’s allowed users to create their own brand and drive traffic to their boards by sharing images with others to “Pin” or save.

But, this network doesn’t have to be a strictly personal one. Brands have began experimenting with strategic, visual marketing use cases to reach people and get the word out about their business, who they are, what they offer, etc. There is a misconception that Pinterest is not an valid medium for B2B marketing, but data suggests that it has major potential and has proven to be a powerful component of a diverse brand marketing strategy.

Pinterest By the Numbers

• “Pinterest is just for moms” is a false statement -- 1 out of 2 U.S. millennials use Pinterest every month

• 1 million businesses are already using Pinterest to reach their customers

• ⅔ of all pins represent brands and products. 73% of pinners say that content from brands makes Pinterest more interesting and useful

• 61% of pinners, after seeing branded content on Pinterest, have made a purchase

• Pinterest helps delivers solid marketing ROI and bolsters engagement

Using Pinterest for Marketing 

Before creating a board for your company, it’s best to plan out a strategy that will align with the goals and objectives that you’re looking to set. Here are a few tips to use when using Pinterest for marketing:

1. Create boards that have high value keywords in the title.

Pinterest has deep and highly refined search capabilities. When using keywords in your title, ensure that a category is selected for each board to help users easily find them.

2. Use vertical images for your boards.

Edit your images to match the platform you’re using them on! That’s true for every platform, but especially so for Pinterest. Vertical images should be used to take up the correct amount of space so that users will be drawn to your board.

The dimensions will vary by image size, so make sure you’re referencing guides like PicMonkey’s in order to perfect your pin sizes:  

• Square pins: 600x600 pixels

• Short pins: 600x900 pixels

• Medium pins: 600x1260 pixels

• Long pins: 600x1560 pixels

3. Link back to your website.

Each pin you post to your page can be linked back to your brand’s website. Links can be added in the description of the pin and/or in the source for the pin.

4. Share your Pinterest board on other social networks.

Sharing your Pinterest board on other networks will bring more traffic to your website. Take advantage of one your social profiles that has more followers and greater engagement to spread the word and help build your Pinterest audience.

5. Create Collaborative boards.

Collaborative boards will allow you to share with groups of pinners, meaning it can potentially be seen by a larger audience. Try joining boards that are similar to what you’re marketing or boards that have the same kind of style you’re looking to gain some inspiration from.

But remember - never pretend to be a user! Always identify yourself as a brand.

Ahh, Now Your Page is Looking “Pinteresting”...

Pinterest is more than just a largely undiscovered marketing goldmine. It can act as your company’s whiteboard for future strategy, as well. Using this platform will help you generate ideas, visualize data, create shareable, and cross-team planning spaces.