How To Use Pinterest For Your Ecommerce Business

Once your business is set up and is running efficiently, the next logical step is to think about how to grow the customer base of your company. In today’s digital age, if you do not have a social media presence, you are missing out on valuable potential customers.

Whenever we discuss social media, the names which crop up are social media giants such as Facebook. Another slightly lesser known name but which is already creating waves is Pinterest.

Even though most people may classify Pinterest as a social media network, but essentially Pinterest is a visual bookmarker on the internet. It provides a platform to its users to save images and the links of the things they like on the internet.

Below are some strategies to harness the growing influence of Pinterest to help grow your business:

1. Get Introduced To a New Demographic Base:

With around 200 million monthly active users, Pinterest is a place to find a different category of the customer base. Females and millennials are the primary active users on Pinterest. However, a significant percentage of new users are males. If your business is selling products which are targeted towards this customer base, then Pinterest is an exciting platform to be in. Make sure to post Pins which will attract your targeted customer base.

2. Using Pinterest Provided Features Effectively:

(i) What sets Pinterest apart from other social media platforms is that Pinterest is a very effective visual platform. Arranging your Pinterest board strategically yet in a visually pleasing way is very important. For example, keep the name of your board to a maximum of 20 characters so it doesn’t get cut off. In case of multiple boards, consider keeping boards which you want to be featured (such as during holidays and Sales) in the top row of the grid.

(ii) To let users easily access you back from their Pinterest account, consider adding the hover “Pin it” button on the images of your products on your website.

(iii) Use special types of Pins such as Promoted Pins, Buyable Pins and Rich Pins to increase the visibility of your products and brand on Pinterest.

(iv) In order to get more referral traffic, link back Pinterest pins to their original source.

(v) Create Group Boards and invite others to contribute to the Boards.

3. Consistent Posting of Content:

As with any other social media platform, content is the key. Updating your boards and adding Pins consistently is important for creating an effective customer base. Users should have something new to come back to your Pinterest page. For example, if you have a big Sales season coming up, start posting Pins well in advance to attract customers to your Pinterest page.

4. Take Care of The Images:

Nowadays, most of the people access web content on their mobile devices as compared to desktop and laptop. Hence image optimization should be considered while posting the images on Pinterest. Mobile devices come in many sizes. So users should be able to view your posted images comfortably on their devices.

5. Naming is Also Important:

Take care to name your images thoughtfully. Use keywords and popular phrases while naming your images, so that they show up in the user search. Include hashtags. Quote comments from events related to your area of interest. Make your boards more discoverable to others.

6. Engage, Collaborate, Influence:

Make sure that you use Pinterest not just for marketing your brand but also for engaging with your customers and other users. Repin other interesting Pins. Organize opinion polls and quizzes to get users interested in your product and brand. Collaborate with influencers on Pinterest. Follow other relevant but non-competitive boards or accounts. Ask your customers to Pin your product or brand on their pages and tag you. You can then Repin these images on your Pinterest Page.

7. Don’t Forget to do Some Good:

Not only your business but Pinterest can also be used as a very effective tool for showcasing your CSR initiatives. It increases your visibility and at the same time, increases the brand value of your business, by helping you to show the humanitarian part of your company. Indirectly it also helps to increase the trust factor of your company.

8. Use as a Research Tool:

Pinterest can also be used as a good research tool. Check users who follow your Pins, to find out, what else they are pinning and following. You can also keep track of the most Pinned images and boards on your Page. Use the information to stay ahead of latest trends in your business area.

9. Unleash The Full Power:

Create a business account on Pinterest and get the benefits of additional features such as Pinterest Analytics, Pinterest Advertising, etc. These features will allow you to understand your customer base in a better way, which in turn will help you in creating and posting better Pins and boards on your Pinterest account.

Now, you can easily sync your ERP, CRM, Ecommerce Store, Marketplaces, Shipping and POS Systems to automate the business process!