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| Pinterest Business use Still Minimal (photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net) |
Yesterday I decided I would participate in
a webinar on Pinterest. I have to admit,
before yesterday I didn’t get it, didn’t want to and had enough on my plate, actually several
spinning plates, that I didn’t need to add one more social media platform to my
already crowded set of dinnerware.
Really… who wants to see a mish mash of
photos of someone else’s favourite products?
I went for a walk just before it started and didn’t rush because I was
still averse to the idea of being part of the herd. What a
bunch of lemmings, I thought. But, I
couldn’t ignore that it had quickly entered the top three most used social media platforms and as a professional communicator, I could no longer resist. So, I signed up for Melanie Duncan’s
‘How to use Pinterest for your Business to get Traffic and Customers,” hosted by Carl White of Social Marketing Animals.
I was late, but fortunately there were
still spaces (it was being capped off at 1,000 participants). Melanie’s infectious enthusiasm drew me in
immediately. I plugged in my headphones
(which is what I do when I really want to pay attention and capture absolutely
everything being said), pulled out my webinar notebook and with pen poised,
prepared to be wowed.
Pinterest's Practical Business Uses
Melanie didn’t disappoint. Even before the end of the session I had
linked to the sales page and jumped on the bandwagon. I’m not usually an impulse buyer but she
convinced me that there was a very practical business use to Pinterest for both
my clients and me.
There are so many I couldn’t
write fast enough, which is why I had to become a member of the Social Marketing Animals group (I'll let you know how it goes).
My 5 Big Take Aways
·
Businesses can use Pinterest
for consumer research. Duh! A simple
search will show you what other people have re-pinned from your boards, what
products of yours have been pinned by others and which ones are most popular.
·
Pinterest is highly search
engine friendly. So, in the 200 words in
the about section, which appears at the very top of your page (just like
Twitter), you should use keywords as you would in any of your online marketing SEO. And,
you can use either your name or your company name.
·
Make sure you write captions
for all photos using key words again.
·
Create an infographic. Apparently they’re the most viral and
collected forms of shared content on Pinterest.
·
The hottest type of content are
How To’s and Tutorials but create a visual to pin and then link to the content on your blog or website (you can even pin a video from YouTube)
As Melanie put so succinctly, “Clarity
always wins in marketing. If they can’t
figure out what you’re all about in 10 seconds, they’ll leave.” A picture paints a thousand words,
right? So, why didn’t I see this
before? Oh well, better late than
never. However, according to Melanie,
“Businesses are just starting to do it and there are very few doing it right.” So, I guess I’m still slightly ahead of the
curve. One more thing… you have to be
invited to participate.
Are you using Pinterest? How’s it going for you? Here's a little taste of the Power of Pinning.
Comments
Interesting post!
I joined Pinterest awhile back, but could not work out what I was meant to do, and lacked the patience to find out. Thought it was another five minute wonder!
After reading your thoughts I think I will revisit with more patience :)
Anne