On setting out to write this post, I imagined presenting a balanced perspective: the reasons for and against, and a conclusion that left the decision to you.

But the more research I did, the more I’m convinced that if your business isn’t on Pinterest, it shoud be.

In case you’ve missed the hype, what exactly is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social network that allows people to “pin” visual content to virtual pinboards. Pins are usually categorised and will appear on a feed when the category is searched. Content can be created, shared from the web or “re-pinned” from someone else, and people can “repin” the image to their own pinboard or “follow” you so that your pins appear in their home feed.

Pinterest allows people to discover and save future purchases and inspiration, and to share recommendations with others.

Here are 4 reasons why your business should be on Pinterest.

1.    It’s the fastest growing social media platform. It also has great retention rates.

About a year ago – only three years since it was founded – Pinterest reached 70 million users, and its growth rate hasn’t showed signs of slowing. It also keeps people interested. Of 40,000 females sampled, 84% are still using Pinterest in their 4th year of signing up, AND, even more astoundingly, they’re increasingly active on it.

2.    Pins live and are shared for a very long time (relative to the rest of social media activity anyway)

An average pin will have 50% of its re-pins in 3.5 months. That’s more than 1,600 times longer than a Facebook post. Pins are easy to find long after they’ve been pinned, and Pinterest is designed to help users find content they’re interested in. That means a single pin can continue to build your brand value or even increase sales for months afterwards.

3.    Although Facebook is still king of traffic, Pinterest is now queen.

In a study by Shareaholic earlier this year, social media referral traffic was dominated by Facebook (over 20%). But Pinterest drove about 7.17% of traffic – second place, and growing.

4.    Don’t let the stereotypes fool you, Pinterest is for ALL types of businesses.

Yes, there are a lot of females, wedding chat and recipe sharing. But, if 20% of users are male, that means there are at least 14 million males, who research shows are also more likely to use Pinterest as a purchasing tool. And there are plenty of businesses making Pinterest work for them – from tool sellers to email blasters. Pinterest is all about brands. So even if your business provides a service, you can still use it to drive traffic and create awareness rather than direct sales.

How to make Pinterest work for your business?

There is a lot of advice online on how businesses can effectively use Pinterest. Here are some of my favourite articles: 70 ways to market your business on Pinterest, or if 70 is a bit overwhelming, try 26 ways to make Pinterest work for your business, the 10 commandments of Using Pinterest for business or 3 brand new ways your business can use Pinterest. Finally, the 15 powerful strategies to get more ecommerce traffic from pinterest.

Are you on Pinterest yet? or need a bit of time to think it over?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jo Walker | Content Creator for Executive Support NZ Ltd. Jo is a Psychologist by training and an all-round go-getter! She is a fun-loving traveller and an adventurer who likes to get things done.

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