In the age of Social Networks, it can sometimes seem overwhelming to be informed about the entire Social Media ecosystem, which networks form it and how they work. In this ecosystem, one of the networks we find is Pinterest, one of the most used. However, don’t worry, it is normal that you wonder what Pinterest is, what it is for and how it works. In this article we explain all the keys for you to begin to understand what Pinterest is and learn how this Social Network works so attractive for eCommerces.
Table of contents
What is Pinterest and what is it for?
Pinterest is a Social Network launched in January 2010 by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. It currently has more than 300 million active users. The majority of its audience are young women, with higher education and urbanites.
The central function of this social network is to find and share new ideas in a completely visual way, i.e. through images, videos and other content such as infographics. In such a way that users can save this visual content that serves them as inspiration, wish list or as educational and valuable content.
How does Pinterest work?
Using Pinterest is very easy. Once you’ve signed up, you need to complete your profile. This includes updating your profile image, account description, location and website. If you are a company, the ideal is that your profile is Pinterest for businesses, this action is completely free and will bring you very useful new features, such as analytics and an ad manager within this Social Network.
Pinterest is a very intuitive Social Network, you will quickly see that you simply have to create “Boards” where you will be able to go saving “Pins”, ie this visual content in the form of image or video. That’s where the name comes from, Pinterest is nothing more than your “Pins” of “Interest”.
The boards can be both public and private. If you are a company, I recommend that you create a few public ones where you will be uploading quality content that is representative of your brand identity. Remember that when you upload this content, it is very important to complete well the title and description of your new Pin, as well as including a destination link, very interesting to increase clicks to your website.
As you know, within the Social Media strategy, planning is essential. Pinterest is not far behind and allows you to schedule your new publications.
How to make pins:
- The first step is to go to the + sign and select “Create Pin”.
- Then you have to upload an image or video.
- Fill in the title, description and destination link correctly.
- And that’s it! You can publish it immediately or schedule it.
Now what?
If your Pinterest profile is personal, make the most of it, create all the boards you want, some you can leave them public, they will be useful to other users. Others can be private, normally users use them as inspiration in different areas (clothing, decoration, lifestyle, etc), another common use is as a wish list, gift ideas list, infographics on topics of interest, etc.
The behavior of a profile on Pinterest for businesses should not differ from that of a normal user, remember that although your use is corporate and much more planned and studied, ideally do not forget to interact with other user profiles and companies: comment on pins, save them and share them. The same illusion that makes you happy when your content is appreciated, will make others happy!
“In Social Media, create community, always”
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Pinterest?
As you can see, Pinterest is a Social Network that offers many advantages, but like everything, disadvantages exist, let’s see what these strengths and weaknesses are.
Advantages of using Pinterest
Once you start using Pinterest, you will realize the many advantages it has. We tell you the main ones here:
Increasing your reach
You will be using one more channel, which, in the case of improving your personal brand or for your company, will serve to increase your reach, especially if your target is close to the majority of users of this network, which as we said above, are young women, educated and urbanites.
Customer service
Pinterest is not the social network par excellence for customer service, but it certainly does not lose that functionality, and let’s not forget that one of the functions of Social Media is to be close to your customers, help them and learn from them.
Very visual Social Network
We are in the age of images, and being able to tell your customers what you want in a visual way is smart and practical. Make the most of this feature and don’t neglect the aesthetic aspect.
SEO advantages
Whether Pinterest has an audience close to your target or not, it is true that it is an ideal tool to be able to increase traffic to your website, in addition to improving your positioning in search engines like Google.
Increased sales of products (and services!)
If you are going to use Pinterest for your personal project or you are going to use Pinterest for a company, you are going to be able to increase your sales. For this it is important to make a correct strategy and never forget to link each product or service to your website.
Possibility of advertising on Pinterest
As we have already mentioned, this functionality is great and with a professional management of the campaigns, the increase in your conversions can be spectacular!
Disadvantages of using Pinterest
It’s not all advantages, of course. Pinterest also has some disadvantages that can be a challenge to overcome, but possibly serve to strengthen your Social Media strategy.
Very specific target
The fact that Pinterest has a very specific target complicates things somewhat, especially if you don’t get very close. But don’t worry, a good Social Media planning can make the most of this Social Network.
Very visual network
Yes, we have mentioned it as an advantage, but we can also see it as a disadvantage if you have trouble creating original and quality visual content. Analyze well your strengths and weaknesses before you start creating a strategy on this Social Network and do not forget that original and valuable content is a must nowadays.
How to take advantage of Pinterest for businesses?
As we have seen above, people who are asked what Pinterest is, will answer that it is their “idea drawer”, where they save images or videos that inspire them or they will also use it as a “wish list”. This gives us clues on how to leverage Pinterest for businesses, especially eCommerces.
Sell more
Since these pins that are saved are linked to a website, it’s ideal that that website allows you to buy the product featured in question, right? Therefore, many users can directly access your online store via a Pinterest pin containing that product or save it for another time, on their inspiration board, wish list, etc. This is great because you are going to increase traffic to your website and therefore the likelihood of conversion.
Create brand image and position your website
On the other hand, infographics are the star element since Pinterest originated. They serve to communicate ideas quickly and of course, to create brand image of your own company and link to your blog, better positioning your website.
Of course, if you are an eCommerce, Pinterest will help you to create a visual identity when you upload your products (remember, well linked) to your boards, but don’t forget, valuable content is ESSENTIAL, don’t just upload your products. Be creative in your Social Media strategy, don’t just think about infographics, try to innovate as much as possible. For example, if you are a clothing store, why don’t you create a public board with outfit ideas with your clothes?
Collective boards
Another feature that using Pinterest will give you is the ability to create and share collective boards with your employees. For example, if you are an advertising agency, one idea is to create an inspiration board for a specific project.
Conclusion
Pinterest is a very interesting visual social network, with many years in operation and with a well-defined target. Learning how to get the most out of it is something to take into account within the Social Media Plan, especially if you have an eCommerce.
do you already have a profile on this social network? Tell us about your experience in the comments. Don’t forget to share this article if you found it interesting or save it for later.
You can also watch the video here:
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