Pinterest has been emerging slowly for a while, since its early beginnings in 2009. In the last couple months however, the website has exploded with a burst of new members and has gone viral. Users of all ages are pinning their favorite colors, cars, swimsuits, decorations and food. Pinterest is addicting, and people love it.
But let’s back up for a second—we’re business owners and professionals! We don’t have extra hours to spend re-pinning pictures of kittens! While this is certainly true, one of the core practices of a successful business is being where your customers are. And with over 12 million users and growing, Pinterest is quickly becoming one of those places.
Using Pinterest for Business
There are only a few types of businesses that can use Pinterest very successfully—the “visual social network” niche simply doesn’t work for many industries. For instance, we have a Pinterest account here at Smart Solutions, but it’s not something that we expect a lot from. People aren’t as interested in “pinning” the kinds of things that our business sells, as much as they would a retail business.
Furniture shops, art galleries, clothing stores and travel businesses are perfect candidates for using Pinterest for business. Any website that is visually oriented would be ideal for this new social network. If your business fits into that category, you need to be on Pinterest.
Pinterest Marketing
As with Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest works best if you’re connected to a lot of people—and the right kind of people. Follow people who have boards related to your industry. Comment on their pins, and re-pin—it’s the ultimate compliment to be re-pinned on Pinterest.
Stay away from only posting your own pictures. As a general rule, you should have at least two non-promotional boards for every promotional board. Make sure you stay active, too! Pin several new pictures from your website each week, and check in once a day to make sure you’re keeping up with your followers.
Most of all—keep it fun. People love Pinterest because it’s fun to look at cute pictures and get away from the usual humdrum of the day. Play into that feeling with your boards!
So now it’s time to get started! There’s no time like the present to get started on marketing your business! And don’t forget to follow our Smart Solutions Pinterest to hear about more posts like this.
Not ready for Pinterest yet? Keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin!