Is Pinterest Right For Small Business?

If you’re like most small business owners today, you want to know the best way to reach your target market. And being the savvy individual you are, you’ve probably noticed the wide variety of free social media platforms and are probably wondering which one is the best for you. Facebook and Twitter tend to be the most obvious choices, but there are so many more options out there! One that is often overlooked and can be an incredibly helpful tool for small business owners is Pinterest.

Pinterest is the brainchild of Ben Silbermann and co-creators Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra. A self-described “visual bookmarking tool”, the site was launched in beta on March 2010 as a way for users to discover and save creative ideas.

How does it work you ask? The long and short of it is this, when you find something interesting or inspiring online, what do you do with it? Write it down? Bookmark it? Email it to yourself? Print it out? Pinterest consolidates all of those methods. When you see something you love you simply pin it (like you would on an actual cork board) and Pinterest saves every single thing you’ve “pinned”. You can create Boards for specific interests. For example: weddings, vacations, recipes, etc.

Now depending on your type of business, there can be many benefits to using Pinterest. The most important benefit for all businesses regardless of type lies in the network’s incredibly simple, visual nature. It is estimated that 65% of the world’s people are visual learners and this is a real sweet spot for Pinterest. This site allows you to grow your brand and connect to potential clients through pictures and videos, rather than through words.

While Pinterest is a visually driven social media network, consider cross promoting from your other social media channels whether they be visual in nature (i.e., Instagram) or not. This will only increase your brand’s visibility. Also, think about adding the Pinterest browser button to the browser you use most often.  Similar to the share element for Facebook and Twitter, this feature allows users to pin an image directly from a website to their own Pinterest board, even if the image/website does not have a “Pin It” button. This will allow you to pin ideas from similar businesses, clients, or just things that make you smile.  Also, don’t forget that Pinterest is at its very nature a social media site. You can increase your brand visibility by making connections, which can be done by following other businesses or individual users. Another way to increase your presence is through consistent use and also categorizing your keywords and phrases. You can do this by using your account daily if at all possible and utilizing hashtags and keywords.

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