Every social media platform has its own unique best practices and audiences. Figuring out which ones are best for you and your business will help you focus your social media marketing in all the right ways.
A little background information: Pinterest is a visual social media platform that lets users “pin” images and videos on virtual bulletin boards. There are over 500 million monthly active users, with almost 70% of those users identifying as female. The average life of a pin is around 3 months, which is exponentially longer than the average life of posts on most other platforms.
Unlike other social media platforms that are more about status updates and growing connections, Pinterest is more similar to a search engine. Users search through pins, saving the ones that strike a chord with them. This makes the platform a powerful place for businesses, especially those whose primary audience is women.
Strategy tips:
- Pins work best when they link to blog posts or products. Since Pinterest is essentially a search engine, users aren’t just looking for pretty pictures to save or ideas for a mood board. They’re also looking for information on the best products and advice for their struggles.
- You can (and should!) optimize your pins for better reach. First, optimize your boards by using keywords in their titles and descriptions. Then, use appropriate keywords in the pin’s own description before pinning it to your board. This helps to show the algorithm when your pin is relevant to a user’s search. Now, as to picking the right keywords? That might be another post in and of itself. For now, just focus on keeping the descriptions as relevant as possible to the individual pin and your broader marketing goals. (Update: I made a post about keywords! Check it out here.)
- Pin consistently. The term “consistently” can vary in meaning from platform to platform. On Pinterest, it means adding 1 or 2 NEW pins a day (repinning other’s pins doesn’t count). I mean total pins here, not per each board. Pinning too much can make you look spammy or robotic (or both). Personally, I like to rotate which boards I’m pinning to so that I’m doing it relatively evenly.
I would highly recommend using Pinterest in your small business’ social media marketing strategy. The length of a pin’s life alone makes it a valuable platform. Even if you aren’t capable of posting as often as I suggested, your pins can still make an impact. Also, the users on Pinterest are already primed to buy. So, when deciding which social media platforms that you want to focus on, seriously consider making Pinterest one of them.
All the best,
Ryanne Zender
Disclaimer: While marketing is based in part on statistics and psychology, it is not an exact science. Every business and market are unique. What may work for one business, will not necessarily work for another. There are no guarantees in marketing, and this post is for informational and educational purposes only and does not replace professional advice. You can check out the full list of disclaimers and disclosures here.
