What makes Pinterest unique?
This question gets asked all the time when it comes to Pinterest. What makes Pinterest unique and how can I use it to market my business?
While many people think Pinterest is for food bloggers showcasing their recipes and DIY crafters inspiring others to create their next projects, it is, and much, much more.
I understand where the confusion lies because not too long ago, I was also confused about how the platform functions when stacked up next to and compared to social media platforms.
In this post I’m answering the following questions to help clarify what makes Pinterest unique and how it can be used for marketing your business.
- Is Pinterest social media?
- Is Pinterest a search engine?
- How can Pinterest be used to market my business?
Is Pinterest a social media platform?
Pinterest looks a lot like a social platform.
There are Pinterest accounts with user profiles and the option for users to become followers.
Users can also comment on pins and engage with content with emojis. All these features make a case for why Pinterest looks very social.
Creator Community
In very recent months Pinterest has also heavily invested in building the Creator community.
This investment includes drawing in exceptional creators, aka creatives, to the platform to share their unique and differentiated content to Pinterest users in an idea driven manner.
The idea behind this new push is to draw existing users to return to the platform and bring new audiences to the platform. Creators are incentivized to create scroll stopping content that keeps users coming back frequently to get inspired by the Creators’ next new ideas.
Pinterest TV
Pinterest rolled out Pinterest TV and the watch tab so that users can access more and more video content from their favorite Creators to stay longer on the platform.
Certain Creators are invited to create on Pinterest TV. Alternatively, the watch tab on Pinterest contains a feed of different idea pins based on the users’ interests.
This sounds very social to me especially since Pinterest is banking on the fact that users will feel connected to the Creator, thus creating community, and continue to support the Creator’s content (by staying on the platform).
Creator equals Influencer
I’ve got a little trick for you. If you swap out the word Creator for Influencer, the new model Pinterest is adopting looks very social indeed.
To take it a step further, an announcement was made in October 2021 that the Creator Hub was being rolled out to all accounts globally. This Creator Hub is where creators can see pin stats and analytics while also having the ability to monetize on Pinterest as a content creator.
The monetization piece is also expected to be rolled out to users.
New feature called Product sticker
Also, don’t forget the new product sticker feature on Idea Pins where creators can add affiliates links to their idea pin content for another monetization opportunity.
Are you convinced that Pinterest is a social platform? Before you get ahead of yourself, in my next question I break down the idea that Pinterest is a visual search engine.
Is Pinterest a search engine?
Pinterest is in fact a visual search engine. The platform was built on the foundation that users would type in a keyword or phrase and Pinterest would serve up visual content to the user based on those keywords.
That translates to being a platform where the users’ search drives what visual content is shown and consumed.
Pinterest SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Just like Google, Pinterest’s customers are the end users.
Pinterest is heavily invested in delivering content that the user seeks by typing in certain words and phrases in the search bar.
If Pinterest brings up content that doesn’t align with the user’s intent, there is a mismatch. The same occurs on Google.
Pinterest wants to provide content that matches the users’ intended search.
When content that the user wants is delivered in the form of eye-catching visuals and video content, the user will stay longer on the platform, which is the whole point.
How does Pinterest make revenue?
Have you ever wondered how Pinterest makes money? I’ve got one simple word for you.
Ads.
Plain and simple, Pinterest makes money through the sales of ads strategically placed in the users’ smart feed.
If you’re thinking, but Sandy, you just said Pinterest is like a social platform and now you’re saying it’s a search engine.
Well, which is it?
It’s both.
This is what makes Pinterest unique.
It’s a hybrid platform blending social features while also being a search engine. It’s like combining two super powers.
Pinterest is changing every day
Pinterest is changing shape and it’s becoming more and more like a social platform built on top of a search engine.
At its core, Pinterest still functions as a search engine.
Yet with the increasing need to generate more revenue to satisfy stakeholders in the business, aka shareholders (Pinterest is a publicly traded company as of 2019), Pinterest must compete for users’ screen time.
That means, the fight for air time must come from using video which TikTok and Instagram has successfully done.
Pinterest is following suit.
And Pinterest intends to bring more users to the platform by doubling down on Creators to create communities that share ideas to inspire transformations in the personal lives of users.
How to use Pinterest for small business marketing
Now that we established that Pinterest is both a social platform and a visual search engine, how can it be used for marketing your business?
I’ve got many ideas on this very subject, but will focus on one key area: awareness.
If you’re not properly set up with SEO, search engine optimization, on your business website, you’re likely not showing up in searches that your ideal customer is performing on search engines such as Google.
That means your ideal customer can’t find you.
This is a big problem for marketing your business.
Pinterest solves the awareness problem
That’s where Pinterest comes in.
If your business website is not optimized for Google, you can be optimized for Pinterest by using relevant keywords in your content.
When your ideal customer searches for those specific keyword terms, your content will be served up to them.
Now, I’m not suggesting you ignore Google.
While you build up your SEO strategy for Google, and wait (it takes a while, like years), you can make traction with building awareness to your business through Pinterest.
Pinterest helps users find your business and learn more about your offers.
AND most importantly, all this can be done organically instead of paying for this reach and awareness.
This makes Pinterest a very powerful and largely untapped business marketing tool that you want in your business toolbox.
Conclusion
With a global audience of approximately 444 million users (according to Pinterest’s 10Q for the third quarter of 2021), you are really missing the mark if you aren’t using this organic source to generate free traffic to your business website.
Now that you’re fully convinced that Pinterest is a marketing channel that you don’t want to miss out on, I’ve got a free resource that will help you along on your Pinterest journey.
Grab this Pinterest Account Checklist that lists out all the pieces you need to get going with your Pinterest account.
If this post stirred up more questions for you regarding Pinterest, please comment below and I’d love to answer.
Southern California based Professional Organizer, Sandy Park, owner and founder of Tidy with SPARK shares her joy of organization with her clients.
She serves clients in Orange County as well as the hundreds of thousands of followers on her combined social media platforms.
Connect with Sandy through her website or by connecting through her social channels.
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Exactly! Pinterest is truly a unique platform!