Top 10 Reasons to use Pinterest
We often are told by the business gurus to identify our “why”. This is a critically important step in the process of doing just about anything. Ask this question, “Why are you doing the thing?”
Identify your Whys
For me, my why for creating Pinterest marketing content and for why I decided to create a beginner course for online course creators is that I was in the dark about the powerful ways Pinterest brings about brand awareness.
My lack of understanding of how the platform works became a distinct roadblock for me, preventing me from setting up a presence on Pinterest.
This roadblock more importantly prevented my ideal customers from knowing about my business and my brand.
Once I removed the roadblock and began to test different marketing tactics on Pinterest, I started to see actual concrete results in the numbers almost immediately.
These results could not be denied and I realized that sharing this information with others was so important.
Because I know what it feels like to show up day in and day out posting content that I carefully and dutifully created for my audience, to then see it fall flat with little to no traction.
Worse yet, to see our efforts yield no monetary results to help the bottom line in our businesses.
This does not feel good and I know the feeling first hand.
Sharing the power of Pinterest
I could not keep the solution I found as a secret. Others should know that the content we create can have actual longevity on Pinterest.
This is my why. I want to help other business owners develop a marketing strategy on Pinterest so that their content works for them over and over and over again.
Pinterest is a perfect example of work smarter, not harder.
And if I could do it all over again, as a new business owner 2 years ago, I would choose Pinterest, YouTube and Google as my main platforms.
Top 10 Reasons to Use Pinterest for business
- #10: Ideal Customer is on Pinterest
- #9: Pinterest users are learners
- #8: Pinterest is a free marketing channel
- #7: Build brand awareness
- #6: Build email subscribers
- #5: Sell on Pinterest
- #4: Content lives longer on Pinterest
- #3: Repurpose not reinvent
- #2: Link to URLs (that you own)
- #1: Pinterest is a search engine
Reason #10: Ideal Customer is on Pinterest
Your ideal customer is likely on Pinterest, searching for the very thing that you offer. If you don’t believe me, take a look at these statistics on who is on the platform.
The gender breakout consists of the following:
- 72% female
- 22% male
- 6% Unspecified
The age breakdown further shows that approximately 83% of users on the platform are younger than 50 years old.
- 18-24: 21%
- 25-34: 39%
- 35-44: 18%
- 45-49: 5%
- 50-54: <5%
- 55-64: 8%
- 65+: <5%
To add more color and context to the mix, Pinterest has also identified that 45% of users in the United States have incomes in excess of $100K. That means that large percentages of users are high income earners.
Reason #9: Pinterest users are learners
Monthly active Pinterest users come to the platform to find something specific.The specificity of that search is because it’s driven by some action the user wants to take.
Users want to take on a new project and try something new because they are open to a new experience or learning. Pinterest users are learners and that drives how they use the platform.
The user comes to the platform, searching for a specific topic, then saves relevant pins that align onto their boards. The ideas are then accessed when the users are ready to take on the actions presented in the pins.
Reason #8: Pinterest is a free marketing channel
Not interested in spending your money on advertisements just yet?
No worries, because Pinterest is a solid place to start your organic marketing efforts.
While there is an option for paid advertising on the platform, you can get started right away posting organically for free. I love this because it’s exactly what I did to grow my brand awareness on the platform.
My growth has been 100% organic traffic in the nine months that I have been on Pinterest. My exact experience is an excellent example of how a free marketing channel can yield real results with a proven strategy.
Reason #7: Build Brand awareness
I’ve touched on this a few times already, but it warrants a deeper mention here.
Pinterest is the perfect platform to build brand awareness. Pinterest’s smart feed showcases your content to those who have expressed interest in the subject matter. As your content is paraded before your idea customer, this is an opportunity for your stellar and relevant content to become a pin click.
This action signals that the users’ interests are piqued and they are interested in taking a closer look. This is brand awareness. Your content is served up to your ideal customer in this exact way leading to an opportunity for connection between your brand and the users’ desires to learn more about the pin.
Reason #6: Build email subscribers
Once your ideal customer learns about your brand and your business, the user generally doesn’t stop there.
Humans are naturally curious and that curiosity takes on a journey where the user will likely head to your Pinterest profile to see what your account is all about.
With further interest, the user will take a look at your other pins to develop a well-rounded picture of your brand. As the user navigates your profile and pins, your calls to action to join your email list will drive the user to take further action.
I teach this specifically in my Pinterest course and it’s a strategy that I apply in my business today which drives hundreds of subscribers to my list on a monthly basis.
Reason #5: Sell on Pinterest
Selling on Pinterest was a mystery to me until I tried it for myself with success. Yes, you can directly sell on Pinterest.
In fact, it’s an ideal platform to sell because the audience is there to learn ideas and they are willing to make an investment to bring those ideas to life.
As the user is inspired to recreate your idea, they want to purchase the same products. The user is primed to buy on the platform.
Reason 4: Content lives longer on Pinterest
If you are a business owner you must lean in to the idea that you’re also a content creator. The two go hand in hand in this digital world that we live in.
While this may be true, it’s also true that content creation takes time and effort especially if you aren’t outsourcing this task. If you’re going to create content for your business you want that content to live as long as possible on all your marketing channels.
Compared to other social networks, the content you put on Pinterest has a longer lifespan. This is literally music to my ears! During my time on the platform I have experienced this to be true. My content has a much longer life on Pinterest and I know this because I have tested the theory many times over and have the analytics to back it up.
Using one piece of content, I posted the same asset to multiple platforms. This test yielded varying results. While the content went viral on all platforms, it had the longest life on Pinterest. This is not by accident.
The content you put on Pinterest has the potential for a much longer life. We are talking months to years rather than hours and days.
Reason 3: Repurpose not reinvent
Since you’re reading this post, you might not yet be posting on the platform, which means you are likely posting on other social media platforms.
I encourage you to use existing pieces of content, and repurposing them for Pinterest. You’ve already created the content so take just a few more steps to reimagine the content, respecting the differences of the platform (ideal image size, ideal video size, etc.) and post the content to Pinterest.
Repurposing content saves you time in the long run and it’s like stretching your dollar. Get a bigger bang for your buck on the content you create. There is just no need to reinvent the wheel here.
As a busy business owner, or a solopreneur like me, being efficient with our time and efforts makes a huge difference.
Reason 2: Link to URLs (that you own)
All other social platforms are stingy with the linkable URL.
While you want to link to your main website, there is still a lot of different content that you would like to share with your ideal customer that has a different URL. On Pinterest the opportunities to add your destination URL are truly limitless.
Each pin (standard pin and video pin) has the option for a linkable URL. This is a huge benefit of using Pinterest because the platform allows users to navigate away from Pinterest in favor of learning more about your specific pin.
With each pin you have the opportunity to lead your ideal customer to your services, opt-ins and offers.
Reason 1: Pinterest is a search engine
The number one reason why you should be using Pinterest to market your online business is that Pinterest is a search engine.
Pinterest is becoming more of a social network, but it was built on the idea of being a visual search engine. Like Google and YouTube, the platform’s foundation is to serve up search results based on specific keywords.
As a user types in a specific set of keywords or keyword phrases, Pinterest’s algorithm brings up all relevant content that matches to those keywords. If done properly, those pieces of content that Pinterest returns matches the intended search that the user wants.
This is why keyword research is critical for creating content on Pinterest. Think of it like the secret sauce the binds your content to the ideal audience.
Conclusion
After reading this post, if you weren’t convinced before, I hope you are fully convinced now of the true power of Pinterest!
It is a powerhouse platform that can transform the course of your business when applying a strategic approach with your content.
Take my experience as an example.
I leaned into the platform just nine short months ago and using my organic strategy I grew brand awareness from 31 to over 200,000 (and counting) followers to date.
You can learn more about my journey and what I did to get these results here.
Want to apply my strategy to your Pinterest account? I’ve got a free resource to help. Please click on the button below to grab my Pinterest Account Checklist.
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.