By now, most small businesses understand the importance of having a strong social media presence online. Not only does social media help to engage customers, develop brand identity, and improve SEO, it can also provide significant referrals to your website. If there is one social media site that businesses should be looking into, it’s Pinterest. More than just a site to find new recipes and wedding decorations, Pinterest is now turning into a valuable marketing tool.
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an image-based social media platform that allows users to find and save “visual bookmarks” called pins. Like a virtual vision board, Pinterest is a place for people to store images and information from around the web that they find entertaining, inspiring, and helpful. Many businesses are now discovering that they can engage potential customers in new ways through Pinterest’s focus on sharing visual content.
Should My Business Have a Pinterest Account?
Of the major social networking sites, Mashable reports that Pinterest is the second-highest driver of traffic to publishers behind Facebook. A business with high-quality and interesting images on their website can benefit greatly from having a Pinterest account. When a user pins an image from a website onto Pinterest, the pin automatically has a link to the source. This makes it easy for Pinterest users to find your website through an image that was pinned from your site.
For medical practices looking to expand their social media influence, Pinterest is an ideal platform for cosmetic specialties such as dermatology and plastic surgery. While other specialties can also utilize Pinterest, the inherently visual nature of cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery practices makes it easier to build a following and gain referrals.
How Can Pinterest Impact my Marketing Strategy?
Because of the interest in Pinterest from companies, the new social media powerhouse is now making it easier for brands to engage with potential customers on their site. With Pinterest for Business, companies can track analytics and access tips and resources for increasing engagement and maximizing their account. And while Pinterest is free to use, it recently introduced sponsored pins from companies who are willing to pay a large price to tap into Pinterest’s main demographic.
According to New York Magazine, Pinterest has an estimated 40 million active users. While this is nowhere near the number of active users on Facebook, Pinterest users are mostly comprised of women in their twenties and thirties, a demographic that has serious buying power. With the power to drive traffic, increase brand awareness, and target key demographics, a Pinterest account is poised to be an important element of any effective social media marketing strategy for businesses big and small.