Is Your Business Pinterest Material?

There's a great deal of excitement around getting accepted into the new imagery social network called Pinterest and it's tempting for Rainmakers to want to be where everyone else is going. Many brands — including retailers, hospitality providers and consumer packaged goods — have found a place on Pinterest. However, the social platform has a policy about keeping the platform a marketing-free content zone. So leveraging Pinterest has to be a well-planned initiative for businesses, carefully selecting the type of content to post. And there should be an end game strategy. Thus far, those brands catering to mature female consumers with unique, visually-stimulating images have had the greatest success. If you're just getting started or have limited resources, understand that curating beautiful images can be a full-time job. Intuit published a great infographic to help businesses figure out if Pinterest is right for them. If you're thinking about your business joining Pinterest, follow this guide to help decide whether it’s the right decision for you.

Pinterest Means Serious Business

Source: smallshopstudio.com
 via Jessica on Pinterest

At first glance, the new Pinterest "pinning" platform may seem like a peripheral channel for rainmakers, but if your target market is women between the ages of 25-44 (a group that makes up more than 60 percent of Pinterest users) and you market unique, visually appealing products in the fashion, food, crafts or bridal business, your brand should create a Pinterest profile and begin engaging in the platform. Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate, and discover new interests by posting or “pinning” images and videos to virtual pin boards.ting them on personal pinboards. Retailers benefit from utilizing a “Pin It” share button on product pages within their current e-commerce site. In its first year, large retailers like Nordstrom claimed to receive more traffic to their site from Pinterest than Facebook. Before you begin, understand that developing or curating photography is time consumming. Pinterest etiquette also states it's not a place for self-promotion, so brands need to be creative, play by the rules in order to be effective. Here is a list of useful tips on how you can join the more than 250 brands already on Pinterest:

1. Think creatively and envision how you'd like others to experience your brand.
2. Use Pinterest as an effective focus group by collecting information about your following to get insight on your target consumers.
3. Use as a great crowdsourcing tool by encouraging followers to post photos of themselves at events or experiencing your products.
4. Brand to consumers by encouraging employees to help you build inspiring pinboards about what your company means to those who work there.

5. Create pinboards based on core keywords already used in your current website SEO strategy.