With its $11 billion valuation and roughly 110 million monthly active users (MAUs), Pinterest is very much a social media contender even if it doesn't have a "drama a day" like some of the other networks.
Pinterest's relatively low-key business model isn't as flashy as Snapchat's or as fluid as Twitter's, but its platform continues to attract a high-value demographic (women in high-income households who regularly make decisions based on what they discover on Pinterest) as well as release features to help companies with their acquisition goals. Keeping in mind these strategies will help websites of all types benefit from the referral traffic and even direct sales Pinterest can drive.
Chances are a marketer has a personal account they may pin to occasionally (or regularly) or a dedicated "board" where they post content related to their companies. With Pinterest's ongoing efforts to monetize its platform, however, individuals will want to create or migrate to a business account in order to take advantage of the new insights, suggestions and opportunities that the network provides companies. For those who aren't sure whether they are pinning to a business account or not, they can find out here (likely after they reset their password if it's been awhile).
Employees are often a company's best advocates. Getting staff members involved in the pinning of content is a quick way to build "boards" to either re-engage Pinterest followers or create a more robust page so that when "fans" do discover a company's profile, they are impressed with the amount of relevant content rather than turned off by all that it's lacking. It's likely that select employees will enjoy spending a nominal amount of time each day "pinning" to a company's boards.
One of the best content strategies is having users create and share material for a company as people would rather see information (e.g., articles, infographics, products, reviews) from their friends or respected peers than a brand. Website owners would be wise to install an easy-to-implement Pinterest widget within their sites and apps so that visitors can easily post their material to Pinterest.
Pinterest can be an afterthought for many companies - particularly ones not in retail, like information publishers. By installing a browser extension, however, content creators can keep Pinterest top of mind and save articles or infographics they recently published to Pinterest - and without taking more than just a few seconds to do so. That said, since Pinterest relies on visuals, information publishers will want to make sure they have at least one large image within an article so that the extension is able to pick up a graphic that will display nicely within the Pinterest search results and on the company's boards.
Throwing money at something that one is unsure of is not a smart marketing strategy, of course, but with the ability to control ad spend on Pinterest, promoting a pin there is a good idea to try for extra awareness, engagement and traffic. Retailers with business accounts on Pinterest should definitely consider promoting pins before and during the peak holiday season. Likewise, a local service provider would want to promote pins during their busy seasons as well, like an A/C contractor during the summer months.
The time is here for retailers who have yet to take steps to sell directly on social media to do so. Since prospective customers are already spending most of their time online within apps, retailers will want to consider adding Buy Buttons to their pins. What's more these calls-to-action are also now available on the Web, along with a Pinterest "shopping bag," which allows buyers to save the items they intend to buy even when switching devices. If a retailer's website isn't yet capable of remembering a customer across devices, then promoting the ability to do so on Pinterest is an easy workaround until that capability can be added after the holiday season.
What's more, some ecommerce platforms are making selling on Pinterest easier than ever. Bigcommerce, for instance, natively supports selling on Amazon, Facebook and Pinterest from a single interface. This means any product pinned from a Bigcommerce store will automatically become a Buyable Pin, with no need to create additional listings.
Savvy marketers go out of their way to report on "wins" made from the use of social media marketing, but - like Facebook - Pinterest has a variety of analytics to evaluate within the platform itself. Every website can get an idea of what content is performing well, how impressions are being made (e.g., original pins or re-pins) and more, like how their save button is working to create more impressions and traffic. Anyone serious about social media marketing needs to track the success of their efforts. Additionally, brands may want to consider creating custom URLs within Google Analytics if they are sharing content that is gated once a person clicks through. By doing so, enterprises can see how their goals are being met from the network (e.g., whitepaper downloads, sign-ups, etc.).
From information publishers sharing their content to retailers promoting their products to service providers showing off their work, there is a place for everyone on Pinterest. The goal for all sites should be to actively share on Pinterest and invite others to do so as well, in order to organically build a following and be present when people are searching for queries relevant to them. The referral traffic is ready to be had, if brands go ahead and take it.