Pinning and Winning: The Key to Pinterest Marketing Success

As the latest and greatest social media platform, Pinterest now has users perusing photos and products for hours every day. With more than 11 million users, Pinterest creates an incredible opportunity for businesses to market their products and inspire brand recognition.
The successful use of Pinterest can result in higher site traffic, greater sales, increased marketing success and better public relations opportunities. Businesses can even further their Pinterest marketing success by linking their Pinterest account with other social media platforms and encouraging others to “follow” the account.
When using Pinterest as a marketing tool, some marketers may overlook some of the useful pieces in the Pinterest marketing puzzle. Generally, Pinterest has three main components that can be used by a business for marketing purposes:

1. Virtual Bulletin Board with User Information
This is the perfect opportunity for branding. A username, user caption and user photo is then associated with the profile. Businesses should attempt to maximize the marketing potential of the user information by using their company name, logo and tagline. Since this user information is associated with every post, the importance of the provided information should not be overlooked.

2. “Boards” with Organized Pins
While the Pinterest boards may not appear to be a useful marketing tool, they may actually help to provide implicit information about the pins. For example, if a business wants to showcase unique uses of their products that may not be readily apparent, the business can establish a posting board titled “Creative!” This allows the user to focus the content of the caption on other relevant information.

3. Photo with Caption
This is the most obvious marketing element of Pinterest. Digitally-savvy businesses may want to pin photographs that link to their websites. Users can also provide links, tiny URLs and trending topics in the caption. The photograph should be unique, worthy of re-pinning and, most importantly, drive traffic to the business website. Witty captions, Internet memes (objects of interest) and great photography are good methods of promoting pins.

Pinterest also adds an element of public relations for the business and its marketing. Apart from marketing products and services, businesses may find value in marketing and advertising other aspects of the company that may spur sales and inspire brand loyalty.

For example, if a small grocer specializing in local produce wants to encourage people to shop locally and support local businesses, the grocer could make a pin board dedicated to their community and local efforts. The business could promote their philanthropic efforts, market weekly specials on local produce, link to articles featuring local farms and more. The idea is to think outside the marketing box, drive traffic and create interest.

While the potential marketing and public relations benefits of Pinterest are endless, there are also common mistakes that could result in an unsuccessful venture. Spam, boring content, a lack of business promotion and high expectations can truly hinder the marketing success of a business.
First, businesses should never participate in spam-like behavior. This includes posting multiple uninteresting images of coupons, marketing a pin as something but linking to something unrelated, or writing captions with keywords that are unrelated to the pin. While it does not necessarily violate terms of service, the tactics are less likely to provide sales leads and may even result in negative publicity.
Second, do not be shy about marketing your product. Many small businesses may feel this is showy or pretentious. However, the purpose of the site is to create interesting content and drive traffic. Under utilizing the true marketing power of Pinterest is a grave mistake. Businesses should feel confident about promoting their content and products.

Finally, do not overestimate new customers and do not expect immediate success.
As with any marketing technique, patience is necessary for success. Pins should be refined, sales should be analyzed and marketing tactics may need to be revised. Success, however, should never be expected to be immediate or easy.

Additionally, Pinterest has a relatively small base of users (when compared to Twitter and Facebook) from a relatively predictable demographic. If your product or service is outside the interest of current Pinterest users, which are primarily female, you may need to consider alternative marketing techniques to drive success.