By Elleke de Leeuw

Pinterest is a new social network (almost 3 years old); it is a place where people gather and socialize online. And it is a place where people can organize and share images of things they find and like on the Internet. What I noticed myself is that it likes to become a trend to share images online, for example, on Facebook or with Instagram. People share pictures of things they like, see or experience. What Pinterest did, is that they have capitalized on this by providing an image and video social network where everybody can create and share images of things that they like and things that are inspiring to them but also images of  products- all sort of things. Pinterest is a place where you can organize these interests and also connect them to other social networks like Facebook or on Twitter.

But why would Pinterest be the right social media for a (small/starting) business? And, more important, should Pinterest be parti of your marketing strategy? I believe it does as it can creates traffic to your own website. It is always hard to let people find your website and your products. The question is how to get your target audience to your website? According to research done by Shareaholic’s Referral Traffic Report Pinterest is more effective in driving more traffic to your website as Google+, YouTube and LinkdIn together. With a good working social media marketing plan it is important to be where your target audience is. So… If your target audience is female- keep reading this post, as 60% of Pinterest users is female.

Make your Site Pinteresting
There are a few ways to grabs peoples interest via Pinterest. For example when you add the ‘pin it’-button to any image on your own website, when other people ‘pin’ images from your site you are also building awareness among other peoples followers and not just relying on the (few) followers of your own. The ‘Pin it’-buttons can be used by each image on your website- (product) photo’s or video’s.

How to use the ‘Pinteresting’ Gift section 

Another strategy is to get your pins in the gift section. This could be the perfect spot for retailers; it is the spot where people can shop for products on Pinterest. When people click on the image they will immediately go to your website where people can buy your products (traffic to your website). But not everybody knows how to get his or her products categorised in the gift section. Here is how: All you need to do is writing down the price in de “Description” of your ‘pin’ and a banner with the price will automatically be placed in the left corner of your image. Now your pin will be searchable by price in the gift section on Pinterest. The ‘newest’ products/pin’s will automatically appear on the top of the site as older post slowly move downwards.

So there is no need to wait for followers like you do on Twitter or Facebook. Via Pinterest it is easy to get your products out there on the web and create more traffic to your own website. National and international.

So… What are your thoughts about Pinterest? Do you believe in Pinterest as a Social Media marketing tool?

Blogroll:

1. How your business can benefit from Pinterest 

2. How to integrate Pinterest into Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Word count: 594

By Elleke de Leeuw/ 1600469

Group members                              Twitter ID                                Class

Elleke de Leeuw                                    @Elleke_de_Leeuw                 B01

Olaf Nagtegaal                                       @OlafNagtegaal

Rachael Steward                                    @ICM_rachael

Jess White                                              @JessyICM

Biggy Zahn                                              @BiggyZahn