Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
The often-overlooked channel for marketing visual brands
In this month’s Threesides blog, we’re talking about Pinterest, social media’s long-lost cousin that rarely gets the attention they deserve at a family gathering. As the 14th largest social network in the world, beating its chatty uncle, Twitter, the platform boasts 478 million users a month (as of quarter 1 of 2021) who are out searching for inspiration, ideas and eventually, finding the products and services they’re looking for through this visual search engine.
It’s not uncommon for clients to put a platform like Pinterest on the backburner. Some assumptions about the platform suggest that it is too time consuming and doesn’t lead to quick, easy leads. Let’s breakdown some statistics about Pinterest that might challenge those assumptions.
Some statistics to start
97% of top Pinterest searches are unbranded. Why is this positive?
Because customers are searching Pinterest in their inspiration or discovery phase of their next project idea or purchase, without necessarily thinking about brands first, but rather inspiration first. This gives a brand (or business) the opportunity to use beautiful imagery, video, and graphics to create awareness about the brand, when customers aren’t sure where to go first.
According to Pinterest surveys, 85% of Pinners say Pinterest is where they go to start a new project. This creates opportunity to get in at the very start of their search, especially brands whose visual assets are representative of their products and/or services.
Lastly, the audience reach for Pinterest advertising is over 200 million users; a large portion of potential customers that can be reached through interactive, dynamic visual content that is “consumable” on pin boards and within Pinterest digital communities.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Target the right customers with Pinterest Advertising
With automated targeting, demographics breakdowns such as age, gender, location, and language and “act alike” audiences ensure you are finding the right customer for your brand. Pinterest ad formats include visual-first formats like Standard photo pins, video, shopping, carousel, and collections.
With the high engagement, reach and traffic that Pinterest generates, advertising on the platform can be affordable for small businesses and the insights provided can help plan your next campaign.
In a standard advertised pin, you’ll find an image, description, title and click through link that directs to your landing page or website. This is especially beneficial for brand-forward ads with logo, text and product features. Once a user saves a Standard Pin to a board, the “Promoted by” label disappears, making it organic and allowing the pin to gain more exposure at no cost.
How to use Pinterest for your brand
How to use the platform effectively and get more of the right customers with engaging, visual content:
- Use quality, high resolution photography and video
- Distribute your content regularly and consistently
- Build a community of likeminded customers with themed Pinterest boards
- Educate customers with informative content that is shareable and “Pinnable”
- Drive website traffic and conversions to key landing pages
- Create pins from your own content and re-pin from reputable accounts
Pinterest lingo: Explained
Some terms to become familiar with as you begin your Pinterest journey:
Pinner
LinkedIn has members, Instagram has ‘grammers, and Pinterest has Pinners. “Pinner” is the branded term for a person who uses Pinterest.
Pins
A pin is the primary type of post published on Pinterest. Pins include an image or video, text, and can link back to an original source.
RePins
A RePin occurs when someone pins a post they didn’t create to one of their boards.
Promoted Pins
Promoted pins are regular pins that companies have paid to promote. These pins appear in the home feed and search results and include a “Promoted” label. Promoted video pins, carousel, and app pins are also available. Learn more about Pinterest ad options.
Rich Pins
Rich Pins provide more information on the pin, from price information to install buttons. They are available in four formats: Product Pins, Recipe Pins, Article Pins, and App Pins.
Shop the Look Pins
With Shop the Look pins, businesses can add product tags to their creative. This makes it possible for Pinners to shop the look by tapping on the pin’s white dots.
Boards
Pinterest boards are like a digital analog for mood boards. They are used to group pins around a certain theme or topic. For example, you might create a board to a product launch, or for seasonal content.
Pinterest can often go unused, but we believe in figuring out what channels will help you get the right customers – and sometimes that means taking the road (or channel) less travelled.
