3 Reasons Your Company Should Be on Pinterest

By James Howell

Social media users are notoriously fickle. Their platform loyalty changes with each new moon, and for content marketers, that lack of reliability can be an absolute nightmare. That’s why you’ve got to keep your ear to the ground and stay on top of all the latest trends.

Not a lot of companies give Pinterest much thought where trends are concerned. The aesthetically-based platform allows users to create their own virtual idea boards to “pin” interesting links, photos and videos. Users then flock to the most interesting or visual appealing boards – thus creating a never-ending stream of product promotion.

Now, building up a buzzworthy profile on Pinterest isn’t easy – which is probably why only 56 percent of the globe’s top brands are present on the site. But there are 47 million potential customers using Pinterest. That user base might be drastically overshadowed by Facebook’s army of 1.44 billion. Yet Pinterest users interact with content much differently than most web users – and it’s those little differences that are going to help your marketing department generate ROI.

That being said, it’s not all about the numbers. Bearing that in mind, here are three simple reasons you can’t afford to ignore Pinterest any longer:

1. Pinterest dishes out lots of referrals

Pinterest is all about shopping. It takes the outdated concept of a shop window and digitises the process for consumers. Instead of being forced to lure customers into your shop with pretty displays, Pinterest enables customers to show you precisely what lures them in by allowing them to display pictures of the products they love. With each piece of media linking directly to various company websites, that means Pinterest users maintain an incredible click rate.

In the past four years, the number of Pinterest users clicking through onto company websites has increased by seven-fold – which is a far greater increase than the likes of Twitter. Meanwhile, platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+ are actually sending less people to your website than ever before. Since 2011, YouTube’s referral numbers have plummeted by over 90 percent. Consequently, if you want your site to get actual referrals from social media, Pinterest is the most cost-effective place to do it.

2. Pinterest users love to try new things

Getting social media users onto your website is only half the battle – and sometimes, generating sales from this sort of traffic can be a real challenge. But research suggests that Pinterest users are far more likely to make a purchase on your site than a typical, run-of-the-mill social media user.

According to an extensive study conducted last year by Ahology and AcuPOLL, 66 percent of Pinterest users consider themselves “early adopters,” or the first among their friends to try new products. Approximately 98 percent of Pinterest users surveyed said they had tried something new that they’ve seen on the platform. Young mothers are particularly keen users, with two out of three active moms admitting to trying out more than five Pinterest-inspired projects or activities.

Why is that important for your brand? Because if you’re planning to launch a new or innovative product, Pinterest users are inherently going to be the most receptive towards it. They like to be guinea pigs, and you can’t put a price on that sort of gung-ho attitude.

3. You can’t reach Pinterest users anywhere else

If your company can’t reach a group of users on Facebook, there’s a good chance you can attack them through traditional advertising methods. Pinterest users, on the other hand, are far too tech-savvy to be swayed by billboards or newspaper ads.

Pinterest users might be heavy media consumers, but research indicates they tend to avoid watching TV and reading print materials. Active Pinterest users watch about three hours less television each week than your average customer. Instead, they rely on their favourite social media platform to guide buying decisions. Over 40 percent of all Pinterest users have now abandoned traditional magazines in favour of the site – and half of them use Pinterest instead of browsing through company catalogues.

Okay, so maintaining a quality presence on Pinterest isn’t easy. You’ve got to come up with great content that will give users something to engage with – which takes a lot of time and effort. But those efforts will almost definitely generate big returns. Pinterest users are young, tech-savvy and extremely active. If your brand can capture even a fraction of the site’s buying potential, you’ll open your products up to an ever-expanding community of consumers.

If you haven’t already jumped onto the bandwagon, now is the time.