Pinterest is an incredibly powerful tool for marketers since it provides a unique platform for users to interact with a brand on a personal and social level. It may not have quite the reach of other social media platforms, but it has a high concentration of loyal users who use it to look for products and services online, and even allows them to make purchases without having to leave the site. Although this feature has not been launched in South Africa yet, it is a reality in the rest of the world.
It is important to note that using Pinterest as a Marketing tool is just one aspect of the advantages of Pinterest, to realise them all, you will need to acquaint yourself with the ins-and-outs of Pinterest for businesses. Pinterest as it is used by consumers, and as it is used by businesses and marketers, are two very different things.
The major difference between Pinterest and other social media platforms, is that Pinterest is used for collecting and saving ideas for later use. It is used to collect content from all over the world-wide-web, representing them on the platform in a short scale, using images, GIFS and videos. These snippets of content are called pins, and as far as marketers are concerned, pins represent a powerful tool to get loyal customers and prospective clients to interact with a brand, service, blog or product.
How does one market on Pinterest?
There are various marketing tools available on Pinterest namely: buyable pins, promoted pins, rich pins, you can send users to your website through Pinterest and by using taller pins to get your pins noticed.
What are promoted pins? Pinterest’s Promoted Pins is their paid ad platform. It works on a bidding system like the other social media ad platforms. You pay to have your pin placed in front of your target audience. Your pins will show up in relevant category feeds and relevant searches, aided by the keywords that you choose. You must have a business Pinterest account in order to access and run your own promoted pins campaigns.
What are buyable pins? Pinterest’s buyable pins are a simple, fast, and secure way for users to make purchases without ever leaving Pinterest. Buyable pins are identifiable to users by a blue “Buy It” tag that shows up right next to the red “Pin it” button. Users can see the price of the item, and will be taken through a swift check out process, all on Pinterest. As users are browsing through Pinterest, creating their wish-lists and getting ideas, they’ll be able to see your product, the price, and purchase it all with a few quick taps or clicks on their mobile device. They don’t even repeatedly enter in their payment information, making the process go swiftly—before they get the chance to talk themselves out of it.
Conclusion
When it comes to Pinterest, sticking to the basics can help improve your results, making our job as marketers and businesses much easier. For more information regarding the use of Pinterest as a marketing tool, contact The RCM Digital College for a short course.
