Business today is all about what you see and how you see it. Nothing epitomises this more than that magical social network based on visual cues- Pinterest. A site consisting of images, pictures, videos pinned on a bulletin board, Pinterest is fast becoming the most important social network to reach out to potential customers and drive sales for ecommerce sites. Never heard of this site? Don’t worry not many have.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc, Pinterest is all about “Focus” and “interest”. While most social networking sites rely on content being shared from a netwrok of friends and followers Pinterest is based on interest- it is about people who come together due to common interests in a topic rather than relationships/friendships.
Driving more traffic to websites than any other social network, Pinterest offers immense marketing potention for your ecommerce site or product. Greater engagement than Linkedin, Twitter Google + and You Tube combined, Pinterest is fast becoming a social commerce behemoth that you just cannot ignore.
It is an established fact that Pinterest is uniquely friendly to e-commerce. People on Pinterest “Pin” images or videos. A Pin here is an equivalent of a post or a tweet, in as much that it is how you communicate on this social site. Each Pin that a user attaches to his or her interest boards is on an average worth $1 worth of additional sales for the image/video that the user pinned. The sales per pin figure on Pinterest has been increasing by over 25% annualy in the last two years making this a must have for retailers. According to An Adobe study, visits from Pinterest pins yield 55 cents a piece in revenue placing it ahead of Twitter (44 cents) but behind Fb at 93 cents.
(source: Businessinsider.com)
As a retailer using eccomerce platforms for sales, managing all these social media platforms can be a stretch. While managing the sales site, Fb page, twitter account etc can be dauting, working Pinterest the right way can be worth the effort. Here are a few ways to do just that:
Pinterest is all about the visuals. Make sure yours are attractive and convey your brand/product ethos accurately. Pick a profile image that helps you get recognised easily, and makes you stand out as well. Include a small introduction with every image you post, and always have a link back to your site in there.
Create a variety of boards each of them showing off a new facet of your product. It could be stuff like what goes in making the product, or different situations the product can be used in, or just interests around teh genre your product belongs to. Always find out what your audience cares for, and tailor your pins to cater to these needs. Having multiple boards helps since people choose baords that interest them and one board for all never works out here.
Flipkart does a fine job of this out here, with boards for each of its product lines with clear attractive images of the products it wants to push.
Always be high in quality, both in terms of the image specs and in content. Never cheap out- Pinterest is an interest boards based site and most of the users here have very refined tastes with a plethora of options to choose from. If you want to remain relevant, you need to maintain quality.
Do not just showcase your products, create stories around them. It is important to be inspiring on your boards, creating conversations with your users, sharing ideas, engaging them. Convey the mood of your brand, draw people in with the images. Check out zomato on Pinterest, it is not just about restaurants about everything to do with the love of food and eating.
Encourage customers to share your product pages on Pinterest by themselves with a simple Pin It widget. It is easy to create and gets the traffic flowing in the UGC mode quick and fast.
These are pins that include product details like pricing and availability and where to buy them. Use these to drive traffic to your site. Make your pins a healthy mix of regular images and rich pins to push up the commerce angle of your board.
A rich pin gives you the advantage of :
This is the number one thing businesses on Pinterest forget. If someone is browsing your boards and sees a must-have product, it is utmostly important to make it one-click easy for them to find it on your shop/site, and buy. Just add a link to that product in the pin description.
While traditional social media sites are spray and pray means of advertising, Pinterest is the one site that helps you target customers with what they want to see. Getting on here ensured your small business does not get lost in the noise of brands on Twitter and Facebook. It is simple, creative, artistic and gives rich dividends- what else do you want? So get started and have fun “Pinning it”.
Editor team is specialized in introducing the marketplace content targeting the Indian online sellers. They plan and coordinate to bring the appealing content for the small businesses on how to partner with the e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart and strategies for improving their online business.
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