Is Pinterest the Right Platform for your Business?

Having a solid social media strategy and choosing the?right social network?is key for any business. Is Pinterest the right platform for your business?

Pinterest is a powerful business tool if you know how to use it, and it ranks 4th in social media platforms behind YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Like many of the social media platforms, the number of Pinterest users grew during pandemic lock-down periods. According to Pinterest, over 100 million new users jumped on the Pin Wagon.?

What is Pinterest?

You’ll find the answer in its name: Pin + Interest. Pinterest is a visual search engine where users find new ideas and get inspired to make their next purchases.

Pinterest is a digital library, and you can categorize your images into collections on separate?boards?(think of the bulletin boards you may have on your walls with photos cut out from magazines that are held up by push pins). Users can create up to 2,000 boards and have up to 200,000 images (called?pins). Pinterest users, called?pinners, can create their own pins or share (repin) the pins of others (curated pins). However, Pinterest does favor original over curated.

Pinterest has been around since 2009, and until 2012 access required an invite.?According to Pinterest, there are 478 million users. How does that break down, you wonder? Keep reading.

Who Uses the Pinterest Platform?

Pinterest breaks down the profile of its users like this:

60% of the users are women

??40% of the users are men and Gen Z

??35% of the users are US millennials

?45% of the users are in US households with $100k+ income

Why Should I Use Pinterest?

Creating a profile?on Pinterest is easy. If you need help optimizing your profile, check out our previous article?here. And you can promote your content across other social media platforms, such as?Instagram?and Facebook.

Your Content on Pinterest is Evergreen.

When you post on Facebook and Instagram, your post lasts about 6-7 hours. If you use the?right keywords?and your content applies to your target audience, your pins will keep coming up in search results.??

So, you don’t have to keep feeding the hungry, bottomless pit of fresh content as you do on other social media platforms.

You're Not Competing With Big Brands on Pinterest.

Pinterest users come for ideas and inspiration. Not brands. When they ‘re searching for a beach tote, for example, they’re not searching a Kate Spade beach tote. They’re searching for the product itself.

So, you get to swim in the big brand’s ocean with access to people you otherwise wouldn’t have access to without paying for ads.?(Although you can advertise on Pinterest.) In fact, according to Pinterest, 97% of the searches are unbranded, making this an?effective selling platform?.

Here are some other useful statistics:

85% of the users go there to start a new project

80% of the weekly users discovered a new brand or product

Pinterest Has its Own Index

When you use the?right keywords?and SEO in the blogs or vlogs that sit on your website, you’ll get found on google, sure, but you’ll also show up in a search on Pinterest. Because Pinterest is a search engine. Just like Facebook and Instagram.

You can maximize your exposure by using Pinterest’s tools and insights to find your demographic’s interests and behaviors. This will inform your keyword search and tailor your content so you can reach your target audience more effectively.

So, if you’re target audience is moms, you can see when they’re the most active and what they’re most interested in.

Should You Jump on the Pinterest Wagon?

Pinterest is an often overlooked business tool, but it’s a powerful one. It can get you in front of a whole new audience. And by using the right keywords and publishing useful content, get indexed by two search engines. That’s a great way to double your exposure.

Once you decide to use Pinterest for your business, be sure to be consistent with your pinning.?Decide how often you want to pin (once a day, three times a week) and stick to it. Like all other social media strategies and platforms, Pinterest rewards consistency.