Every week, I almost always answer the question, “Should my business be on Pinterest?”
I’m not going to lie – I highly believe that almost every business should be on Pinterest, but, yes, on rare occasions (and I mean rare), Pinterest might not be a good fit.
Kudos to you for trying to figure out if your business should be on Pinterest, though. It shows you’re aware of how powerful this discovery and planning platform is!
The short answer is: Yes, your business should be on Pinterest.
Being on Pinterest means:
➝ More eyeballs on your content.
➝ More sales of your products.
➝ Email list growth.
➝ Another way to connect with your audience.
➝ Increased visibility.
And, while it might seem like I just gave you the answer you need, we do need to dig a little deeper into the whole should your business be on Pinterest debate to make sure you’re investing your time and money on something that will give you a return.
But, first, I’d like to go over some common misconceptions about Pinterest marketing – you may have heard some of them and they might the reason you’re questioning if you should use Pinterest for business.
Common Misconceptions About Pinterest Marketing
PINTEREST IS ONLY FOR WOMEN
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, Pinterest was filled with DIY projects, wedding inspiration, and recipes to satisfy the everyday question of what to have for dinner – businesses wrote off Pinterest as a platform for “women” or for “cute” DIY projects.
So, a large number of business owners didn’t give Pinterest a chance – something that was a very big mistake, because, like most things, Pinterest evolved and attracted a more diverse range of niches and business types.
Now, you can find bloggers, content creators, eCommerce, coaches, service providers, and the list goes on.
Why are these businesses starting to show up on Pinterest? Because Pinterest has made it easier than ever to connect your business to your ideal audience on the platform.
(Most of Pinterest’s users are still female but male users are one of the largest growing demographic).
Here are some of the tools you get:
Audience Insights – you can see how large your audience is and what other interests they have to further connect with them.
Analytics – Pinterest has their own analytics metrics to help you understand how your business is doing.
Trends – research upcoming trends and see just how popular they are on Pinterest and when.
Shoppable Pins – these are a special kind of pin that pulls your metadata and displays pricing, stock, and other details so that the pinner doesn’t have to leave Pinterest to buy your product.
Shopify App for eCommerce – if you have a Shopify store you can connect your product catalog directly to Pinterest.
And, as with every growing platform, we expect to see Pinterest grow and help creators and businesses even more in the future. Why am I mentioning all of this information? To show you that, yes, it’s likely your business should be on Pinterest.
I DON’T HAVE ANY TIME FOR PINTEREST
Even though Pinterest constantly gets lumped in as a social media website, it’s actually a visual search engine where you can rank your images for well-searched terms. Ranking your pins means nice, continual traffic to your business.
What is even more interesting is that the shelf life of a pin is approximately 4 months which is an eternity in the online space. That’s right, pins get engagement for much longer than any other platform.
By now you’re likely wondering what all of this has to do with having little to no time for Pinterest marketing. What I’m trying to show you is that you need to make time OR put things in place for someone else to take it off your plate.
Pinterest is that powerful.
I’ll say it again – if your audience is on Pinterest you need to figure out how to start using it for your business.
Check out our Pinterest management services here.
THERE AREN’T AS MANY USERS ON PINTEREST
In ordinary circumstances, having more users on a platform (like Facebook or Instagram) would be a fair argument for investing your time and energy in those areas BUT (and it’s a BIG but), have I mentioned that Pinterest is a discovery platform?
I personally define Pinterest as the inspire, dream, research, and planning platform which, in a nutshell, means Pinterest users are there to discover ideas. It could be to solve a problem or to connect with a new business or to plan a big event.
So, even though Pinterest has a smaller amount of users (if you can call over 442 million users small), the platform still holds so much power since its users are in discovery and planning mode (think the top of your sales funnel).
Now that we’ve gone over some common misconceptions about Pinterest, let’s take a deeper dive into ways to tell if your business should be on Pinterest.
Ways To Tell If Pinterest Is Right For Your Business
Pinterest is One of the Biggest Traffic Drivers Online
It’s like the best-kept secret of the online world.
Because of the misconception that Pinterest is only for weddings, DIY, and recipes (see misconception number one above), many businesses overlook Pinterest as a viable marketing source.
Pinterest is one of the most powerful traffic drivers on the planet. Number two actually with only Google ahead of them.
So, if you need more eyeballs on your business, seriously consider getting on Pinterest – after all, Pinterest handles an average of 2 billion searches a month so getting in on that would be good for growing or transforming your business.
Pinterest is Another Way to Get People into Your Funnel
Pinterest users are looking to discover and connect so they come in at the top of your sales funnel.
One of the best things about pinners being at the top of your funnel is that 97% of searches are unbranded. What does that mean? The playing field is leveled on Pinterest. No longer do you have to have deep pockets to compete against big brands.
Pinners are looking to discover your small business and don’t care that they’re not consuming big branded content. That is pretty powerful.
So, if you need to drive more traffic, get people in your sales funnels, and more conversions, your business should be on Pinterest.
Pinterest is a Discovery Platform
I’ve said this multiple times throughout this post and I’ll say it again just for good measure.
Pinterest is a search and discovery platform where pinners are looking for products and solutions to their problems and/or desires. They aren’t looking for big brands. They’re okay with small brands.
So, if you’re looking for more people to discover your business, pinners are looking for your small business!
Pinners Span Multiple Age Groups
I’ve never seen an online platform appeal to such a wide variety of age groups. Ages range from 18 to 65+ which means your business should be on Pinterest if you serve anyone in these age groups.
You Can Connect Your Other Accounts
Another reason Pinterest is so powerful is that you can connect your other accounts (Instagram, Etsy, Facebook, etc.) for more visibility. That means you’ll get attribution if pinners save your Instagram content which can then translate into more followers for you.
It will also increase your monthly views on Pinterest which means more people are seeing your content appear on their screens. If you have a good Pinterest strategy
Pinterest Shares What Is Trending
You can use the Pinterest Trends tool to research upcoming trends that are relevant to your business and for the last couple of years, Pinterest has taken to predicting trends. Based on their data, they announce what is up and coming and what will be hot for the year.
In 2020, they got 7 out of 10 trends of the future correct. Even during a year that basically turned us all upside down.
Impressive Pinterest, impressive.
Check out Pinterest’s trend predictions for 2021 here.
But, what does that really mean for YOUR business? You can use the trends tool to plan content that is sure to resonate with your target audience. It allows you to properly plan and not just spin your wheels hoping someone will want what you’re offering.
In a nutshell, your business should be on Pinterest.
To recap, if you want another way to connect with your audience, Pinterest is a good place to invest your time and money to build more visibility and transform your business. Pinners are looking to discover your business! Some niches will have more success than others but even if you drive a few thousand pageviews to your website every month, it’ll be worth the effort.
Just make sure your email opt-ins are set up, your website is fully optimized, and you’re ready to nurture the traffic that lands on your website.
Still not sure whether your business should be on Pinterest? Have any questions for us?
Drop them in the comments below and we will continue the conversation!