Pinterest Marketing 101: The First 5 Steps You’re Going to Want to Take
In 2010 I was pinning random recipes for smoothies I’d never make, and outfit inspo for vacations I wasn’t going on. Shared boards made event planning and house decorating a collaborative affair. Pinterest seemed to be simple fun. Imagine my surprise when this simple scroll was optimized by marketers. In the years since, Pinterest has become a powerhouse in the world of marketing. A dark horse of a platform, it’s seemingly done it all under the radar too.
So, let’s unlock what’s going on with Pinterest- and perhaps most pressing- let’s see how we can harness it for your business. Welcome to Pinterest Marketing 101 folks.
What is Pinterest?
If you didn’t spend your twenties pinning wedding dresses and workout routines, allow me to introduce you. Pinterest is a social media platform that allows for quick visual sharing. These visual “pins” become part of your virtual vision board as you sort them and share them with friends. Your “boards” are either private, public, or shared, depending on your settings. Unlike other visual social media platforms like Instagram, these pins are often designed to redirect to website content.
Who’s using it?
Of course if you’re interested in getting started with Pinterest marketing, you’ll want to know the basic demographics of the platform.
To begin, let’s look at the gender demographics. Pinterest once skewed heavily in favor of female users. This gender discrepancy however is on the decline with numbers now more accurately around 60% female. Despite this shift towards men, the platform is still more feminine than Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Another key demographic to notice is the generation that integrates Pinterest marketing into their purchasing patterns. Pinterest was once known as a truly millennial platform. With it’s visual heavy Instagram-esque design, it’s clear to see why. However, in recent years this has balanced out. Statistically, just about everyone is on Pinterest. Ages 18-64 are represented relatively equitably on the platform. Interesting to note too, Gen Z users are on the rise as they reach purchasing age.
Perhaps the most striking fact about Pinterest and why you’re already clever for reading this article about Pinterest marketing is that the folks on the platform are ready to purchase. A whopping 45% of Pinterest users have a household income of more than $100,000. Compared to other social media platforms, there is simply more folks with expendable income spending their time there.
If all this wasn’t enough, the real win for Pinterest marketing is that their users are intending to purchase. While other social media platforms prioritize social connectedness, Pinterest’s culture is one of dreams and dollars. Pinterest is where you go when you’re in that critical stage of ideation prior to purchase. Instagram is where you go to see what bridesmaid dress your friend wore to a recent wedding, Pinterest is where you go to make a purchasing decision about what sort of bridesmaid dresses you want in your wedding.
Pinterest Marketing
As you can see, the market is ready to connect on Pinterest. In fact, in many cases, they’re already pursuing potential avenues to purchase. So then how do we maximize this potential? How do we ensure that your pins are the ones people are interacting with the most when they’re getting ready to buy with all this expendable income? Let’s look at the first 5 steps.
1) Play with Pins.
Just like any other social media game plan, the best start is to feel truly comfortable on the platform. Before touching a business account, it’s wise to set up a personal one and feel comfortable navigating around. This is the best way to truly immerse yourself in the user experience of the platform and in turn create the best content for your future client or customer.
2) Make Great Pins.
The next step is to make great pins. Pins, the basis of Pinterest’s platform is visual forward. Quality lifestyle photography remains supreme. Pinterest is all the aesthetic of Instagram with a dash of added value and inspiration. Think text overlays, bold headlines, and snazzy photos.
3) Optimize Your Pins.
Pinterest marketing sets itself apart from other marketing options because the interface functions as a search engine. That means people tend less towards organic discovery and more towards targeted search terms. Customers on Pinterest are in pursuit of just what they want. Optimizing your pins with key verbiage and SEO is a great way to connect with these ready-to-go consumers.
4) Complete the Pin-Cycle.
Next up in your Pinterest marketing journey, make sure that you’re making the most of the platform’s features. Ensure that all of your pins have a clear call to action that guides your audience directly to purchase. This can be off platform websites or you can take advantage of all the emerging Pinterest’s in-app purchasing features.
5) Keep Going.
Perhaps most crucial of all, you just need to keep going. Over time you’ll optimize your pins, continue to add to your page’s collection, and get inspired. Pinterest marketing requires consistent dedication to the platform. If you want to succeed long term it helps to bring on board a marketing team. They’ll not only be able to help you put out a consistent number of pins, but they’ll also ensure consistent branding and design between that and some of your other social media work.
Congratulations! You’ve completed Pinterest 101.
While there is always more to learn, we hope this gave you a basic guide on how to get started.
Of course, we’d always love to help you reach your Pinterest goals here at Smart Girl Marketing. Reach out to us today and let us figure out how to kick your Pinterest page off the best way, the first time.