Internet marketing can be a nightmare. Just when you think you’ve worked out the best ways to manipulate the search engine results, you discover that nobody’s using search engines anymore. Worse still they’re all talking to each other and sharing stuff. Google and the other search engines have faced some stiff competition in recent years from young upstarts like Facebook. Now, it seems, Facebook is at the sharp end of user disinterest, as everyone appears to have headed off to Pinterest, Fancy and other similar sites. The good news is, for businesses at least, these are excellent places to market your products. SEO is dependent on being able to ‘guess’ what people are searching for and then presenting it in a manner that is palatable to robots and humans. With sites like Pinterest you don’t have to second guess anything – users are happily displaying everything you need to know; so where to start?
Get committed
As with all social networks using Pinterest for small firms is no simple task. It requires commitment, time and plenty of research. If you’ve not got the time to make the commitment, the simple rule is to stay off the site until you can. Once you’ve decided to go for it you’ll have to get an invite to Pinterest. There’s a simple application process and though it may be cynical of me, the “invitation only” membership seems largely to be designed to give users a sense of exclusivity.
Pin ups
Create one or several pin boards to display your products. You can name individual boards or use the default settings. As with all things social it’s wise to create a personality of your own that stands out, so naming boards yourself makes sense. Pinterest users tend to be of the female variety, and there is a strong focus on design and fashion on the site. However, as the site is rapidly growing this is likely to change. As of March this year it came third in the most visited stakes and although the demographic is still largely female there’s a growing following amongst other demographics.
Friendships made online
Make friends; obviously for a business it’s incredibly useful to find people who are pinning the type of product you supply. However, it helps to link up with other firms and businesses who compliment your products. For a start, established firms are likely to have followings of their own already, and this can help to build your own. Obviously you’ll not want to link up with competitors but businesses who offer complimentary services to your own make sense.
Creating and managing content
Pin a variety of content – there’s functionality to pin videos as well as images. This helps to make your boards more interesting and should help to increase your following. The important point to remember with Pinterest, as with all social media marketing, is to stay involved and interact with other users. Update your boards frequently, link to relevant blog content and respond to other users. These are the biggest single ways in which to engage an audience, to increase your following and build a loyal fan base. There’s certainly work involved but as Pinterest can help you to target exactly the potential clients you’re searching for the time is well invested.
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Guest Author Carlo Pandian is a freelance writer based in Canada and blogs about social media, cloud computing and start-ups covering everything from QuickBooks Online to the latest Silicon Valley tech companies. Pinterest and other pin board sites are rapidly growing and many internet entrepreneurs have already spotted this type of site as the next, or latest, big thing in internet marketing. Their growth has already been rapid and the incredible potential that they can offer to business is only just being realized. Pinning your business colours to this particular mast is to be highly recommended.