Since the dawn of Facebook, photos have been the most commonly used form of status update. From crazy college party photos to family photos and vacation photos, sharing photos on Facebook has always been somewhat of a staple of not only Facebook marketing, but personal Facebook use. In 2012, 250 million photos are uploaded per day on Facebook. Perhaps that’s why Pinterest has become so popular, and why Facebook is starting to look more and more like this photo-sharing giant.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a photo-sharing website that resembles a pin-board, where users simply post links to photos or upload their own photos, and that’s it. Started just a few short years ago, back in 2010, Pinterest has quickly become one of the most used social media sites on the web. According to Forbes.com, Pinterest is officially the ‘number 3 social media website, behind Facebook and Twitter, and just ahead of LinkedIn.’ With 104 million total visitors, compared to Facebook 7 billion visitors, Pinterest has grown in amazing numbers over the past year.
What many social media marketing pro’s and brand marketers have noticed, however, is that not only is Pinterest continuing to increase its own traffic, it’s continuing to increase traffic for others as well. According to Shareaholic, Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the top referral websites on the web. “As of January, it referred more traffic than Google Plus, LinkedIn and Youtube combined.” This is HUGE in terms of brand marketing, increase brand equity and awareness, and turning customers into brand advocates.
Facebook’s Response
If you’re on Facebook for any length of time (statistics show that Facebook is still way ahead of the pack in terms of average minute per visitor as 405 minutes per day), you’ve probably noticed that there are quite a few more images floating around then there use to be. In fact, there are even images making fun of the amount of images floating around. This is not a coincidence. Mark Zuckerberg himself launched a Facebook app titled PinView that actually makes Facebook look exactly like Pinterest.
When the number one social media platform on the web makes changes to become more like a competitor, you know that competitor is doing something right.
How Can You Use Pinterest?
Considering the Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the top referring sites for social media marketers, it’s important to remember that everything you post to Pinterest must be directly related to your brand and must absolutely carry your brand message consistently.
Pinterest is still being used primarily by women between the ages of 25 to 34, which is the perfect demographic for anyone marketing wedding planning or wedding venues, baby products, vacation hotspots, women’s health, or women’s makeup and apparel. But being in the right industry to utilize Pinterest and marketing successfully on Pinterest are two different things. Here are some tips:
• Be Visual and Creative – The key to Pinterest is creativity. You need to grab someone’s attention in the two seconds that they scan over your image, so make sure it’s unique, branded, high quality, and creative.
• Branding – You also need to make sure that all of your posted images have a link back to your website and a small optimized paragraph and title explaining the image. This is crucial for SEO and for Pinterest searches.
• Connect Your Account – Make sure that your Pinterest account is connected not only to your website, but to your Facebook and Twitter pages as well. Give your audience every chance possible to connect with your brand.
• Original Board Names – When you begin ‘pinning’ image to your account, you will create Boards for different topics and categories. Be original and true to your brand message when creating these boards.
Finally, the greatest tip that you can take with you to Pinterest marketing is to stay true to your brand message at all times. When ‘re-pinning’ other photos or posting your own, everything must remain consistent to your brand ideal.
Pinterest might be new, but it’s growing quite rapidly and is a social media platform that you definitely need to consider. If you’re not sure how to get started, contact us today!