Don’t underestimate the marketing power of Pinterest

OPINION: Last year I had a revelation. I realised I’d slowly moved away from the slow-burn, best-long-term-results marketing platforms and was hooked on the quick fix of the dopamine rush from fast-acting platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a believer of the power of both. In fact TikTok is one of my three key platforms this year, as my personal goal is to improve my storytelling and video skills.

It’s also still relatively new as a platform, so I’m enjoying the wild-west learning curve you don’t get with social media oldies like Facebook.

But alongside the quick pleasure hit of TikTok are the platforms that have a longer lifespan.

This year I’m personally focusing on YouTube (again with the video and storytelling development) and there’s going to be more activity on my Pinterest page. This is part of my commitment to learn and develop as a marketer, but also to remind myself of how painful it is to learn new skills.

Ten years ago I used to add Pinterest into a client’s strategy as a matter of course. The app launched in 2010 and for a long time didn’t really innovate.

It was originally touted as a social network, but more recently it’s come into its own as a visual search engine optimisation network. Changes last year included users being able to upload videos to the site.

Many people think Pinterest is for people planning birthday parties, weddings and renovations. And yes, there is a lot of incredible content in those niches. However, as a search engine with over 460 million active users worldwide, there are many diverse audiences ready for your content.

Pinterest works as a search engine within the platform, but all “pins” can also be found through Google search. If I use image search on Google, it’s likely some of the top answers will be a pin on someone’s Pinterest page.

If images linking to your website are pinned on Pinterest and I click on it, it’s an easy click to the original content sitting there on your website. This is called traffic. We want as much targeted traffic to our website as possible.

Because some of our clients need to focus on more traffic to their sites, Pinterest has become part of many of our client’s strategies, especially if they have an e-commerce or visually appealing brand.

As a marketing strategist, I was painfully aware that my knowledge on Pinterest was out of date. So I interviewed Tracey Hancock, a life coach who has seen tremendous success with Pinterest, and Pinterest expert Simone Pavils across two episodes of the MAP IT Marketing Podcast to see if they could help me get more up to date.

Tracey said one of the biggest mind shifts she had to make was around how she perceived Pinterest.

“People jump from using Facebook or Instagram to Pinterest and think they can do things exactly the same, but it's quite different. What I didn't realise to start with is how powerful Pinterest is from an SEO point of view. So it changed my entire approach,” she explains.

As Tracey learned to use the platform, she spent time creating a really clear plan.

“I had to think who I was there for, who I was wanting to provide information for, and attract. Then I spent time thinking about what my target market would be interested in. What are they looking for when they're actually on Pinterest? Stepping out of me and my needs, and thinking about the why and who I'm looking to connect with, helped me create better content.”

Simone says many people get frustrated when using Pinterest for business, because they don’t understand what it’s best used for.

She explains: “I often refer to it as if Instagram and Google had a baby. That would be Pinterest, because it's that visual aspect and then it's also that search engine aspect as well. Pinterest loves keywords. It wants you to optimise everything with keywords that people are searching for on the platform.”

Because it’s a search engine, getting the set-up right can make the difference between your content being viewed or missed. When you set up your account, it’s important to use keywords to help people find your account. You’ll be asked to create boards to group your content, and these all need to be related to your business (so for mine, I’ve got many boards including social media, marketing podcasts and marketing strategy).

If you’ve got an e-commerce business, activating the shop tab can help drive interested customers to your site. As Simone shares, you can sync your website catalogue with Pinterest.

“It’s exactly the same as you might be doing on Facebook and Instagram: connect your catalogue and you’ll then get a shopping tab on your Pinterest account.”

If you don’t have an e-commerce store, you can use it as Simone, Tracey and I tend to do.

Simone explains: “I want to drive people to my website, where they then spend more time and check out my content. I'm not necessarily looking for conversions in terms of sales or clients, but I'm focussed on growing my email marketing list and just getting known as an expert.”

Tracey got a huge jump of views initially from her content. So much so, she found it overwhelming and ended up spending far more hours than she planned on the platform.

“I was watching the numbers going up and it got to like 180,000 views a month consistently for a long period of time, and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, that's so many people look at my stuff’.”

What she really wanted, however, was targetted visitors to her website. More specifically, she wanted more traffic to her lead generation or blogs. Getting a huge number of views is compelling, but if it’s not backed up with clicks back to our website, it’s measuring the wrong thing if we’re trying to grow a business.

If you’re thinking about trying Pinterest, here are some top tips from expert Simone Pavil:

1. Do get a business account.
2. Put your face in the logo section and add your name to the brand name. You get more interactions if people see a face.
3. Aim for a minimum of 12 boards.
4. If you’ve got an e-commerce site, connect your website catalogue so you have a shopping tab.
5. Prepare for the long game, and remember it’s to capture people who don’t know you yet (don’t expect massive sales from the traffic).
6. Don’t have boards that don’t directly relate to your business (so if you’re a gardener, don’t have a ‘favourite T-shirts’ board).
7. Don’t stress if you don’t have a huge amount of followers. Keep an eye on your views (it means the content is being seen), but also measure how much traffic your website is getting.
8. Take some time learning how to understand the analytics so you can see what’s going on.

After several months of going “a little overboard” with Pinterest, Tracey now has her Pinterest marketing down pat. She has learned to get better results by being “very specific and intentional about where I take them to, so either Instagram or a specific page on my website, with a clear call to action”.

Simone would say that’s an excellent strategy.

“Pinterest is to help grow brand awareness, earning the trust of our audience, getting to be known as the expert in our industry.”