Most businesses can benefit from using Pinterest for business marketing as part of their social media strategy. Why? Because it is working.
Using the site for small business promotion is a bit different from Facebook or Twitter because you work with images, rather than words. Some images will have words, but they will be presented as images rather than short paragraphs typed into the status update field on other social networking sites.
How Pinterest Works
Imagine a large cork board hanging in your office. Every time you find something motivating or encouraging, you take a pin and stick it up on the board. You may also pin up certificates or awards that you receive. Pictures of your family or recipes you want to try one day may go up on the board as well.
This is exactly what you are doing when you use the site for small business promotions! The only difference is your board is online and you don’t need to invest a small fortune in real pins to keep sticking things on the board. Your boards are presented to everyone, including those not currently members of Pinterest.
When others find your pins interesting they have the option to comment or re-pin your items to their own boards. This gives a link back to your boards, which give links back to your website and other social networking accounts. This leads to greater exposure for your business and potentially some new clients.
Why Use Pinterest for Promotion?
There are many reasons that small business owners are now using this method for promotions. For starters, it is one of the newest additions to the social networking world and businesses have proven that great things come from extensive social networking exposure.
Adding to that, many people enjoy Pinterest much more than they enjoy Facebook, Google Plus, and other social networking sites. You may find people on there who never visit these other social networking websites. You may even find that you enjoy this site far more than the others, but you should continue using them all to your advantage.
Another reason to use it for small business exposure is the fact that it gives a visual of your business to others. You can type about how great your small business is on Facebook and send out a million tweets about your business, but that is not the same as creating a virtual board with images that give more definition and value to your business.
For instance, let’s say you are a carpenter with great skills in woodworking. You are making a variety of products for local customers, and some of them are small enough to mail to clients who are more distant. You have gotten some exposure on Facebook, but you feel customers need to really see your products to appreciate them and see their value.
Pinterest is all about images, so what better place is there to show your products? You can create a board that gives in-depth images of your craft and skill. That is so much better than typing about your business all day long. You can post images that speak a million words each.
You can post images on other social networking sites, but when you use Pinterest for small business promotions your images are the focus of your entire account. That is powerful for many small businesses!
Getting Started
If you are interested in using Pinterest for small business promotions, start by requesting an invitation to get into the site. If you know someone else who already has an account, then they may have an invite that they can pass onto you. Otherwise, you may have to wait a week or two before the site is able to send you an invite. The sooner you get that request in, the faster you are likely to get signed on and started.
While you are waiting to get started, spend time browsing the site and identifying others you would like to follow or things you would like to re-pin. This will allow you to jump in and get a fast start once your account is activated.
Visual Motivation is Working for Small Business!
This new network has captured the attention of people around the world because it is a great source of visual motivation and an opportunity for self expression. With its own spin on social networking, Pinterest is working for many businesses like yours. Why not give it a try?
