You’ve probably never heard of Pinterest, but if you’re a small business owner looking for cost-effective ways to get more website traffic, you’re missing out! Pinterest is a new social network and it is quickly gaining a strong following. Read on to learn the Who, What, Where & How of Pinterest…just maybe not in that order.
WHAT is Pinterest?
Pinterest describes itself as a virtual pinboard. Whether you’re redecorating your home and tired of cutting out pictures from magazines, preparing for a dinner party and having trouble keeping all your recipes organized or planning your wedding and looking for a place to keep all your great ideas, Pinterest lets you organize and share all the interesting, pretty, unique, remarkable, inspiring things you find on the web. Any image can be turned into a pin and a collection of images makes up a board. This is an especially cool idea if you have a remodeling business!
What is a Pin?
A pin is an image you add to one of your boards that links back to the site it came from. For example, a picture of a cool rustic kitchen or an amazing beach house. You can either create original pins while you’re browsing the web via the Pin It button or you can repin something another user has already pinned when you’re browsing Pinterest.
What is a Board?
A board is a collection of pins. You create your own boards and categorize your pins any way you choose. Examples might include: Recipes to Try, Home Decorating Ideas, My Dream Home and Wedding Ideas.
HOW to Use Pinterest?
Let’s take the example of using Pinterest to redecorate and/or remodel your home. You probably spend hours scouring the web for that perfect kitchen look – you have to think about the cabinets, the appliances, the layout, the floor, the island, the paint and the unique special features you want to incorporate. BUT, they don’t all come together in a neatly packaged “My Dream Kitchen” kit you can pick up at the store – you found the appliances you want on the manufacturer site, the cabinets you want on a kitchen designer’s site, the paint idea on a home remodeling blog and the other knick-knacks on who knows what website. With Pinterest, you can keep all the ideas together on a board to reference and share.
WHO can use Pinterest for their business?
Now that you know what Pinterest is, you’re probably asking yourself, “How can I use Pinterest to promote my business?” No matter what type of business you have, one of your primary goals should be to get more qualified visitors to your website. Every pin has multiple links back to your site, so you want people to pin and repin images from your site as frequently as possible.
How you go about adding images depends on what type of business of you have. If you own a home design business (think: kitchen remodeling, custom homes, landscaping), Pinterest is made for you! You want people to “pin” examples of your work. The first thing you should do is create a gallery or multiple galleries on your site.
Then, make it easy for visitors to pin your images by adding the Pin It button to your site:
If you own a service-based business (think: plumbing, electrical, hvac), sign up for Pinterest and post coupons, giveaways and special deals.
WHERE can I learn more?
To learn more about how to use Pinterest to market your business, visit or contact Blue Corona!
