20 Sep Why is Pinterest Vital for Attracting New Customers to Your Local Business?
In this article, you will learn precisely why your local business should be using Pinterest and eight actionable steps that you can implement right away to make your pins irresistible.
And the best thing is…
You can apply these strategies to other social media platforms drawing even more attention to your business.
So let’s dive into it!
Getting Social Media Presence Should be Your Priority
For businesses, social media has enabled them to get in touch with the right people at the right time. If your content grabs their attention, it has the potential to increase traffic, revenue, and even long-term loyalty.
Introducing the social media marketing funnel:
Source: Supermetrics
Awareness: being aware of your brand or goods for the first time
Consideration: learning more about it and evaluating other choices
Conversion: completing a purchase, beginning a trial, or becoming a sales lead
Depending on your strategy, which we will discuss later in this article, you may additionally want to incorporate the following post-conversion stages:
Loyalty: this includes existing customer happiness and upselling
Advocacy: spreading the word and becoming a brand ambassador
At each point of the funnel, you have the chance to reach out to a prospective audience and push them deeper down the funnel.
Now that you know the marketing foundations, you can understand better why Pinterest is an ideal platform for your local business.
Why You Should be Using Pinterest Specifically
You should be promoting where your target audience usually hangs out.
Adults in the US spend more than 95 minutes a day on social media platforms. All of this time spent on social media isn’t only for entertainment; it’s also for inspiration and guidance.
That is why having a Pinterest account for your business is a no-brainer.
As you can already tell, it’s not a typical social network. Small business owners can take advantage of this channel’s rapid development. By marketing your products and services, using appealing visuals and colorful infographics, you will start building a relationship with your potential customers with each great pin that you publish.
And if you look at how many people use Pinterest by age group, you will be shocked!
Source: Statista
Creating the Perfect Pinterest Strategy in 8 Simple Steps
We will take it slowly so that you can understand the “why” behind each step and actually have the motivation to take action – resulting in assembling your own Pinterest strategy.
Take it slow. Work through the steps. You can always bookmark this article and come back later if you aren’t finished.
#1 Tracking the Right Metrics & Understanding Business Goals
Everything you do, you must be doing for a reason, and tracking the right key performance indicators (KPI) is crucial for every strategy.
As you can see in the picture below, for posts with different objectives, you should be tracking a different KPI:
Aligning Social Media & Business Goals
Begin by putting down at least two business objectives that are currently most important for growing your company.
#2 Finding Out Everything About Your Target Audience
You can’t get to know every single customer or prospect. However, you may design a buyer persona to reflect your clientele.
A buyer persona is an in-depth description of a person who represents your target audience.
And you can do that by noting their:
- Age
- Location
- Language
- Spending power and patterns
- Interests
- Challenges
- Stage of life
You get the idea. This isn’t just a list of traits. This is a detailed, precise description of one potential customer. It helps you to think of your potential customer as a person rather than just a collection of data points.
#3 Employing a Deep Competitor Analysis
Find some competitors of yours. Learn about their strengths and weaknesses and how those strengths and weaknesses compare to your own.
- Identify competitive keywords in your niche
- Look at who is ranking for those keywords in Google
- Do the same search for Pinterest
- Focus on 5 best competitors
- Gather data about your competitors
There is no time limit on this, but every hour spent pays off very well. You can be sure about that!
Also, don’t forget about the related searches section.
But why is conducting a social media competitor analysis helpful?
You will not only learn about your rivals, but research will also provide you with additional information about your own company and audience (which will most likely overlap with your rivals’ audiences).
#4 Improving Your Pinterest Profile
First of all, switching to a Pinterest business account will provide you with tons of further features like analytics and rich pins.
Your Pinterest bio is the first impression you will make on your audience. It’s the first step in gaining subscribers and followers and growing your site.
Whether you use a logo or a real photo for your Pinterest profile picture depends on the sort of business you run.
You can get a glance at how your photo appeals to others with focus groups.
Source: Orbit Media
If the business is about you, use a clear, professional photo. Selfies are not the best option. And if you run a business, it might be better to use a logo instead.
#5 Scouting for Inspiration and Resources
It’s necessary to look at what others in your field are doing, but don’t get too caught up in scouting out the competition. It is reasonable to have a look and then return to work on your own brand. Use your research to gain inspiration, but spending too much time can increase the likelihood that you will duplicate what’s already being done instead of producing something original.
#6 Creating an Achievable Pinterest Content Calendar
Determine your content mix and posting cadence.
The form truly doesn’t matter that much. It may be a spreadsheet, a Google calendar, or an interactive dashboard (if you’re using a social media management service).
The important part is making it challenging but not impossible.
For each post, a social media schedule will typically include some mix of the following elements:
- The time when it will be published
- The copy and creative assets
- Links and tags to be included
It’s not rocket science, but it will keep you accountable.
Lastly, Pinning on a regular basis is more effective than making a board and filling it all at once. Posting on a regular basis guarantees that your content reaches a larger audience.
#7 Creating Beautiful and Compelling Pins
Because Pinterest is a visual platform, effectively using it for business entails creating high-quality, compelling visuals.
What makes a compelling Pin:
- Vertical imagery – To prevent uncomfortably cropped pictures, shoot at a 2:3 aspect ratio.
- Copy that is descriptive – Offer context to your photos, and encourage people to click on links.
- Optimizing your Pins – Because Pinterest is a search engine, make sure your company’s Pins are easily found in a search!
- Checking your links – Broken links will not benefit your brand! To provide Pinners with the optimal user experience, ensure that the link with your Pin loads promptly and does not go to a 404 page.
#8 Evaluating and Improving Your Pinterest Strategy
After implementing all of the steps above and actually posting some content to your Pinterest account, you should always come back and review your previous efforts on a regular basis.
Check the KPIs and compare the content quality. If you can find a pattern between the type of post and KPI drop, then try to come up with ideas on what should be improved and get it done.
Should I Use Pinterest for My Business?
The answer is yes for most businesses. However, a good rule of thumb is not to start with a new social media platform unless you’ve established a solid presence on the previous one.