I get a lot of small business owners asking me if I think Pinterest would work well for their business, and my answer is usually yes! These are some big benefits of using Pinterest for your business:
- Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts typically stop getting traffic after 24-36 hours. Pins can drive traffic to your site for months to YEARS, and it doesn’t even matter how many followers you have.
- Pinterest is a slow build (just like SEO), but if you stay on top of your strategy, you can build consistent growth without much effort.
- People come to Pinterest to shop for products and services, and almost 90% of pinners have bought products or services from Pinterest.
- Pinterest is a huge driver of traffic because people come to Pinterest to find something. People on Pinterest WANT to click on your link if it’s what they’re looking for!
Even though there are so many perks to using Pinterest, it isn’t the best platform for EVERY business, so there are some things you should figure out before deciding to use Pinterest to reach clients. If you’re unsure if Pinterest is right for you, these are 7 questions you should ask!
7 questions to ask to see if Pinterest will help your business
Do you create content or sell products online?
First of all, you need to have something to pin! If all you have for your website is a landing page without any content, and you don’t have a YouTube channel or an Instagram page you’re really trying to grow (and this is a Pinterest strategy I only recommend for some businesses), Pinterest probably isn’t for you. You need to be pinning every single day, and if you don’t have blog content, products, or videos to create pins (and no plans to create any of that content), it’s going to be really hard to gain traction and get any traffic to your site.
Is your business only for local clients or customers?
If you own a business like a cleaning company, a dentist office, a grocery store, commercial real estate, or any type of business that usually only works with locals, Pinterest probably isn’t for you. People are usually using Google or referrals to find businesses like that.
Does your business serve people visiting your town?
Pinterest may not be great for businesses serving only locals, but it can be great for businesses serving people who are planning trips to your town! This can include restaurants, boutiques, historic sites, tour companies, and the list goes on and on. The key here is to create content that people are searching for that is related to your business.
For example, if you’re a restaurant in Philadelphia where I live, you can create blog posts about things to see in your neighborhood, events nearby for each season, guides to food tasting tours, food visitors should try in Philadelphia, and the list goes on and on. You can find ways to serve and attract your clients or customers without just writing about your business all the time.
Are you in the wedding industry?
Pinterest is HUGE for the wedding industry, so I highly recommend it! (And I used Pinterest to help plan my wedding a few months ago!) You might think this goes against the previous point about businesses serving local clientele, but hear me out.
- Pinterest is a visual search engine, and when it comes to wedding planning, people are looking for pictures. Yes, they might use Pinterest for inspiration about pretty flowers, but they can also use it to find things different wedding venues in their area so they can see lots of different pictures of it.
- You can use Pinterest as a portfolio and create boards for different types of wedding venues, different types of flowers to use in the different seasons where you’re located, places for engagement photoshoots, etc. depending on exactly what your business is. This way people you can help your clients by making it easy for them to find what they’re looking for, and they can see your style of work
- I highly doubt all the clients that a wedding expert serves live in the area you do. Many people plan weddings back home where their families, in places outside of where they live, or destination weddings, so not all of your clients are local! I live in Philadelphia and I personally know of people here who plan weddings across the country where they’re from, in Florida, in New Jersey, and in other areas of Pennsylvania, so if they’re looking for venues in South Jersey on Pinterest and that’s the area you serve, you can help them!
My own wedding photographer is killing it on Pinterest!
In order to succeed on Pinterest in the wedding industry, you need to blog about more than just your clients’ weddings. Use past weddings you’ve done to write posts like “10 Amazing Ballroom Wedding Venues in XXX,” “How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget in Philadelphia,” “10 Beautiful Spots for Engagement Photoshoots in XXX,” etc. etc. Think about the types of posts that will do well on Pinterest that will serve your ideal clients.
***From a personal standpoint from when I was just planning my wedding, I cannot tell you how many wedding venues’ websites had bad pictures of their venue or didn’t have any pictures of their venue being used for a wedding! Seeing blog posts from wedding photographers that included photos of the venue helped me visualize what my wedding would look like, plus you can show off to potential clients what your photography skills look like when shooting in a particular venue. It helps your clients AND can bring you business!
Are similar businesses on Pinterest?
Did you check to see if businesses similar to yours are actively using Pinterest? (Some businesses just set up a Pinterest profile and do nothing with it, so make sure they are active). In Pinterest, type in keywords related to what your business does or the type of content you’re creating and see if anything pops up. If businesses like yours are on Pinterest, AND you can see that they have a good number of followers and monthly viewers, it’s probably a good indication that your business will do well on Pinterest, too.
Are you already getting traffic from Pinterest?
Your audience might be pinning pictures from your site already! There are a few ways to check this. The easiest is to go to https://www.pinterest.com/source/insertyourwebsitehere.com/, and you can see if people are pinning images from your site.
To check to see how much traffic you’re getting from Pinterest, you can go to your Google Analytics account. Go to Acqusition – All Traffic – Channels and on there, click on Social. It will break down how much traffic you’re getting from places like Facebook and Instagram, and you can also see if you’re getting traffic from Pinterest. If you already are without trying, then you can get traffic when you are trying!
Did you ask your clients if they’re using Pinterest?
If you’re unsure if your clients are using Pinterest to find products or businesses like yours, just ask! Almost 90% of pinners have bought something from Pinterest so people on Pinterest are ready to spend money, but if you’re not sure that they want to spend money on your business, the easiest way to figure it out is just ask.
If you answered “yes” to almost all the questions (excluding if you’re a business only for locals), Pinterest is probably a good platform for your business! It’s a great platform for everyone from fashion bloggers to artists to business coaches, so test it out and see if it will work for you. If you’re ready to get started on Pinterest for your business, read my posts How to Use Pinterest for Small Businesses: 9 Easy Tips to Get You Started and Pinterest Strategy Tips for Small Businesses. Happy pinning!
Great post about Pinterest!
Thank you! 🙂
Is my business right for Pinterest ISs a very important question to ask indeed Julia!
I often hear people talking about Pinterest as if your business HAS to be there, grafting every day to build reach. As you rightly say it simply is not suitable for everyone and it really does depend on your industry and objectives.
You mention local businesses trying to drive footfall ultimately through providing information about other activities local to their cities. Although I’m aware this can help, do you beleive that the considerable investment of time it takes justifies the results they might expect to get?
I think it is worth the time because it honestly doesn’t take as much time as other forms of marketing! If you’re already creating content for Pinterest, it will help your SEO and give you things to share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and your email list. Once you get set up on Pinterest and create your boards and some pins, it doesn’t take much time to maintain. You probably only need about an hour or two each month to fill out your Pinterest schedule and create a few pins, which is a lot less time than staying engaged every day on social media accounts! Plus, pins can live on for so much longer than Facebook or Twitter links, so with just a little bit of effort, you can reap the rewards for years to come 🙂
Not a day passes without my going into Pinterest. I love looking at the variety of items and have saved those that appeal to me in my board. I am also pleased to have my pins saved by others. I am also trying to link Pinterest to my website but don’t know how to yet.
Pinterest is such a fun platform! There are different ways you can claim your website depending on which platform you’re on, but Pinterest has a helpful article on it if you need help: https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/claim-your-website