Pinterest is what you should be using if you own an e-commerce store. Pinterest can be good for all types of brands, and especially for e-commerce stores, if you do it right, Pinterest can be a huge source of traffic that converts extremely well.
But business owners in general tend to stay away from Pinterest because by and large, they don’t use the site and the structure isn’t familiar to them. We’ll go over how Pinterest works and all of its intricacies below, and then move onto what you should do as an e-commerce store owner to get the ball rolling.
How Pinterest Works
Each user has an account page. This is sort of like your profile on Facebook, and you can customize it in similar ways. Wherever your username is displayed, clicking on it will lead you to this page.
You can create boards, which are displayed on your account page. Boards are simply collections of pins, and boards can be broken down into different categories if desired.
To place a piece of content on your board, you pin it. If a user is following your board, that piece of content will appear in his or her feed, similar to how a status update of a friend would appear in your Facebook feed.
As long as it’s related to the board, pins can be just about anything. You have the options for a picture, a link, and a description. If you pin the content through an external website, a short hyperlink to the page will be displayed right below the photo as well.
Users discover boards in all different kinds of ways. Unlike Facebook where you usually need a connection with a person to get him or her to follow you, Pinterest users tend to be more exploratory (browsing aimlessly between topics) and search-oriented (having a topic in mind and browsing aimlessly through boards related to it).
Hopefully, you’re thinking about how this structure can be used to your advantage. Linking out to e-commerce pages is commonplace on Pinterest… and actually encouraged!
Who uses Pinterest?
The majority of Pinterest users are female mothers with 28 percent having a household income of $100,000 or more which can be a blessing if your products mesh well into the Pinterest environment.
And despite the fact that the educated, wealthy, female demographic is the most prevalent, there is something else to consider with Pinterest – the type of people browsing. You’ll have your specific board topics, but on a wider level, Pinterest appeals to people for other reasons as well.
The point of all of this? If you’re selling something that’s a necessity, you probably won’t have much luck on Pinterest. You can try – but it needs some glitz or glamour to be a worthwhile venture.
On the other hand, if you have something that can be displayed in an attractive way, you have an in. Everything from the obvious (clothing, jewelry) to the not-so-obvious (glassware, furniture) can be promoted on Pinterest. If you feel your product selection meets meshes with the above requirements, read on.
+ Download the free cheat sheet I’ve created to go along with this tutorial to help you get started marketing on pinterest >>
How To Market
This is your framework – your own unique touch will be required, but if you follow these guidelines, you’ll be off in the right direction.
Step 1: Get your account
Join here as a business. Fill out your account as much as you can – we won’t bore you with an exact step-by-step list. Treat it as a representation of your business and the backbone for everything you’re about to do – put in the necessary time to make everything perfect.
Step 2: Create your boards
The thing about Pinterest is that you have to stand out. No one wants to go look at random pictures of coffee for an hour. But if you look at a successful Pinterest account like Dunkin Donuts, they have made coffee interesting.
Take the Dunkin Donut Nail Art board as an example. It’s just a bunch of pictures of coffee. But what the pictures signifies means so much more. Coffee drinkers can relate to the good vibes…
Your boards need to do the same thing. Take your products, determine which feelings your customers get from them, and try to think of a creative board topic based around them.
Step 3: Start pinning
General content to pin
When you pin, you always have to keep in mind that users are exploring. They need to like your content in order to follow you – no one would follow a brand on Pinterest that posted photos consisting solely of its own products.
If you can feed that exploration, they will love you for it and pay attention to your pins.
Never become too narcissistic – always be thinking about your board follower and what he or she will genuinely enjoy. And of course, we’ll include pins for our products as well – that’s explained a bit further down the page.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Photos of all sorts – You’ll never get a bad rap for posting photos that your followers like.
- Inspiration quotes – Pinterest users eat this up… just make sure they’re related to your boards.
- Infographics – It’s not like most users will actually use what you post in any meaningful way, but if you can break down a complex thought or process in a visually-attractive way, you’re golden.
Those are general ideas – Pinterest requires creativity, and in order to have popular boards, you need to get your thinking cap on.
Promotional pins
Like we said before, if you post a simple product shot on a white background, your results will probably be less than satisfactory – and your board will take on a different dynamic from the typical Pinterest board.
Your products need to be presented in an attractive enough way where even if someone doesn’t need or plan on buying the product, he or she still found value in the pin.
Do it by incorporating your product into a feeling
Let’s run with the Dunkin Donuts example – if you had Dunkin Donuts’ product line and wanted to drive sales from the photo of the painted nails, you might replace the Dunkin donuts coffee cup with your mug.
Then, in the description, there would be a link to buy the mug – but it wouldn’t be a sales piece. The description would vibe with the feeling of Pinterest while still giving users the option to buy if they so choose to.
Think of your promotional pins as sales pages that are based purely on attractiveness – you need to display the product in a way that the user sees and and thinks “I like that so much that I want to have it”. This will prompt a click to the description (or your website directly, if you repinned) and get the conversion process started.
3 guidelines to making sure you’re pinning the right stuff
Before you make a pin – either promotional or non-promotional – ask yourself these three questions.
- Is my picture good enough to divert eyes away from other pictures and onto mine?
- If I were following this board, would I enjoy this pin?
- Does my pin fit well with the rest of the pins on my board?
If you answer yes to all of these questions, then you’re going in the right direction.
Pinterest: the long-term strategy
Ideally, you want to have a multitude of boards for your different product lines. This way, whenever you want to, you can create a promotional pin, put it up, and watch as you get traffic that’s interested in getting the item, not just looking at it.
As your boards grow, your reach will expand, too. On your promotional posts, you will have an ordinary user sharing them with absolutely no incentive at all – which is the literal definition of free promotion. A single successful pin can translate into a pile of sales for you.
All it takes is a bit of creativity. Set yourself up, brainstorm board ideas, put up the best pins that anyone has ever seen, and occasionally insert your products with finesse. In no time, you’ll have a strong social presence on Pinterest… and the direct revenue to show from it.
If Pinterest hasn’t been working for you in the past I hope the above tips can help turn things around. Stay tuned for Twitter and Facebook for ecommerce, and don’t forget to pin these images!
Want to learn more about how to boost revenue, and grow your followers on Pinterest? Then join the Profits on Pinterest. This is the ultimate Pinterest marketing course for small business owners and marketers.
What makes this course different is that it’s updated on a regular basis and offers lifetime access.
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