A few weeks ago, we discussed the importance of visual marketing, with an emphasis on the benefits of sending holiday e-cards. This week we’d like to continue the visual marketing series with an exploration of a highly visual social network: Pinterest. Though fairly new on the social scene, Pinterest has exploded in popularity. The site has seen a 2,702.2% increase in the number of unique visitors since May of last year, and has grown to be the third most popular social media site, behind Facebook and Twitter. The exponential growth of this visual social platform speaks to the fact that we, as human beings, crave visuals.

For those who are still unsure of what Pinterest is and how it works, here is a breakdown. Pinterest is essentially a series of online bulletin boards. This structure proves that the population’s infatuation with Pinterest goes beyond its endless supply of appealing pictures, though this is its main draw. People are compelled by their very nature to organize things into categories that make sense to them. With Pinterest, users are able to create and name their own boards, which they will see displayed with the most recent pins, on their profiles. When a user clicks into a board, then he or she will see only the images, or “Pins,” assigned to that board. Upon navigation to the home page, users who are logged in will see all of the images that the other users they follow have pinned most recently. Individuals can browse the site by category, by most recent pins and by most popular pins.

Still, the site offers more than its sheer popularity to business owners; it serves up measureable results! For instance, April of this year, the referral traffic percentage from Pinterest was over double that of Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube – combined! Furthermore, when compared with shoppers referred from Facebook, those directed to online stores from Pinterest were 10% more likely to make a purchase, and those who chose to make a purchase spent twice as much as Facebook shoppers. These statistics prove that Pinterest presents a valuable visual marketing opportunity to businesses.

Have we got you Pinterested in using the site for you company? Below you’ll find our best practices to start you on your path to Pinterest success!

Pinterest for Business: Best Practices

• The Eyes Have It – Create your own profile with boards that feature your most visually appealing products. The vast majority of pins are actually “re-pins”
• Size Matters – Pins expand to full size when clicked on, so you want these full size images to be as large as possible for maximum impact with your audience
• Easy Does It – Make it easy for users to pin your content. Feature the “Pin It” button on pages of your website with pictures to make it easy for visitors to pin your images
• Share the Wealth – Don’t be (too) self-centered on Pinterest. Be sure not to pin solely branded content. Create boards that are consistent with your brand and what your customers want to see, but don’t contain pictures directly from your site
• Use Your Words – Use descriptions for your images wisely. Pinning images with extremely long descriptions detracts from the impact of your visuals, but having no descriptions at all can hurt you as well, especially when the pictures feature your products
• Know Your Target – And know who’s on Pinterest. If you’re target is 65 year old men, then this might not be the place for you, but if you market to women between the ages of 25 and 34 and your company is not on Pinterest, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity!

Want to make the most of Visual Marketing on Pinterest, but you’re not sure how to get started? Contact us to discuss a Pinterest strategy that’s right for you!