While Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ may have established a firm footing on the social media scene, one site that has gained a lot of ground, especially in the last couple of years is Pinterest. Several well-known brands have undertaken brand awareness and promotion campaigns on this site in a subtle way and you too can do the same for your brand.
Here are some important facts about Pinterest and its rise in the social media scene. Pinterest was started in February 2010 and users were allowed in only by invitation, which initially numbers on in the hundreds. However, by February 2012, this social media site had a healthy following of 10 million followers in the US that increased to 27 million by July-2012 as per a study done by Nielsen.
The study also revealed that all these Pinterest followers were spread equally by way of youngsters, middle-aged people, and seniors. Compared to these figures, Twitter and Instagram usually appeal to a younger crowd with most followers being in the age group of between 18 to 29 years.
Other interesting facts provided by Experian Hitwise pegged Pinterest on the top thirty websites for total page views in the US during March 2012.
Pinterest launched their Pinterest for Business during November of 2012 and this feature has resulted in 3 out of 5 from the top 100 global brands having a presence on this site. The follower base for all these brands has doubled in the first quarter of 2013. Retail brands seem to have the most number of followers on Pinterest.
If you have established a presence on other social media sites, then you should certainly consider including Pinterest in your SEO as well as social media strategy.
However, before jumping in to market your brand aggressively on this site, you need to conduct a survey of your target market and its members. You need to know their likes and dislikes and the kind of information including visuals that they prefer.
Next, you need to form relevant themes and begin boards based on those themes. Make sure you pin eye-catching images while ignoring the need to aggressively promote your brand. Allow other members to become inspired by your board and allow them to add images and ideas to your boards to build that all-important trust with you and your business. You can subtly display the values that power your business or brand to further leverage your brand over time.
Since Pinterest promotes a business ambience in a casual manner, you must remember to stay true to that idea and to have fun as you learn, even as you burn your brand into other followers’ minds in a very passive way.
You can learn a lot by looking at the Starbucks profile at Pinterest. Furthermore, in search results done for brand terms, 1 of 3 brands that have a presence on Pinterest show up on these results, which should show you the SEO potential of having a presence on this site.
If you want to visually promote your brand and your business in a non-aggressive and fun way then you should certainly establish your presence on Pinterest. You will be able to reach out to a wider audience that follow this niche site and also enhance online visibility through search results.