Get access to The Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Checklist here!

If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you should marketing your business on Pinterest, you’re not alone.

With so many marketing channels to choose from you need to be very selective with your focus. When you try and market yourself on every platform you usually end up overwhelmed and frustrated.

That’s mainly because you’re trying to do everything and be everywhere without truly understanding what it takes to succeed on each platform. Every marketing platform is different and eventually you can be on every single one – but not in the beginning.

Not until you’ve tapped into one or two channels properly and your business is consistently profitable.

Okay now that the official intro side of things is complete, let’s dive into the Pinteresting side of things.

Here’s why I fully believe content creators should be running over to Pinterest saying, “LET ME IN!! I’m the best thing that’ll ever happen to you!! TRUST ME!!”. 🏃‍♀️

“Pinterest is where people go to discover, dream and do.” – Pinterest.

Discover. Dream. Do.

Isn’t that just the BEST description for Pinterest ever?

I’ve tried explaining Pinterest to many people but this description captures the heart of what Pinterest is all about.

But, I get it, it doesn’t exactly explain why as a content creator you should be using it as a marketing channel so I’m gonna spill the tea (it used to be beans but 🤷) and show you why you should be using it in the next 10 steps.

You may not even make it to the last one before you’re hopping over to Pinterest signing up and getting your Pinterester face on.

Yes, it’s a real word.
I made it official by giving it a definition because, you know, that’s how I roll.

Pinterester (noun); A business owner who uses Pinterest strategically and effectively for their business and makes all their biz besties a little jealous with their traffic numbers.

Okay, get back on topic Kathryn…

Pinners use Pinterest in these 4 distinct ways:

They’re looking for ideas (for something specific like different ways to wear their jelly sandals with jeans – apparently 90s things are making a come-back 💾)

They’re looking for answers/ solutions (to their unique questions like vegan tofurkey recipe – yep, it’s a real thing. I’m vegan but I haven’t tried it yet)

They’re looking for inspiration (whether it’s related to their house goals, fitness goals, business goals, travel goals or anything really, they’re searching for inspiration to help them narrow down what they want)

They’re looking to acquire knowledge on a specific topic (like how to get started with email marketing or sales funnels or photography)

In almost every niche out there pinners are searching for these 4 things and your brand can become THE go-to source for inspiration, solutions, knowledge and ideas.

You can be the brand in your niche that helps your ideal client discover, dream and do WITH you.

10 reasons why CONTENT CREATORS should USE Pinterest as a marketing channel:

1. Pinterest influences how people make purchases

Pinners use Pinterest to plan important events and activities in their lives. Once they’ve planned for these activities, they’re ready to take action to make them happen. They use their Pinterest planning to help them make informed decisions about what purchases to make.

When they’re deciding what to buy they come back to what they’ve searched for and saved on Pinterest.

Here are some interesting research results:

93% of pinners use Pinterest to PLAN their purchases [source]

72% of pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy OFFLINE [source]

66% of pinners BUY something after seeing a brand’s pins [source]

90% of pinners say Pinterest helps them DECIDE what to purchase [source]

Pinterest clearly plays a big part in helping people make purchases, plan purchases and get the inspiration or ideas they need before they begin planning.

As a content creator you can give show up in front of them during these stages and become the person they choose to buy from. Whether your content leads to affiliate products, your own products, high-ticket services or experiences you can use Pinterest to influence their purchasing decisions.

2. People on Pinterest are Ready to Buy Your Products

We just saw above that 66% of pinners buy something after seeing a brand’s pins. 1 out of 2 people have also made a purchase after seeing a promoted pin [source]

There are a number of reasons why people on Pinterest are ready to buy your products sooner than on Social Media sites.

With the visual nature of Pinterest, your customer gets to SEE your product directly on Pinterest, they can often see the price (if you have Rich Pins enabled), they can see if it’s in stock. They’re only seeing your pin if it falls within something they’ve actively searched for OR something they’ve shown an interest in. All of these factors help reduce the objections your customers have towards buying your product.

Pinners are on a journey when they see a brand’s pins. they’re either in the discovery stage, planning stage, decision making stage or purchasing stage. As they move through these stages they use Pinterest to source ideas, inspiration and potential solutions/ products. When they reach the buying stage they act on pins quickly.

The difference between other social media channels and Pinterest lies in the fact that pinners use it to SEARCH for and DISCOVER new ideas. They’re actively looking for inspiration and solutions so when your pin showcases the perfect solution they’re more likely to act on it.

3. pinterest is a visual search engine

“If Google and Instagram had a baby we’d call it Pinterest”, is the phrase I often share when trying to communicate the power of Pinterest.

Pinterest has search engine functionality (similar to Google) and visual aesthetics (similar to Instagram).

Why is that important though?

When someone searches for something on Google, they get a text based result but if they search on Pinterest they get a visual result.

According to the Sage Handbook of political communication, the brain processes VISUAL information 60 000 times faster than the time it takes to decode text. 🤯[source]

Not only do they process the information faster, but it’s easier to identify which pin aligns with what we’re searching for based on the quality and clarity of the pin image.

When a pinner is searching for inspiration for their new bedroom, they don’t want text based results they want visual results. They want to SEE what they could do in their new bedroom space.

That means a company that sells bedding sets can showcase their bedding in themed bedroom pin images. They’re giving the pinner the inspiration they’re looking for (boho chic, navy sailor, blush tones etc.) and they’re showcasing their own product. That pinner can now take action on buying the bedding if that is the style they want.

Instead of having to tear a picture out of a magazine, take it to the store and try and find something similar to that they can simple SAVE THE PIN, CLICK ON THE PIN AND BUY THE PRODUCT from the comfort of their own home – with very little effort.

If at this point you’re already thinking YES, I NEED TO BE ON PINTEREST. Then I’ve got just the thing that’ll help you get started using Pinterest effectively as a content creator. I created the free Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Checklist to help you take the right action steps.

After you go through it, you’ll have a fully setup, search engine optimized Pinterest account AND you’ll know exactly what things to do every week to keep Pinterest sending you targeted traffic.

Are you a Pinterest manager? Click here to get the Pinterest checklist for Pinterest Managers

4. Pinners are open to your marketing

Why is it that when we scroll through Facebook, we get so fed up that we’re constantly seeing business ads but when we’re on Pinterest we don’t mind it at all?

PURPOSE.

What is the purpose for being on each platform?

Generally you’ll find Facebook users are wanting to connect, chat and share experiences with friends and family. They also want to SEE what those friends and family members are doing. They don’t want to see your magical toilet cleaning product that promises to fix all their toilet cleaning phobias – because their purpose for being on Facebook wasn’t to find a toilet cleaner or anything related to that.

When that same individual is on Pinterest, they may be looking for bathroom organization ideas. As they dive into the bathroom category on Pinterest your pin pops up under bathroom cleaning tips or bathroom hacks. They’ve actively searched for a topic related to your product and now when they see your product, they’re open to exploring that idea.

Why? Because they were on Pinterest for a purpose and they USE Pinterest to “discover, dream and do”.

Your product pin FITS into this space and they are happy to discover this kind of content. They’re not on Pinterest to see what Aunt Sally is up to this weekend because that’s not the purpose of the platform.

Here are some fun facts (according to Ahology’s research) that validates how different Pinterest is to other social media platforms.

Two-thirds of the content saved to Pinterest comes from businesses.

83% of pinners would rather follow their favourite brand than their favourite celebrity

73% of pinners would rather follow their favourite brand of beauty proucts than their favourite make up artist

67% of pinners would rather follow their favourite brand of baby products than their favourite baby expert

70% of pinners would rather follow their favourite brand of hair care products than their favourite stylist.

BUT WAIT…

What if you ARE that make-up artist, hair stylist or baby expert?

Is Pinterest good for you? Yes, it could be.
The key thing here is to realize that pinners are searching for ideas, solutions and knowledge. If you can provide that through your content then you’ll become their favourite “brand” so to speak.

On Instagram you’re building an audience of people who want to know what coffee you’re drinking, what coffee pot you’re using, how often you drink coffee and everything in between. On Pinterest, you’re providing pinners with content they’re searching for to help them achieve their goals or plans. You’re not there to become online BFFs, you’re there to be a resource of information, ideas and inspiration throughout their journey.

Thankfully, it’s easy to be that resource since you’re already creating content for your blog, online store or website.

5. Pinterest is a big source of referral traffic

Pinterest is a visual search engine that links any image you share on Pinterest to a URL of your choice. When you add your product, service or content to Pinterest using a pin image you can make sure that the pin leads directly to the desired page on your website.

Pinterest is also designed to be a traffic generator. They purposefully allow you to add website addresses to each image in order to encourage people to click away and visit that link. Pinterest has also said that they encourage you to send a pinner to the content on your website that matches the pin image. You don’t want to promote 10 reasons why content creators should use Pinterest for their business and then send them to a cranberry recipe or worse your overall blog page where they then have to hunt for the post. That is frustrating and will leave pinners unsatisfied.

Pinterest wants their users to search for new ideas and inspiration. They want them to save these ideas and be able to easily take action on those ideas. That is why they’ve made it really easy for pinners to get what they’re looking for by sending them to that unique website page.

With so many platforms wanting to keep their users on the platform, Pinterest is encouraging visitors to move off the platform to get what they want. They have created an easy way for pinners to navigate back to Pinterest though, which is helpful for the pinner.

Why would Pinterest want to send people to a website instead of keep them on Pinterest? Personally, I think (#notafact) Pinterest wants pinners to find what they’re looking for and create the life they desire. The more Pinterest can give them exactly what they’re looking for the more users will come back and use it again and again. That is good for business.

As a content creator you’re trying to get traffic to your content. Pinterest is one of the main traffic generators. 🎤 There was no mic drop emoji so this will have to do.

6. content on pinterest has a longer shelf life

Pins on Pinterest are evergreen – they last forever.

Pinterest is a search engine which means a pinner can discover your pin years after you’ve added it to Pinterest. They simply have to search a keyword that you’ve added to your pin and it will show up.

While other marketing channels are focused on the most recent content showing up in your feed, Pinterest is focused on quality content that is related to what they searched for (or are interested in). Now they do have rules in place that will mix the freshest content on Pinterest with older good quality pins to give Pinterest users the best chance of finding what they’re looking for.

Freshest pins are favoured in certain areas on Pinterest, however high quality evergreen content can show up for years and will be mixed in. The key to getting that traffic year after year is to make sure your audience is interested in that content. The more engagement it receives over time the longer it’ll remain at the top of the search results.

Think of a google search you did recently.

The results that came up may have been from 2 years ago. If it’s still relevant you’ll click on it. You often see content that is older (but still relevant) and newer content on that first page of Google. In the same way, Pinterest has mixed fresh content with older content into their SmartFeed.

Now tell me you don’t want traffic to your content for years. I dare you 😂 let me know in the comments if you’re like, nope I don’t want people to see my content in a year from now.

7. Pinterest helps you discover what your audience wants

When using Pinterest as a business, you’ll get access to Pinterest analytics. This feature can give you insight into new trends, popular topics/products and what your audience wants more of.

Your analytics report, showcases the content on Pinterest your audience engaged with in the past 30-90 days. This insight allows you to know what content they want more of, when they want that content and the type of content they’re not interested in.

As you track the type of content your audience engages with each month (for an entire year) you’ll be able to see what trends emerge. You may find that every January your audience engages with ANYTHING related to time management and in November they’re focused on physical or digital planners.

This type of information allows you to leverage the core monthly topic of interest, by creating more content related to that topic during that month. You may also choose to share more content related to that topic during that month.

This allows you to improve your results during the peaks and dips in engagement throughout the year. No more guessing what people want from you!

8. You're on the customer journey at every point

Pinners, like most purchasers, are on a buying journey. They need to move from discovery all the way to purchase and Pinterest helps with that.

Pinners discover ideas and find inspirational content on Pinterest. They save these ideas begin comparing, refining and dreaming up their perfect reality. Then once they have confidence in their choice they make a purchase – often because of a pin.

When you join your ideal client on this journey and show up at each stage you’re more likely to end up in the finals – the purchase stage!

When you start by giving them a mix of inspirational pins that are ACTIONABLE – you’re helping them move through that journey with you. As you provide a variety of ways to view that product through various pin images and you lead them to a sales page that helps them overcome any objections you’re directing the journey.

Whether it’s a product, a course or a digital product you’re showing up throughout their buying journey.

9. Pinner are shown targeted content

Pinterest shows pinners content that is targeted to them. They’re seeing content based on their interests, what they’ve searched for in the past, who they’ve followed and what they’ve engaged with.

When they search for something they’ll see content related to the keyword they used in the search bar. It’s specific and designed to help them move through Pinterest easily and FIND what they’re looking for.

When you add pins to Pinterest, and you use keyword targeting, your pin will show up in front of a pinner that is likely to take action on that pin. No more throwing content out there hoping everyone will click on it. Now you’re focusing in on people that WANT what you have to offer, that are INTERESTED in your content and are more likely to take action.

Targeted content means higher conversions. The content creators dream!

10. Pinterest is begging for new content

Pinterest is filled with content and they know that more and more users are searching for solutions and new ideas. They want content creators to use their platform because that is how they give their pinners what they want.

Pinterest has added in new ways to leverage fresh content from good quality content creators. They’ve ensured that fresh content appears in all the feeds (yes there is more than just one) and in the related search section.

Content creators are key to Pinterest’s growth which is why they’ve been constantly improving how they leverage great quality content across Pinterest to ensure it gets the exposure it deserves.

If you’ve got great content, Pinterest wants it.

By now you must either be thinking nope Pinterest isn’t for me or YES, I NEED TO BE ON PINTEREST. If it’s a yes, then I’ve got just the thing that’ll help you get started using Pinterest effectively as a content creator. I created the free Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Checklist to help you take the right action steps.