Blogmutt is a family business. We understand that sometimes it is difficult cover all the bases. We also understand that small business owners can always increase their knowledge base because we are not know-it-alls.
Perhaps your company is lagging in the social media department. If that’s the case, today’s post is perfect for you. It is an introduction on social media for small businesses. We will be talking about Pinterest.
You may have noticed your personal and professional Facebook friends following Pinterest boards, creating boards, and pinning pictures, but why should you care?
Because Pinterest is not a fad. It is a social media platform that was created in 2009, and it has outperformed Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Not only that Stephanie Scott, a Social Media Specialist for American Airlines, explains in a SCORE webinar that since Pinterest’s inception it has:
- Increased from 1 million users to 20 million users between 2011 and 2012
- Driven traffic back to the original website, thereby increasing revenue
Simply said, if you do not have a Pinterest account, you are not increasing your online visibility, you are shrinking it. To remedy this situation create a Pinterest account, but before you embark on that journey let’s discuss what Pinterest is, and how it can help you.
Pinterest is a very visual place where you can easily broadcast your brand. With Pinterest you can pin your logo, sales promotions, or give your customers a behind the scenes look.
Before we talk about how Pinterest can help your business, let’s differentiate between a personal account and a business account. Pinterest users have the ability to pin pictures to virtual boards that they create. Pin boards typically have categories such as Products, Technology, Home Decor, and Gardening. Users pin pictures that inspire them, or they may pin products that they would like to purchase.
While personal users pin items that they would like to purchase, and items that inspire them. Businesses can pin pictures that inspires customers to make purchases. Each pin is connected to the website where the picture was pinned from. For example, if your company is having a promotion on a specific item, and you have a striking photo of the product you could pin the picture from your online shopping page. If a pinterest user wanted to purchase the item they would click on the photo. They would be taken to your online store, and to make their purchase they would add it to their shopping cart.
And one of the best parts about Pinterest is that you can share your pins on Facebook and Twitter, if you choose.
If you need ideas for your Pinterest business account, visit Southwest Airlines Pinterest page to see how they have shared their brand.
As always, if you would like us to fill up your blog contact us. Just as with the other social networks, you can then have something to pin on your Pinterest board that links back to your site, instead of just linking elsewhere.
This post showed me something important: The blog posts on my company blog don’t necessarily need to be things that I’m an expert in, or indeed that I know anything about. I’m one of those that just doesn’t get Pinterest, but the writer gets it and made a great post. Blogmutt has a pin cushion, or whatever you call the page on Pinterest. (It’s here.) The point of a company blog for most small companies is made clear here, however, and the point is this: It’s great to do Twitter and all the rest, including Pinterest, but if all you do is link to other places you aren’t doing yourself much good. At least once per week you want to link back to your own business, and to do that you need fresh, original content. If you can write the posts on your own, good for you! If you need help, we’re here for you. — Scott