As social platforms emerge with new shopping capabilities and consumers turn to those platforms for product discovery, it’s more important than ever that brands and retailers are developing their digital presence across platforms.
While this is true, it is important to also consider how you are optimizing your social presence on the platforms that will be most fruitful to your business.
Instagram is a fantastic place for displaying the personalities of figures, brands, and businesses. The primary action buttons on Instagram reflect this focus on social interactions: like, comment, and share. Instagram is where people keep up with the brands they already know they love.
But what if we told you that there is a specific place that millennials and Gen z’ers alike go hungry to discover new brands and products? That there is a magical land that they visit when they are ready to finally purchase their dream wedding rings, a place they consult as they develop and evolve their personal style and trust to supply them with niche brand and product curation?
You’re in luck! Such a place exists.
Pinterest is home to approximately 459 million users, 80% of weekly pinners report that they have discovered a new brand or product on Pinterest (1). In addition to this, 97% of searches on Pinterest do not include brand names (2). This is because the platform’s greatest strength is discovery. It is where people turn to find new brands.
Pinterest is one of the greatest curated visual search engines available, with features such as the lens which allows users to photograph objects and find visually similar products. The platform recognizes the aesthetic patterns of each user’s tastes and is able to then curate unique feeds based on what they are visually drawn to.
The primary action button on Pinterest is centered around the save, the “pin.” On a basic level, the impression that users get from Pinterest is that their time spent on the platform is not a series of engagements with the outside world, so much as it is a private collection and curation of content. It is a collection that you invest your time into. And because of that users trust Pinterest and turn to it when they are ready to invest their time and money into trying out a new brand.
It is also an efficient way for users to organize their shopping. Because of the layout with categorized boards, users can maintain their collections of brands and products that they like and may want to buy down the road in one organized place. Whereas, on Instagram and Google, copy and pasted links and saves are often lost in the sauce.
The clear question then becomes how to create content that will drive sales through Pinterest.
When approaching this content creation for this platform, consider what value your business could bring into someone’s niche collection.
What sort of board might this pin wind up on?
What sorts of resources and inspiration can my brand or retailer provide that a user would find valueble?
How should I write this pin’s caption based on keywords users are searching?
Consider each of these factors, and create your pins according!
A few extra tips to consider:
Infographics are a fantastic way for smaller retailers to make it onto Pinterest boards. For example if you are a jewelry retailer and you create an infographic on how to start a custom engagement ring, people will pin your infographic as they are browsing pins for their wedding ring board and will likely revisit your pin when the time comes to make the big decision. If you are strategic about your call to action at the end of the infographic, this could be a big win for you!
The Pinterest caption is not like the Instagram caption. Because Pinterest is so visually based, most users do not take as much time to read captions. Instead, Pinterest captions serve a similar purpose to SEO. So it is worth your while to beef up your Pinterest captions with locations, details, and every applicable adjective!
Pinterest is worth the time of any brand or retailer that wants to be discovered. It is unique to all other social platforms in it’s capabilities and purpose. The magical land of hungry consumers awaits you, and as far as digital opportunities go this is a fantastic one so don’t wait to make your debut!