Is Pinterest Good for Small Businesses?
If you're a brand or a creator, you've probably found yourself contemplating if Pinterest is worth exploring for your business. That's the million-dollar question, and for a good reason.
A lot of brands and creators praise the platform for the transformative effect its had on their business. So, if you ask me the question: Is Pinterest good for small businesses?
My answer has always been and will always be YES! In this blog post, we'll explore some of the reasons why Pinterest can help your business. We'll also discuss expectations and why you should take some of the claims you see online with caution.
A Quick Pinterest Refresher
In case you are new to the platform, Pinterest is a visual discovery engine founded in 2010. If we had to compare any platform to Pinterest, it would be Google, Bing, or any other search engine. Pinterest users, who are often referred to as Pinners, perform searches on the platform by using various keywords to discover something specific that they are looking for.
Like many other platforms out there, you can use Pinterest organically or with the help of paid advertising for your business. When you use the platform organically, it's important to know that content takes time to rank up in searches. It's also important to note that success on Pinterest is widely associated with using relevant keywords, optimizing your content and the experience that you provide on your website, landing page and so on. Pinterest is not a magic solution for businesses that are struggling.
Some popular pin types and features on Pinterest are video pins and the additional features available when you create content on the mobile app.
Why Should Small Businesses Use Pinterest?
If you've made it this far, it's likely because you're seriously considering using Pinterest for your small business, and that is music to my ears. Let's dive into a few of the reasons why you should consider Pinterest.
You didn't start your business for it not to reach as many ideal clients as possible. You have an amazing business, and leveraging Pinterest can drive evergreen traffic, leads and growth for your brand or blog.
97% of Pinterest searches are non-branded. This means you will get discovered if you use relevant keywords in your content. An example would be if a shopper was looking for luggage, they will search for keywords such as "compact luggage" or " blue carry-on luggage," something specific they are looking for. This allows businesses and brands of all sizes to have the same chance regarding discoverability.
85% of Pinners say that Pinterest is where they go when they want to start a new project. This means that Pinterest becomes their go-to platform for discoverability and planning...getting them closer to discovering your solution.
80% of weekly pinners have made the discovery of a new product or even a new brand. This means that optimized content gets in front of customers.
Since pinners are planners, you can create content that helps them at various stages of their journey.
Pinterest is an incredible top-of-funnel platform. A powerful tool to get a new audience in your funnel. For those who may not be familiar with the term, think of a funnel as a journey or steps that you take to take a cold audience (a stranger) and warm up your audience to the point of becoming a customer.
A few other reasons include that Pinterest is known for being a platform that makes its users feel good, so beyond the possible evergreen content and getting discovered by your ideal clients, leveraging a platform that works hard to create a positive experience for all of its users is a smart step for any business to consider.
Given that Pinterest provides the ability to create content in various formats and styles, this makes it easy for brands to think about the different learning styles and diversify their content type.
Things to Be Cautious About
Most Pinterest strategists who have been working with the platform for a long time will agree that results take time. This is no different than other platforms since you need to do your research, establish a strategy, rinse and repeat to get the results you want.
With Pinterest, I always tell my clients to go it a good year or no less than six months to see tangible results. These results, of course, will depend on your goals, business, and external factors that go beyond Pinterest. This does not mean that you go six months to a year with no results; of course, you see an increase in your metrics month over month.
Now, what should you be cautious about? If you've noticed an increase in videos and posts claiming that you can earn large sums of revenue with affiliate marketing by using Pinterest, approach this with caution. While Pinterest does allow for affiliate marketing, seeing the results that you want takes the same amount of work and effort as any other business on Pinterest.
Some of these videos often share their "monthly views" as a benchmark for success on the platform. You should know monthly views are not traffic to your website or other sources. Monthly views are the total views your account receives in a month.
The monthly views you see on the surface of a Pinterest account include the total monthly views, including curated content. Curated content is when you save interesting content you discover on Pinterest to one of your boards.
You can define your monthly views in your analytics to include only the monthly views associated with your website.
In order to have success on Pinterest for affiliate marketing, you need to provide a good experience; think about creating a top-of-funnel experience that converts and optimize your content. Sharing your affiliate links over and over without sending your audience to a blog post or other resource won't help you see the results you could see with a proper strategy in place.
In fact, you need to ensure you are following the community guidelines on affiliate marketing. No matter what type of business you have, these key factors always stay the same.
The bottom line is to always be cautious when you see advice online about getting quick results. When in doubt, if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is. I regularly see incredible results in terms of email list growth, traffic and leads for my clients, and it doesn't happen overnight. Being very passionate about the platform and its potential, I always set expectations with anyone when I share results.
How to Use Pinterest with Affiliate Marketing
I've seen a lot of videos about affiliate marketing and Pinterest on TikTok. I want to ensure that you're set up for success while adhering to the Pinterest community guidelines.
Follow this process to see better results when you use Pinterest for affiliate marketing.
For the purpose of this blog, we'll pretend that we have an affiliate link for a travel experience provider. You want to promote a link related to a Disney Cruise. If someone were to click on your link and then make a purchase, you would receive a commission payment.
Step 1: Do keyword research on Pinterest to find what keywords are being used on the platform related to travel and Disney Cruises.
Step 2: Then, you'll go to Answer the Public and enter the keyword "Disney Cruise." Choose one of the common questions displayed. Use that question as your blog topic (even as your title if it makes sense.)
Step 3: You'll write your blog post or your free guide. Example: Everything you need to know about Disney Cruises or The top five best Disney Cruises.
Step 4: Once your guide or blog post is created, don't forget to add outbound links to your content that will lead the reader to your affiliate offers.
Source: https://policy.pinterest.com/en/section-affiliate-guidelines
Step 5: Now, create 5 to 7 different Pinterest graphics or videos and test out different variations of your text overlay on the graphics and titles.
Step 6: Publish your content to Pinterest, and don't forget to incorporate your keywords in your pin titles, descriptions etc.
Step 7: Regularly create new content that is helpful and educational where you can include your affiliate links. Ensure that you include affiliate link disclosures as required in your posts.
Step 8: Regularly review the affiliate guidelines for Pinterest to ensure you follow the rules.
Step 9: Give it time, and remember to be consistent.
Step 10: Remember that monthly views don't equate to traffic. You'll want to spend time looking at your data and identifying which pin styles and keywords drive the most traffic for you so that you can create more similar content.
If you are looking for a platform that has the potential to drive ongoing traffic to your website and increase your brand visibility and your leads, Pinterest is the platform for you. Just remember that you will need to give the platform time, and it is absolutely worth it.
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