Pinterest. What is in a name? To me Pinterest can be broken down into two separate words, pin and interest. The site allows you to pin (aka save and organize) pictures, links, ideas, songs, etc. that interest you. When you lookup Pinterest on Wikipedia, it tells you that it is a personalized media platform that allows users to upload, save, sort, and manage images - known as pins - and other media content (e.g., videos) through collections known as pinboards. Even Pinterest's CEO Ben Silbermann explains the company as a "catalog of ideas," rather than as a social network, that inspires users to "go out and do that thing." Pinterest is a place for people to dream, to think about the future and what they want it to be like, and to organize all of those things in one place. It allows people to aspire to greater things whether that is traveling, trying new foods, living a healthier lifestyle, or giving themselves a makeover. Pinterest is there to help people think, plan, and organize, and ultimately, have fun!Pinterest provides a lot of valuable tools for businesses and good analytics to make their use of Pinterest more productive. Pinterest allows businesses to see when someone saves their pin and also when someone saves something directly from their website, whether they have the Pin It button or not. This can be useful to businesses because it allows them to see popular pins and also popular items from the website that they maybe hadn't thought of pinning yet. Pinterest also allows its business users to see the common interests people who are pinning their pins have and also what other businesses they are pinning from/following.
Some other great features that help business users drive people to their website/stores are rich pins. There are currently six type of rich pins apps, movies, recipes, articles, products, and places. Rich pins allow people to download, price/buy, find directions, etc. all without leaving Pinterest. Pinterest also allows businesses to buy promoted pins. In order to do this you must be a US or UK based company, but promoted pins help with awareness, engagement, and traffic. Here is an example of a promoted pin that I saw on my Pinterest feed today for Warby Parker glasses. I've been searching for new glasses for a few months now and have visited their site previously and now they are showing up in my feed. A great thing about promoted pins is that most users of Pinterest don't really see them as advertisements. It is just another pin in your feed as you are scrolling down. I think this really plays to the advantage of the business because consumers won't feel like you are bombarding them with ad all the time.Pinterest use for business may not be for everyone though. Since 84% of the users are female, it may not make sense for a company with men as their target demographic to be present on the site. An interesting study done by RJMetrics found that females who signed up for Pinterest four years ago are still using the site and that their usage actually grew greater with time. Also it is the perfect platform for products targeting women ages 19-39. It provides an easy way to buy products in just a few clicks. The site is image focused, which is what a lot of younger people prefer so they can actually see the product/services/etc. Pinterest search feature is also very cool. You can search for almost anything and then it will recommend more specific filters within that search that you might be interested.
One main pitfall for businesses to be aware of is that their Pinterest boards should be well organized and maintained. I know as a user that I hate visiting someone's page that has very vague board descriptions and things that aren't well organized. Becoming a pinterest guru takes time, but I think it is pretty easy for any business to get started on the platform as long as their target market is active on the site. I think a good rule of thumb for businesses is to have a game plan before creating their profile. Figure out what types of boards you are going to have and what you are going to pin. Will you only pin items from your website or will you also have inspiration boards that link to other businesses? Who will be in charge of your Pinterest and how often should they be pinning? Personally, I know that it is way too easy to get lost on Pinterest and before you know it you've wasted 3 hours pinning party planning tips and costumes for your future dog. So businesses should be aware of this because it can help their pins get more attention, but they will also want to avoid those distractions for the people posting their pins.
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