I’ll be hosting a seminar on Pinterest on Mar. 26 at 5:30 pm, at the Manfred Learning Center on Albany Shaker Rd in Latham, as part of the “Social Media for Business” Meet Up group.
Prior to the meeting, I wanted to discuss some of the aspects of Pinterest that I feel are useful and potentially profitable for small businesses.
Some of the key topics I will discuss include:
• how to set up a Pinterest page
• how to attract fans and followers
• how to develop content
• how to promote the site on an ongoing basis
For those who may not know, Pinterest is a social media site that let users “pin” pictures and graphics onto “boards” for collecting and sharing with others. I have made extensive use of Pinterest -- utilizing its rich layout and graphics -- to communicate to business associates, prospects and other followers in a graphics-based environment. Please click here for Liberteks page on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/liberteks/.
Pinterest’s graphic-based design is the secret to its success, in my opinion. Businesses must now learn how to use Pinterest to market their products and services. Many of the other popular social media sites, Twitter, LinkedIn, even Facebook, are still largely text based. Sites like Flickr, Picasa communicate through photos, but the context is limited.
As much as Facebook (& even MySpace) try to work in photos, layout and graphics in the overall mix, they don’t come close to attempting a graphics dominated environment that overwhelmingly communicates visually to the viewer (& buyer) … it’s almost intoxicating.
Hence the comparison if a picture paints a 1,000 words. Many things can be communicated simpler, faster, and more effectively visually in pictures than through text. Many learning theories demonstrate the greater teaching power of visual pictures, charts and graphs over text.
So how does this impact your business?
Already we have learned, Pinterest shoppers go to visit pages at a rate comparable to Facebook and Twitter shoppers. Also some data indicate that Pinterest users spend more money than Facebook users. Lastly Pinterest age and income demographic compare favorably with Facebook users. Check out the comparison. http://pinterest.com/pin/219409813068267553/
The bottom line is that Pinterest offers some favorable reason to establish a page to showcase and sell your business.
Here are a few ideas I would stress when developing your page:
• post both “value added information” and merchandise with care, you don’t need to (nor should you) try to sell with every item.
• watermark your pins, with either your logo, your name, or a specific or general URL back to your site.
• aggressively market to your friends, followers, colleagues, prospects, etc. to build a fan base to follow the site (Invites through your email contacts are a great place to start).
Pinterest can also be helpful for market analysis, I’d encourage everyone to go to the site and see which profiles and pictures are popular. This will give you an idea about the interests and preferences of users and your potential customers. This information will also assist you with the development of your marketing plan. Marketing is key.
Speaking of marketing, Facebook and Twitter are now linked with Pinterest, so you can promote your Pinterest Page with these sites.
I look forward to seeing you at the event. Please contact me with your questions or if you need more information.
Tags: graphics, Larry Zimbler social media, Liberteks, photos, Pinterest, visual
