Can Pinterest help with sales? (yes it can!)
Pinterest is generally known as a great traffic driver, although it’s still under-utilised by so many businesses! But does Pinterest traffic convert? And more specifically does Pinterest traffic convert to sales? The short answer is absolutely yes.
Read on to find out why you should be using Pinterest to boost your sales.
WHY YOU SHOULD BE USING PINTEREST FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Pinterest is a powerful search and visual discovery engine. It’s a place where people go to get inspiration, make plans, and buy.
With over 450 million active users, Pinterest can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to increase their visibility, reach new audiences, and drive sales.
Here are a few ways Pinterest can help with sales:
- Increase brand awareness: Pinterest can help businesses increase their visibility and reach new audiences by showcasing their products or services through visually appealing pins.
- Drive website traffic: Pinterest can drive traffic to a business’s website by including links to product pages, blog posts, or landing pages in their pins.
- Increase sales: Pinterest users are often looking for inspiration and ideas for future purchases, making it an ideal platform for businesses to showcase their products and drive sales.
- Targeted advertising: Pinterest offers targeted advertising options that allow businesses to reach specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and behaviours. This post focuses on organic Pinterest traffic, Pinterest has a good post about ads here that’s definitely worth a look if you’re considering running ads on Pinterest.
Why Pinterest can help with sales
Pinterest is set-up to drive traffic off its platform. You have an amazing number of chances to get people off Pinterest and on to your site/landing page.
Compare that to Instagram. Even with the latest addition to links in Stories for everyone, you will not have anywhere near the amount of links you can get on Pinterest. Instagram is designed to keep people on Instagram, not drive traffic away.
What are the stats for Pinterest’s potential for sales and other conversions?
Where is the evidence?
And how can you find out if Pinterest is a platform you should be on?
Let’s find out!
Why You Should Be Using Pinterest for Business
Pinners are different to Instagram users, for instance, as they come to Pinterest with different intent. Pinners are actively looking for shopping ideas or inspiration they can use in their lives.
Pinterest users are largely women with men the fastest growing demographic recently. Pinterest users are high earners and use Pinterest to get inspiration for their daily life as well as big life events (like weddings and births).
New research shows that Pinterest reaches an amazing 60% of American women, you can find out some of the things they’re searching Pinterest for in this article.
This makes it much easier for those of us who find selling uncomfortable! We are actually answering the needs of people who are actively searching for us- not interrupting their scrolling.
In fact, 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest, that’s quite an amazing stat!
This makes it much easier for those of us who find selling uncomfortable! We are actually answering the needs of people who are actively searching for us- not interrupting their scrolling.
Still not convinced? Here’s more stats (I like stats).
“Nine out of ten Pinners (that’s almost everyone we talked to!) described Pinterest as filled with positivity. And 85% said Pinterest is where they go when they want to start a new project. Only 26% had the same to say about their social media channels”. (source)
“People also thought Pinterest was great for finding ideas: Nearly two-thirds (64%) of them described our platform as a place to find ideas, products or services they can trust. That’s more than twice as many as those who said the same about social.” (source).
My own clients have seen a boost in sales thanks to Pinterest. Pinterest isn’t a silver bullet though, it takes time and patience and a good understanding of how Pinterest works. You can find out how to increase conversions from Pinterest here and also how to boost your Pinterest strategy with keywords here.
We used Pinterest from the beginning. For us, it was the perfect platform to build inspiration for our future company. We found it super simple and very intuitive. We are both photographers, adventure-seekers and very visual people. Pinterest captivated us. We enjoy using personally, but as a business as well. – The Future Kept
How to know if your customers are on Pinterest?
All the stats and information overwhelmingly say that you should be on Pinterest if you want to reach your audience and potential customers. But how do you know if your business should be on there?
I think almost any business should be on Pinterest. Some just require a bit more creativity to make it work (say dentistry for instance).
Here’s a few quick tips for checking if your business (or blog- if you’re not blogging as a hobby then I count a blog as a business btw!).
Go to Pinterest and search some keywords relating to your business. Let’s say you are a jeweller and you make handmade rings. If I search for handmade rings, this comes up:
Not only do I get a tonne of pins related to the search I also get lots of guided search boxes. This is good! That means this brings a high volume of searches and that confirms your business should be on there.
If you do a search that brings little results you could try a synonym or a related category.
I tried searches like dentist and car parts and even those brought up loads and loads of Pins and guided search! In fact it’s harder to find a business that should not be on Pinterest.
Pinterest for Business Case Studies
If you’re still unsure, have a look at how other businesses have used Pinterest, from bloggers through to Burberry and Ikea. This is a really interesting insight into how other businesses have used Pinterest in a variety of ways and might give you some inspiration too! Read how businesses market on Pinterest here.
“Our Shopping campaign proved that people come to Pinterest with a strong intent to purchase. They’re not just looking for pretty ideas—they want help bringing their visions to life.”- Rebecca Walsh, Senior Marketing Analyst, Lowe’s
“In the visual economy, never before has there been so much content competing for our attention and affection. Idea Pins help us create inspiring content, better interact with our audiences and build more engaged communities.”
Morgan McTiernan, Social Media Manager, Canva
I have been working with small businesses and some bigger brands for over 6 years as a Pinterest marketer and I’ve seen first hand how Pinterest can impact sales. Read this Pinterest case study from one of my own clients.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
If you’re considering exploring Pinterest for your business or need help with your strategy contact me below. I would love to help you use Pinterest for business or you can see my Pinterest Services here.