Just because you don’t literally “sell” online doesn’t mean you shouldn’t act as you do. Instead of “buy now” your site may have “visit our store” or “contact us” buttons. That’s fine but Pinterest can still be a place where you can expand your audience and ultimately your sales.
Whatever form your online conversions take, you do eventually sell something to someone even if that is offline. For you, using an online platform, including Pinterest, should be considered another method of demand generation and that’s an integral part of keeping the flow of new prospects coming your way.
Here are four ways that you can put Pinterest to work for you:
Content on Pinterest does a good (and I mean really good) job of luring search engines, especially the big guys. If for no other reason than that, you should be there. That said, you will want to use it properly so that the content Google sees is worthy of being returned in a SERP.
- Tell the Story
Don’t just show your products or services, show what they do for people. A dry-cleaning business or hair salon would feature a picture of people in everyday life situations looking good, feeling happy and excelling. The message here—our dry cleaning or our hair services will help you be your best. The more you can elicit emotion here, the better. Make your images vivid and full of feeling.
- Reverse Showroom
Showrooming is the term used when a shopper sees an item in a store, goes home and scours the Internet to find and buy it for less. Don’t just give in to this and assume there’s nothing you can do about it. Turn this around by creating Pinterest content so compelling that people will want to come and see your store in person. Tada—reverse showrooming.
- Stimulate Engagement
Avoid the tendency to make your Pinterest content a visual monologue. Host a contest or even a charity fundraiser in which people are called to participate in some way. It may be that every pin is an entry into a contest or a pledge for a certain amount of money toward a designated cause (bonus points to you if your cause can somehow be related to your brand).
The last three of these tips play directly into the first. Remember, SEO is more and more about the nature of your content and its relevance to your audience. When you paint the picture of how your service or product impacts customers’ lives, you are directly telling Google that your content is in fact very relevant to your audience. If your pins are good enough to get people to want to come to your physical location, they’ll be good enough for Google to want to take notice. If your campaigns generate activity from your followers, those big search engine eyes will take note.
So, if you’ve been holding out on adding Pinterest to your social platform mix just because you’re not an e-commerce company through-and-through, just stop. Now is the time to get in the game and harness the power that this platform holds for you.
