Amanda Clark
It’s a simple enough question: Is it worthwhile for small businesses to embrace the social marketing power of Pinterest?
And at first blush, there would seem to be several reasons to answer in the affirmative. If you know anything at all about Pinterest as a marketing tool, you know that it’s uniquely powerful in reaching women; that its image-heavy nature lends itself well to photogenic products; and that Pinterest tends to empower a lot of social sharing.
With that said, it’s also easy enough for small business owners to think of Pinterest as too time-consuming, or as less powerful and important than Facebook and Twitter. As such, many small business owners will enter 2015 without a Pinterest strategy in place—yet according to a recent Search Engine Journal article, that may be a mistake.
Reconsidering Pinterest
The article, by Jean Dion, comes with a simple premise; its title promises ‘3 Reasons to Use Pinterest in 2015.’ Those three reasons are worth taking one at a time:
- First, there’s the familiar reason for joining Pinterest: It’s a great way to reach women. This is something we all know by now, yet it’s important enough to stress it here, which Dion does: “If your business sells a product that’s made just for women, you’ll need to go where they like to go, and push your products on the sites they like to use.” What you may not realize is just how well Pinterest works when you want to reach women; according to Dion, 80 percent of the social network’s users are women, and more than 90 percent of its pins (“shares”) are made by women. The point is simple: If your business wants to reach women but it doesn’t employ Pinterest, it’s missing out on a significant tool.
- Dion goes on to note that, on Pinterest, it’s okay to post on weekends. We take a minor issue with this; we have noted just recently that “off-hours,” including nights and weekends, can actually be ideal times for posting to Facebook, as well. Nevertheless, what Dion shares about Pinterest is compelling: “The best time to post on Facebook is between 6am and 8am, Monday through Friday. But on Pinterest, the best time to post is Saturday morning. Clearly, if your only open time is on the weekend, you really should be using Pinterest.”
- Dion ends by noting that, if your products or services lend themselves to photography, then Pinterest is simply a must. This is especially true of companies that work in food and drink, crafts, home décor, and DIY projects.
So should your small business be on Pinterest? If any of the above three points sound like significant advantages, then the answer is probably yes. The Grammar Chic team can help you make this decision, and also help you formulate the best Pinterest strategy.
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