Do you know that you can go shopping on Pinterest?
More importantly: do you realize that your customers can go shopping on Pinterest?
In fact, Pinterest presents digital marketers with the best of both worlds: a way to create engagement with people in their target market while simultaneously marketing products on an e-commerce platform.
Here’s how you can make a killing with Pinterest shopping features.
Give the People What They Want
Marketing on Pinterest, just like marketing on any other platform, starts with the basics. Give your customers what they want.
For starters, create Pinterest boards relevant to different products in your product line. For example, if you’re offering beauty products, create one board for mascara and another for nail polish.
That kind of highly targeted marketing makes it easy for potential customers to find your pins and order your products online. You’ll also get more followers per board as people who show an interest in only one product in your product line will more likely follow a board related to that product than a general “company” board.
Kristen Comings is the Vice President of Integrated Consumer Communications at L’Oreal Paris. Her brand relies on different Pinterest boards for marketing purposes.
“We realized that our customers use Pinterest to create a digital shopping list of products they plan to buy, so we strategically create compelling boards with this consumer behavior in mind,” she said.
That seems to be a sound strategy. Thanks to its Pinterest marketing efforts, the company improved purchase intent by more than 37% and brand favorability by more than 27%.
Also, keep in mind that Pinterest is all about imagery. That’s why you should make sure that your images are not only high quality, but they’re also effectively marketing your products.
And remember: descriptions that are about 200 characters in length tend to get repinned the most. So trim or expand your ad copy as needed to reach that goal.
Finally, keep in mind that the lion’s share of users on Pinterest are women. Craft your marketing message accordingly.
Pick the Right Pin Type
When it comes to marketing your products on Pinterest, you can choose from one of two pin types: rich pins and buyable pins.
Rich pins offer additional information on the pin itself. There are six types of rich pins: movie, app, recipe, product, article, and place.
For your purposes, you’ll most likely want to stick with the product rich pin. Use it to whet the appetites of people in your target market about an item that you’re offering on your website.
A product rich pin is a great way to let people know about an item that you’re offering on sale. Then, customers can just click your pin, visit your site, and buy the product.
Pinterest also gives you the opportunity to post a buyable pin. That differs from a product rich pin in that customers can purchase your product without ever leaving the Pinterest platform.
Customers will be able to tell the difference between a product rich pin and a buyable pin because the buyable pin has a blue price on it. When they see that blue price, they know that can easily purchase the product from the convenience of the Pinterest social media site or app.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, Pinterest does have its own shopping cart (called a “shopping bag”) that is sometimes subject to abandonment. If that happens, you might need to follow up so that you can seal the deal.
Keep in mind, though, that Pinterest itself offers users a reminder if they’ve left products in the shopping bag but haven’t checked out. In other words, the platform works with you to complete the sales process.
Finally, note that you can use buyable pins immediately if you’re hosting your e-commerce site on one of the major platforms, such as:
- BigCommerce
- Demandware
- Magento
- Shopify
If you aren’t using one of those platforms, talk to your development team about how you can use buyable pins.
Get Discovered
One of the most important parts of any marketing strategy involves making sure that people in your target market know about your brand. Pinterest marketing is no different.
How can you get discovered on Pinterest? With promoted pins.
As the name implies, promoted pins are pins that are advertisements. You pay Pinterest to show them to people in your market.
Promoted pins can also offer a fantastic ROI. Ezra, over at Smart Marketer, tells the story about how he generated more than $41,000 in sales from just $775.50 in Pinterest promoted pins.
It’s not likely that you’ll see that type of return, but you could very well give your bottom line a boost while simultaneously increasing brand name awareness with some strategic promoted pin placement.
Remember, promoted pins work especially well on Pinterest because, unlike on other social media platforms, Pinterest users often show commercial intent. They’re looking to make a purchase.
Get Started Now
Pinterest isn’t just for people who want to share recipes and funny memes any more. The social media site is populated by people who are doing some virtual window shopping. Take advantage of that by using Pinterest’s marketing features to increase your sales.
