Pinterest almost always gets overlooked by businesses trying to get in on the social media scene. Facebook and Twitter get all the glory, and Pinterest is often left in the back alley picking up scraps. What causes this is simple: businesses exist to make money — to monetize products or services — and many business owners don’t believe that is possible with Pinterest. What can you gain from free pictures?
Before we get to that, let’s look at some numbers.
- A whopping 85% of Pinterest users are female
- 42% of all American women with Internet access have Pinterest profiles
- 72% of Pinterest users live in middle-income households
- 38% of female Pinterest users are likely to be early tech adopters
As anyone who is familiar with Everett Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations theory, early adopters are the lifeblood of businesses. These are the people who jump onboard with new products or services before they’re popular and provide invaluable and well-meant feedback to the business. And a whole bunch of them are on Pinterest (Remember: 85% of ALL PURCHASES are made or influenced by women).
A rapid and completely unscientific poll of female Pinterest users I know personally revealed the following:
Pinterest appeals to women because it allows them to be “highly efficient” at collecting a virtual scrapbook of new things that appeal to them. Pinterest gives them a synergy of ideas (one woman pointed out that she could collect input from people without having to be connected and interact with those people). And best of all, they could find whatever they wanted, all completely free.
Let’s go back to how businesses can capitalize on this.
For the uninitiated, Pinterest allows users to post images of things they like. This allows for an unhindered exchange of ideas: wedding decorations, DIY household fixes, handy new products, and wish-lists of things users want. Â Ask yourself a few things:
What if I pinned…
- my product being super useful?
- how my service could cut costs?
- a helpful list that included buying my product?
Pinterest is still underutilized; it’s foolish of businesses to overlook this game-changing asset. Stop looking at Pinterest as a digital bulletin board and use it for what it is: gamified free advertising. It’s not just about Facebook likes anymore. You want your business to be successful? Starting pinning.
