Pro's and Con's of Pinterest Marketing in 2015

What is Pinterest?

In today’s Internet world, social marketing sites have become more and more popular. These social networking sites allow people to connect through words, pictures, sounds and even videos. People can connect anytime and anywhere. Pinterest is a major player in social media with over 13 million users and they have caught the attention of marketers. It is a social-sharing photo website allowing you to “Pin” images to virtual pin boards in order to get your pins noticed and share them with your followers. Users organize, share and store pictures uploaded. Currently, Pinterest is popular among consumer marketers, but should B2B marketers use the platform in their social media strategies? Let’s consider the Pro’s and Con’s of Pinterest marketing. 

Pro’s of Pinterest Marketing

• Easy to Use -- The Pinterest site is easy to both use and to navigate. The best Pinterest marketing strategy for newcomers to the site is the making of files accessible with just a click on a pin and allowing users to share the pins they like on the marketer’s business profile.
• Generates Referral Traffic – More referral traffic is generated by Pinterest than many major social networking sites.

• Content is Visual – Since Pinterest is based on photo-sharing, the best Pinterest marketing strategy for sellers is to upload an outstanding picture of their product or service. They should also add their store’s information to the picture’s caption and promote the pin to other boards. Pinterest pinning tips include the suggestion of being organized with your brand by your creating a design that will categorize your products into the boards. This will eliminate difficulty of clients to browse what you are offering.

• Market Research – Pinterest will not only give you opportunities for market exposure, but it will also provide a platform for market research to improve your advertising strategies. It allows you to interact with regular Pinterest members. By seeing their pins and comments, you will learn the kinds of things they are interested in. This knowledge will help you to develop a marketing campaign that will target the correct demographics.

• Ideal for Artistic Exposure – If you are a business such as architecture, interior design, fashion design or other similar industries, you will find Pinterest the ideal site to exhibit your work online. The best way for you to get your pins noticed is to keep your content and posts eye-catching, original and high in quality. 

• SEO – A Pinterest pinning tips includes an awarness that Pinterest builds a stored link for every user post. The stored links are inbound links to your site. Furthermore, the inbound links will raise your search engine ranking.

• Women Users – It has been said that 65% of Pinterest users are women and 85% of Pinterest traffic is driven by women. Therefore, if your business clients are women, Pinterest could be an excellent way to reach your potential customers.

Con's of Pinterest Marketing

• Copyright Issues – There can be copyright issues caused by many users pinning and re-pinning images owned by others. Some legal bloggers have conveyed concerns for these possible copyright issues.

• Large Number of Women Users – If your interests are guy interests such as power tools or football, you probably won’t find many images to your liking on Pinterest. If your demographic target isn't women, you may not be successful with Pinterest marketing.

• Not Business Oriented – Being repeatedly pinned may not help your business marketing even if the pin goes viral. The link to your site can be lost through the repeated re-pinning process and more traffic will not be drawn to your business site. Also, the focus on Pinterest is often on lifestyle content with items such as recipes, home decor and fashion.

What is your opinion? Do the pro’s outweigh the con’s for Pinterest marketing of business?