Although Pinterest may not generate direct revenue for B2B companies it still is a good vehicle to increase brand awareness. Learn how.
Pinterest has soared out of obscurity to become a top business referral source. As of March 2012, referral traffic from Pinterest was higher than from LinkedIn or Google+, but behind Facebook, StumbleUpon, Google and Twitter.(26)
The basic concept of Pinterest is to create topic boards. You then pin pictures and videos from the web, or upload pictures to your boards. Others can follow you, repin your items to their own board, comment on, or like an item.
This allows users to create online "catalogues" where every picture pinned from your B2B site becomes a referral URL back to your site. Consequently, the more pictures pinned and repinned, the higher the traffic and SEO effect. You can further add URLs and hashtags to the description area of each picture; a must when you upload instead of pin.
The majority of Pinterest users in the USA are women(27) with a relatively high level of education.(28) The most popular topics are: home, arts & crafts, and style/fashion.(29) In the UK, the majority of Pinterest members are male.(30)
Pinterest is a no-brainer for B2C but how can B2B companies leverage Pinterest best?
For B2B, the best approach is to create boards that convey company culture and values, like sustainability—think solar panels on an office roof—or company volunteering. Consider also posting pictures of what your product might help create, e.g. if it's software, post pictures of the car that gets manufactured using your software. To dazzle on Pinterest, you need crisp and impressive imagery.
A great use of Pinterest for B2B is to create a contest. Ask customers to take a picture with your product and post it with a particular hashtag to their boards, then Tweet or email you the link. The prizewinner could be the person with the most likes for their picture.
A measure of success is when pictures get pinned from your website, repinned, liked and commented on. While a person pinning from your site is already aware of your brand, a repinner might be an untapped opportunity; try to engage this person.
Free tools like Pinpuff and Pinreach provide statistics on followers, likes, repins, influencers, and most popular pins.
While it is unclear if B2B companies will be able to generate revenues from Pinterest in the long run, there is no doubt that the site provides opportunities for businesses to increase brand awareness.
Key tips on using Pinterest for B2B:
• Install the "Pin It" button on your website to encourage visitors to pin. Use pictures in your blogs that can stand alone; also consider creating Infographics and videos.
• Use thisURL: http://pinterest.com/source/.com to see what has been "pinned" from your and your competitors' site.
• To maximize success, keep pinning and become part of the community. Spread out your posts over several days vs. posting five pictures at once. Follow people and their boards, "like" their pins, and comment.
• Make sure "Hide your Pinterest profile from search" is turned off, but enable publishing to Facebook.
• Apps like "Share As Image" and "Pinstamatic.com" let you pin non-picture content like websites, dates and places.
Keep in mind that copyright laws apply. So don't pin proprietary pictures that you don't own, and watermark your own images. Be aware you are granting broad rights to Pinterest by pinning your content.
(26) http://bit.ly/b2bmkt-2201
(27) http://bit.ly/b2bmkt-2202
(28) http://bit.ly/b2bmkt-2203
(29) http://bit.ly/b2bmkt-2204
(30) http://bit.ly/b2bmkt-2205
© 2012 Michael Procopio
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