Pinterest Surpasses 100 Million Pinners: What Are You Going to Do Next?

Pinterest just recently released a report confirming that it now has over 100 million monthly active users (MAUs). Conceived a mere five years ago, Pinterest quickly became a social media darling due to its disruptive visually-driven format, as well as its emphasis on simplicity and elegant design. Aside from hitting the 100-million-user milestone, the company posted strong numbers in other categories as well, including month-over-month growth. In fact, Pinterest recently stated that the total number of pinners has doubled in the past 18 months, and roughly 70 percent of people who visit the site engage on a deeper level by clicking through on items of interest or saving images to boards.

The kicker for online marketers? Reports show that two-thirds of pinned images originate from retail websites (not friends or individuals), which means that Pinterest can serve as a powerful discovery tool for brands to use to reach new audiences. Here are some effective ways for you to leverage Pinterest for your business in order to reach and inspire its rapidly growing user base.

1. Make sure you’ve established solid visibility on Pinterest by fully completing your profile. This may seem like an elementary step, but you’d be surprised at how many companies have created incomplete or extremely sparse Pinterest profiles. Include the name of your brand and your official website address in your profile, and be sure to verify your site on Pinterest by following the instructions here. Don’t forget to connect your Facebook and Twitter profiles to your Pinterest account as well to increase your overall social media visibility.

2. Find out when and where users are pinning images from your website by entering the following URL into your browser’s address bar: http://www.pinterest.com/source/yourwebsitehere.com (of course, replacing “yourwebsitehere.com” with your actual web address). This is the equivalent of a keyword search on Pinterest that will help you discover any images or content that have been pinned from your site. Find and comment on any pins where people are mentioning or referencing your brand.

3. In addition to your own content, pin any kind of content that will be helpful to your target audience. This is a great way to spread goodwill, and it shows that your business isn’t overly self-absorbed. Pin motivational quotes (a hugely popular topic on Pinterest), DIY-themed images or helpful infographics that relate to the overall theme of your industry or niche. (Tip: When pinning, always remember to credit the original source, not the pinner.)

4. Take advantage of themed boards. If there’s a major holiday coming up, or if you’re running a particular promotion or introducing a new product, create a themed board that will gather all of the text, images or video content necessary to promote and reinforce that theme. Make sure each pin can also work as a standalone pin as well, just in case another user wants to repin something from your themed board.

5. Use the many tools that Pinterest has created for brands to grow their businesses:

• Promoted Pins: A sponsored Pin that shows up in users’ search results, but has a high level of visibility due to premium positioning.
• Pin It Button: A small piece of code you can add to your site that will create a “Pin It” button beside your photo or video content. This makes it super-easy for visitors to share your content on Pinterest. You can also opt for an “on hover” Pin It button, which will only appear when users hover their mouse over your images/videos.
• Pinterest Analytics: A data tracking and analytics platform that helps you keep track of important metrics such as impressions, daily viewers, repins and click-throughs, so you can refine your Pinterest strategy to continue reaching more people.

6. Create a board (or two) that will highlight your fans, followers and customers. Share customer testimonials or success stories, or any type of customer-related experience that demonstrates how people are integrating your products or services into their everyday lives. This is a fantastic way to build trust, and it adds the always-valuable “human element” to your business.