Congratulations!

You’re using the internet to market your business. You weren’t born yesterday, so you definitely have a responsive, well-built website. Your branding is on point, your SEO has been optimized, you provide your audience with valuable content, and because you’re a smart, savvy entrepreneur, your business has a strong social media presence.

So, of course, you have a Facebook page and, depending on what kind of business you’re running, perhaps you’re on Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Heck, you’ve even established a fairly solid presence on LinkedIn. But Pinterest? Nah, you don’t need to bother with that, right? After all, Pinterest is only for mommy bloggers and DIY-ers and fashionistas… right?

You can probably see where I’m going with this, so I’ll just go ahead and tell you the bad news: you’re wrong. We need to get a few things straight.

Pinterest is Not Social Media

Pinterest is a search engine

Once you start thinking of Pinterest as a visual search engine instead of as a social media platform, your perspective on the practicality and usefulness of it will begin to change.

Pinterest should be thought of as a visual search tool with the purpose of driving top-of-funnel traffic to your site and, eventually, generating leads and sales. Although users can be “connected” with friends and family, their connection to one another makes it all the more useful for you.

You see, when a Pinterest user comes across pins they find useful or intriguing, they’ll pin it to a relevant board of theirs. When they pin that content to their board, the users who follow them will see it, too. If a few of those followers pin it, then all of their followers will see it. And so on and so forth.

What makes this type of sharing different than, say, Facebook or Twitter sharing is that Pinterest users pin content with the intent of revisiting and examining the content later. While Facebook and Twitter users will sometimes share content to serve as a bookmarking feature, Pinterest users pin and share with a purpose. And, usually, that purpose is to purchase.

People use Pinterest to plan purchases.

There are Pinterest users who jump on the platform to browse and kill some time, but the majority of Pinterest users are using it as a planning tool.

93% of active pinners said they use Pinterest to plan for purchases.

Often, people use Pinterest when they’re in the midst of making purchasing decisions. Pinterest users are planners, savers, and household decision-makers. These decisions could involve:

• Planning to take on a new diet
• Preparing for a new fitness regimen
• Getting finances in order
• Preparing for a party or holiday

• Remodeling or purchasing a home
• Planning an upcoming vacation
• Preparing for the birth of a child
• Deciding which car to buy

These are just a few of the many, many decisions people use Pinterest to help them with. These users are actively searching for something, some sort of inspiration or revelation that could be the answer to a problem they’re trying to solve.

In fact, Pinterest is the only “social” platform on which ads from brands are not necessarily considered disruptive. When a Facebook or Instagram user stumbles upon an ad, chances are they weren’t actively searching for that content. But on Pinterest, not only was the user likely searching for that content, they’re far more likely to actually pin that content in order to make a purchase in the future.

Nearly three quarters of respondents said Pinterest content from brands is useful.

Pinterest is For Everyone

While it’s true that some businesses are perhaps more “naturally” suited for Pinterest than others, it’s a common misconception that you have to be in the food, home decor, fashion, or mommy-blogger niche in order to make the platform work for you. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Your target audience is on Pinterest

If you think your business is situated in a niche whose audience can’t be reached on Pinterest, take a gander at this data from weekly users:

• 52% say they use Pinterest to search for cars to purchase
• 49% say they use it for financial tips and tricks
• 68% use it to search for new places to travel
• 46% search for hotels and lodging for vacations

Still not convinced?

• There are 200 million monthly users on Pinterest
• 1 in 2 have made a purchase after seeing a promoted pin
• 70% of users are women, but over 50% of all new sign-ups are by men

41% of pinners have an average household income of over $100k [source]

To Get to the Point

Pinterest users are not just using the platform to kill time or to look for beauty tips (although, they certainly look for those, too). They’re millennials and middle-aged decision-makers with expendable income who are actively using Pinterest to plan their kitchen remodel, their next camping trip, and to get their finances in order before the arrival of their first baby.

Whether your business is B2C or B2B, Pinterest can work for you. Whether it’s product-based or service-based, Pinterest can work for you. Whether your target customer is male or female, Pinterest can work for you.

If you’d like some advice for getting any digital marketing strategy off the ground, we’re here to talk.