Pinterest and Inbound Marketing for Small Business

If you are a small business owner and the mention of Pinterest does not pique your interest, then we’ve got a problem. Often grouped with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Pinterest is actually the third-largest social network that you should be using when improving internet marketing for small business. If you have yet to set up an account, don’t fret. You aren’t too far gone off the bandwagon. As it turns out, now is actually the perfect time to invest a little of that extra time and energy into “Pinterest-ing,” and I’ll explain why in a moment. But first, I want to rid myself from all blame in causing any unhealthy infatuation to Pinterest. Take it from someone who has sat down and began “pinning,” only to look up hours later and realize the entire day had been spent: Pinterest is a really cool—and addictive—site.

The time is right for Pinterest and small business. Just this past Tuesday, March 12th,  Pinterest unveiled their new, handy-dandy web analytics tool. Since I spend my time on my own personal Pinterest re-pinning tasty brownie recipes and photos of tropical island getaways, this tool won’t be of any value to me. But luckily for you, the benefits for internet marketing for small business are abundant. This nifty (and free!) tool allows site owners to track the number of pinners and pins collecting material from their sites and the number of repinners and repins that those initial pins received.

For all you non-Pinterest users, all of that pinning and repining nonsense probably sounded a whole lot like gobbledegook. Allow me to explain: A “pin” is simply an image or video that you wish to follow with your Pinterest followers. Any pin that you upload can be repinned, and all of those subsequent “repins” will link back to their original source (your business). Users of Pinterest have their own boards where they can organize pins by topics. Depending on your small business, these boards can be customized to fit you. For example, if you own a local restaurant, your boards could consist of things such as “Entrees,” “Drinks,” “Recipes” or “Local Events.” Be creative; you can create your own boards and post anything that you believe would entice your customers to visit your small business. Ultimately, the overall goal for internet marketing for small business is to encourage other people to repin and share your images and videos with their followers. When you post interesting content, your pins can travel with lightning speed across a network of other Pinterest users.

Hopefully, now you can understand a little better how that awesome new analytics tool could benefit you as a small business owner. To start using the analytics, first set up your business Pinterest account. Then, have them verify your business by going to your profile, clicking the pencil icon on the botton right corner of the name box, and entering in your website. After you finish that, you can access the Analytics tab in the main menu on the top right and start discovering the different features. For example, with the tool you can determine what is trending overall and what is not, what posts of yours are working and which aren’t. Use this data to create better pins in the future and keep your followers craving more. You can even look back at your most repined content to improve your internet marketing for small business over time. Small businesses on Pinterest can also track total impressions and their reach on the network, as well as referral traffic in both clicks and unique visitors that are sent back to their sites.

If you’re ready to use this exciting new tool for inbound marketing for small business, head on over to Pinterest now and get your small business account set up. Free internet marketing? Can’t beat that.  Happy pinning!