The ‘Pinteresting’ Facts about Social Media and Small Business

Do you want to convert more customers from your online marketing? It may interest you to know that more customers have been acquired through Facebook than company blogs. By over 12% more acquisitions, Facebook has become the best social media marketing tool for business in 2012.

We have said time and time again that social media is not a fad and will continue to expand. Social media was not a tool built for users but rather a tool built for user interactions. No wonder these networks have become a word of mouth hub for business. With a little push you can spread information throughout many social groups across many different networks and start your viral online marketing campaign.

Pinterest Marketing

If you do not know what Pinterest is, it is an image-based social network made up of over 4 million engaged users. Users actively participate in “pinning” (A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it came from), sharing and socializing among a group of photo centric users.

The keyword “Pinterest” gets over 9 million exact searches a month on Google alone. This does not include direct traffic to the website. It is said that the average user will spend almost 2 hours a month on Pinterest, coming in 3rd place to Facebook and Tumblr.

Although Pinterest marketing is still new, there are many approaches that can be used. All of which are centered on imagery. With many of the users being women who focus on clothing and family it is currently a limited market, however, with a growth of 4000% over 6 months there is much more room for growth in the demographic. Depending on the photos shared, small businesses can utilize Pinterest to spark interest.

Learn from Facebook Marketing

If companies are acquiring more customers from their Facebook Fan Page than their own company blog and Pinterest falling shortly behind Facebook in usage, it is in line to be the next big social marketing platform.

Although Tumblr is right behind Facebook in usage, the platform is not as marketing friendly as Pinterest. With a less appealing demographic for business, Tumblr does not look like the next buzz in social media. Although Tumblr has a large number of users coming in at around 90 million, not many are active users. Also, the top tags used on Tumblr are GIF, LOL, Fashion, ART and Vintage, which are not exactly very small business friendly tags. Pinterest on the other hand has potential through, not only great marketability, but also a better user demographic.

Pinterest differs from Facebook in a better way as well. Facebook is a social network for sharing anything whereas Pinterest was solely created for images. This makes it very user friendly on mobile devices and limits the conversation. With so many users focusing on interaction through imagery it is a no brainer to use this network as a social media marketing tool. Imagery has always been a tool used in marketing both offline and online, that is why our interest is in Pinterest for the future of social media marketing.

In online marketing you must stay fresh and move forward with the communities. If you are not currently utilizing Pinterest for your small business, you may want to consider its future place in online marketing and the lack of cost associated with participating on the social network.