How to Unlock The True Value of Pinterest for eCommerce

With over 70 million users, Pinterest really does offer huge potential to direct more traffic to your online store.

Sure, we appreciate that sometimes it can be hard to keep up with all the different social platforms out there.

But Pinterest isn’t just another fad.

It's up there with the greats like Facebook and Twitter, and because the sole focus is on awesome visuals, it can seriously help you sell more products, if you get it right.

In fact, 38% of users have made a direct purchase because they saw it on Pinterest! 

So check out this article to find out how you can unlock the true value of Pinterest for your Ecommerce store...

1. Create the perfect 'pinnable' images

Driving traffic from Pinterest can be done, but you need to focus your efforts on getting people to pin your stuff.

So how do you do that?

Well, the more attractive the image, the more likely it is that a person will want to pin it – and buy it! We've talked at length about how important product photography is in Ecommerce. Heck, we’ve even created a video AND a photography cheat sheet on the matter.

As a great example, check out the Pinterest page of Éénig & Vintage Interior. They sell home furnishing products, but they don't just have a photograph of their product on its own. They create a whole story to go alongside it, and show followers what it can look like within their homes – helping to encourage people to pin it to their boards!

 2. Use Rich Pins

Rich Pins are a great feature that can help you include more information to your pin, so you can provide all details needed to encourage sales.

When it comes to Rich Pins, there are 6 types available to you...

  • App Pins: Encourages users to download your iOS app with an install button.
  • Place Pins: Lets you include a map, address and phone number.
  • Article Pins: Lets you include headline, author and story - perfect if you want to add blog content.
  • Product Pins: Lets you include price, availability, and your store information.
  • Recipe Pins: Lets you include ingredients, cooking times and serving info.
  • Movie Pins: Perfect for engaging with followers about movies as you can include ratings and reviews.

So depending on what you sell, will depend on which one you'll use the most. But every Ecommerce owner can certainly benefit from detailed product pins! You can even update prices in real-time and notify people who have already pinned it, that the price has been reduced.

Check out Esty for plenty of examples of what a product pin should look like. The product information is included below the image, like this one below:

3. Run a contest

A contest on any site is ideal for increasing engagement, but on Pinterest the opportunity to boost sales and traffic is huge, with Jetsetter increasing theirs by an incredible 150%!

In case you don't know, Jetsetter is a travel brand that provides members with offers to vacations all across the globe. So for their contest, they asked followers to create “the ultimate destination pinboard” by pinning various travel photos to it.

They made sure users tagged their boards as #jetsettercurator in order to bring more awareness to the campaign, and to be able to effectively judge it.

The campaign was so successful that it saw nearly 50,000 pins created, they boosted their followers from 2,000 to 5,300 and increased traffic to Jetsetter.com by 150%. 

4. Make the most of your 'pin it' button

As we mentioned earlier, if you want success from your Pinterest account then you need to make it as easy as possible for users to pin your stuff.

You can include a 'pin it' button alongside your products on your own website, so when a person is browsing on your site, they can pin your product to their Pinterest board. That way, even if they aren’t committed to buying, it can still help to encourage their followers to check out your products!

Check out the Pinterest help center to find out how you can upload the pin it button to your website.

5. Ask for the help of influencers

If there's one way for you to get more eyeballs on your products, it's through the power of an influencer. As with any social media site, there are plenty of influencers who specialize in what you do and they come with a huge following!

Many influencers do charge a fee, but some are happy to accept products in exchange for pinning your stuff to their boards. Make sure to choose an influencer who is relevant to what you sell so that you can target the right audience for your brand.

If you don't know where to find Pinterest influencers then check out places like hellosociety, as this is a platform dedicated to connecting you to the right people in your industry

Takeaway

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to unlock the value of Pinterest for your Ecommerce store! Make sure you keep your Pinterest page as visually pleasing as you can – and be sure and include the right information to drive targeted followers to your site!