Ever wondered why you feel different when you’re on Pinterest? Well, there’s a reason for that! Pinterest should never take the place of your social media marketing, but this unique platform is different (in a good way)! Read on to find out my top three benefits of using Pinterest for business marketing.
It’s hard to believe, but this summer will mark 4 years since the start of my business. It feels like a lifetime ago, but in the first year and a half of owning my business, I was actually a social media strategist.
After working as a social media strategist for over a year, I was totally burned out and over it. I was also nervous at the thought of my new freelancing career fizzling out before it even reached its potential.
The reason for this burnout wasn’t stemming from owning my own business, but from the type of service I was offering.
Once I switched to Pinterest, I felt like I finally was where I wanted to be. Not only did I enjoy the work and how the platform made me feel, but it was amazing to see what such a unique platform could do for business owners!
Why I Became a Social Media Strategist
Let’s rewind for a minute. When I first started my freelancing career, I felt like everywhere I turned business owners were looking to hire social media strategists.
So, as I worked through what skills I had and what services I would offer, it seemed like a no-brainer to become a social media manager/strategist.
But fast-forward a year and a half and I can honestly say I would have closed up shop on my business if my only option were to continue with the social media work.
It felt draining. There’s so much noise on social media, so many opinions and it just didn’t make me feel positive.
The Pivot to Pinterest
I’m not going to rehash all of the details of my story, because I’ve already done that somewhat in this post, but I’ll just give a recap of how I became a social media strategist.
I had one very sweet client that allowed me to “play around with her account”. We instantly started seeing great growth and traction for her business when we had previously been struggling on social media.
It’s not that social media isn’t an amazing way for businesses to market their services, products, etc, but Pinterest is just different.
The Pinterest Difference
Pinterest is different for a lot of reasons, but today I want to focus on my top three:
- It’s a visual search engine
- The user behavior is unique
- Pinterest is actively kept a safe, positive, and inspiring community
These are some of the most notable reasons why Pinterest is different. Now here’s why this matters to businesses, like you, that are either marketing on the platform already or thinking about getting started.
Visual search engine
With Pinterest being a search engine, people are actively looking for inspiration, ideas, and answers to their problems.
Pinterest users, or “Pinners”, are planners which means they’re thinking of the future when they head to Pinterest. This can mean that they may take a little bit longer to take action, however, they also have different intent in comparison to social media users.
Pinterest helps inform buying decisions and also helps Pinners discover new brands via their keyword searches.
The user behavior is unique
Pinterest users come to the platform to plan for the future, as we established, but they also come and dream. They’re dreaming of their future wedding, next DIY project, or a new hairstyle. Also think about exotic vacations, precious nursery ideas, special birthdays, and more.
Pinners are planning life moments, big and small. This alone makes the behavior on the platform different from any other social media platform.
The typical Pinterest user just wants to find the best answer to their search. They don’t care about specific brands. This allows businesses of all sizes a great opportunity to catch their ideal customer and get them into their sales funnel.
Pinterest is actively kept a safe, positive, and inspiring community
Not everyone knows this (well maybe subconsciously) but Pinterest is intentionally kept a positive platform.
I recently made a TikTok video about this very point, and many people commented about how they knew they felt “different” when they used Pinterest, but they weren’t always sure why.
Pinterest users might feel different when they use the platform because they’re gathering ideas and inspiration, but also because negativity is very intentionally kept off the platform.
Pinterest has actually created community policies and guidelines that eliminate false information, political ads, and weight loss content.
This creates an environment where people not only feel more positive but also safe. This is a pretty stark contrast in comparison to social media.
How This Applies to Business Owners
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100x, social media should not take the place of Pinterest within your business marketing strategy.
You do of course want to make sure your person is actively searching on Pinterest if you’re going to invest your time and energy. But if your person is on Pinterest, you should be marketing your business on the platform!
Bottom line: Pinterest serves people in a way that no other platform does.
Let’s Wrap It Up
I started by sharing my journey to becoming a Pinterest manager and if you’d like to learn more you can do that here!
Becoming a Pinterest manager taught me a few crucial reasons as to why Pinterest is not only unique but why business owners should be utilizing it.
Here’s a quick recap of those reasons:
- It’s a visual search engine
- The user behavior is unique
- Pinterest is actively kept a safe, positive, and inspiring community
If you’re finally convinced that you need to either get started on Pinterest or revive your strategy, I have three different options for you:
- Download my FREE Pinterest strategy guide
- Get on the waitlist for my signature course, Pinterest Marketing Magic
- Book a Pinterest discovery call, if you’d like to go the done-for-you services route
