From Merritt Properties to Charm City Yoga, more and more Maryland-based companies are developing an identity on Pinterest.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have long dominated the world of social media. However, Pinterest is a relatively new social media outlet that is growing rapidly and creating lots of buzz for small businesses.
Here’s how it works: Pinterest is an online bulletin board that allows users to “pin” images onto virtual “boards” dedicated to specific categories of interest. When using it for business purposes, business owners can pin images of their business logos, business coupons and discounts and other consumer-friendly images.
For example, Gramophone is a Better Business Bureau (BBB)-accredited business that sells, designs and installs various audio and video components into homes and businesses. Gramophone has a Pinterest account with 34 different boards, but rather than focusing on its specific business, it tends to pin things that relate to the audio and video industry as a whole. It has monthly “best of” boards featuring whatever the organization finds interesting in a particular month.
“Best of March 2012,” for example, featured advertisements for the Kent State Folk Festival, as well as a picture of a “modern laundry room,” complete with a control system for the home’s lights, temperature, security system, audio and visual components and security cameras.
Followers of a business can then like, comment or re-pin the business site where the image originated. According to the retail deal site, ideeli.com, Pinterest has brought a 446% increase in web traffic to its business’s site.
When setting up a Pinterest account, business owners should consider the following.
• Pinterest is a great way to spread the news and drive sales. Is your store having a spring sale? Is your restaurant launching a new menu item tonight? Pinterest can make these images catchy and fun, without getting too promotional.
• Pinterest is perfect for those who like to share. On Pinterest, you can share not only images that pertain to your business, but the images of other users that relate to your business’s mission.
• Is Pinterest right for your business? Since Pinterest doesn’t technically have any “business” features on its site yet, and its boards are more visually-based, it may be hard to lure in potential customers, but it may be worth a shot. Pinterest is a completely free way to promote your business that is fairly easy to maintain.
Social media is a growing attraction to all demographics, and if your business wants to keep up with the times, BBB recommends trying new social media outlets to enhance your brand visibility.
For more business news you can trust, visit http://greatermd.bbb.org.
