The Reasons E-Commerce Shops are Using Pinterest Marketing
Pinterest continues to add features that help online shop owners, or e-commerce brands, sell more online. In this blog, I am going to introduce some of the basic reasons more and more e-commerce brands are adding Pinterest Marketing to their marketing strategy.
How Pinterest Helps Shops Sell More Online
I’ve learned over time that it’s so important to diversify your business’ visibility and marketing efforts and this applies to online shops too. Pinterest is a sometimes overlooked platform that can give your online shop incredible visibility. People think Pinterest is for planning dinner, a wedding or new home decor. While you can do these things on Pinterest, you can also do SO MUCH MORE!
When quickly browsing Pinterest you can see pins for bathroom fixtures, artwork, bullet journals, marketing courses, dresses, gardening supplies, books, athletic equipment, and really anything you can think of. Seriously! It’s all there.
As a search and discovery platform, shoppers go to Pinterest knowing what they are looking for and they come to Pinterest ready to buy. It makes perfect sense for your e-commerce shop to be there when shoppers are looking for what you offer. Next, I am going to share some features that will help you sell more using Pinterest Marketing for your shop.
Why we love Pinterest’s Marketing for Online Shops
As I said before, there are lots of reasons to use Pinterest Marketing for your online shop. Let’s review a few of those now so you can start leveraging Pinterest to help you sell more in your shop.
Over 400 Million Active Users each month - these people are going to Pinterest and actively searching to discover something to solve a problem, find an answer to a question, or a product to buy (hint: Pinterest is a search engine). If your product or solution is there on Pinterest, users can find you too. These are likely people who may never have found you elsewhere.
Pinterest users go to Pinterest to find brands they can trust. Pinterest tells us these shoppers are spending more money shopping than users on other social platforms. They are finding brands that they are inspired by and know they can trust. This is assisted by the Verified Merchant Program which allows shoppers to buy from brands that have been reviewed and approved by Pinterest.
A combination of organic Pinning combined with a Paid Ads strategy can give your brand the visibility you are seeking. Pinterest Ads enable you to send traffic to your shop or can be optimized for conversions. When working with clients, I find adding shopping ads to our overall Pinterest strategy really pays off by giving their products an extra boost. Product ads shop up in viewers’ feeds like any other pin. They are not disruptive or annoying to Pinterest users. Users like this as it makes for a much better browsing experience on Pinterest.
Shops are able to add their product catalog to Pinterest. Either through an easy integration (for example Shopify or WooCommerce) or manual catalog upload, shops are able to add their product catalog to Pinterest. Your products will shop up in searches as Pins allowing viewers to click and head right over to your shop to buy. Imagine the new customers you can meet by offering your product catalog on another platform, where searchers are looking for products just like yours.
A Few of my Favorite Pinterest Selling Features for E-Commerce Brands
Verified Merchant - I always recommend e-commerce brands apply to be part of the Verified Merchant Program. Brands receive a blue “verified” check on their profile which shows shoppers they have been reviewed and approved as a trusted seller by Pinterest. As a Verified Merchant, brands will typically experience greater distribution of their product pins as well.
Product Catalog - By adding your catalog, you have a constant feed of product pins from your shop added to Pinterest each day. These pins allow searchers to find your products easily when they are looking for what you are offering.
Collections and Product Tagging - When adding blog pins or collection pins you are able to tag specific products in your store. It is an amazing way to make standard pins shoppable. When a viewer sees your pin, they will see that you are suggesting the tagged products. They can click and head to your website to shop.
Idea Pin Product Tagging - If you are creating idea pins for your content, you can add product tags that help shoppers purchase the items you are showcasing in your idea pin. Since Idea Pins are becoming increasingly more popular (and ranked higher) on Pinterest, this is another great way to allow viewers to shop your products.
Pinterest Ads - I find the variety of Ad formats and targeting options available on Pinterest a great tool for e-commerce shop marketing. I often use a combination of traffic ads (consideration ads) and conversion ads (targetted at a best seller) to create better visibility for products my clients want to sell more of. Whether your goal is more eyes on your content or more sales, Pinterest Ads are a great solution for boosting your success.
Pinterest Analytics - Pinterest Analytics are incredibly comprehensive and give brands extensive information to help inform their marketing strategy. I am able to track ads, traffic, best performing content in incredible detail for my clients. This helps us determine what is working and what isn’t so that we can move forward with a great marketing plan.
How to Get the Most from Pinterest Marketing for your Online Shop
A few tips to get you started…
Optimize your Pinterest Account and Website. This means using great SEO to help searchers find you. Make sure you are very clear on Pinterest about your brand and what you sell. And be sure your website is optimized for Pinterest traffic. you want to be sure your users have a great, positive experience when they click a pin and land on your site.
Apply for the Verified Merchant Program to give shoppers that extra level of trust in your brand.
Add your product catalog to Pinterest to give our products even more visibility and the potential for more sales when they show up in searches.
Add fresh pins for your products consistently. Do not rely on just your catalog pins. I recommend creating optimized pins for best sellers, blogs, collections, or products to increase the visibility of your brand.
Add a blog or other free content to your website. This will allow potential customers to get to know you.
Try Pinterest Ads. You can use Pinterest Ads with a relatively lower budget than other platforms. Paid ads on Pinterest are a great way to increase visibility.
Conclusion
I hope I have given you some great reasons to consider adding Pinterest Marketing for your e-commerce shop. It really is a great way to offer your shop’s products to a new audience. For more tips for Pinterest Marketing success, I invite you to look around at some of the other blogs.
And if we can help you get started or if you would like help managing your shop on Pinterest, CLICK HERE to set up a Discovery Call so we can chat about your goals. We offer Pinterest Marketing services including account setup and optimization, strategy, and ongoing organic and paid ad campaign management.