Nordstrom Pinterst

In marketing, experts say it is important for a brand to be relatable and have its own personality. Pinterest is the perfect niche marketing tool for this, and has the potential to draw consumers to your business with something visually appealing like pictures of your products.

Pinterest is a fast growing digital pinboard company that has garnered recent media attention. The brilliance in the website is the simplicity- it involves “pinning” things that you find interesting and saving them to your virtual board. It is all about pictures, which makes it so fun to browse through. Users are able to re-pin someone else’s pictures, and in return your pictures can be re-pinned as well.

This is a virtually untapped area for brands and small businesses, and if used properly could be a great tool to increase attention to your brand. It’s important to post pictures that tell a story about you and your business, but also incorporate images that are specific to your business. For example, a restaurant could post (and pin) pictures of their new winter menu items with mouthwatering captions. A pet grooming shop could pin pictures of their cutest haircuts- who wouldn’t want to repin pictures of adorable dogs with a fresh new ‘do? And, of course, a clothing store could pin their favorite merchandise. Your pinboards can also be linked to your Facebook or Twitter account to increase visibility.

As others browse through your profile and find things that they like, they will repin them for their followers to see. No matter how many times your picture is repinned, there will always be an originally pinned by section with a link to your account, so the more exposure the better! And if you consistently have quality content, others are able to add comments and can “follow” you similarly to Twitter.

There have been several big names that have caught the Pinterest bug. Nordstrom (pictured above), West Elm, Williams-Sonoma and Modcloth to name a few, are using Pinterest as a way to showcase their favorite products that they sell in helpful ways such as gift ideas and new trends. Also Mashable, which is a social media and tech blog, joined the Pinterest world yesterday, proving that there is potential for Pinterest to be used in a variety of different ways, and for many different types of businesses.

This website is becoming a great place for consumers to discover new things that they are inspired to buy, so join Pinterest and start promoting your local business. And besides, it’s fun!