5 Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for E-Commerce Businesses

ComScore and Reuters reported that there were 48.7 million Pinterest users worldwide in February 2013. By July 2013, the number increased to 70 million according to a study released by  Semiocast. These ever-increasing numbers are just one of the many reasons why Pinterest may be the ideal social media platform for your e-Commerce business. Here are the top five reasons why you should consider using Pinterest as a marketing platform:

• Buyer conversion rate – With Pinterest, a user doesn’t need to follow multiple steps from discovering the product to purchasing the product. As a result, the platform is much faster in converting visitors into leads compared to other social media platforms. As said by Laura Hazard Owen from GigaOM.com, users get to choose from the brand’s pin board instead of spending time on the company’s website.Owen also discussed a case study of an e-Commerce website dealing in fashion. The results showed that Pinterest visitors spent an average of $180, while Facebook users spent $85 on products from the website. In addition to this, several other brand studies also report that Pinterest is more effective than other social media platforms in driving sales. Of course, some products will do better on Pinterest than other social platforms, simply because of Pinterest’s demographic (90%+ female active users).
• Rich Pins – The tool called ‘Rich Pins’ makes it easier for a business to promote its brand and products. It allows you to put up detailed information about a product with a direct link to the product page, where the user can find the purchase and pricing information. This makes it much easier and quicker for users to find and buy the products they like. As a result, there are higher chances for you to close a sale even with just one pin.
• Connect with your audience – As a business, it is imperative that you keep up with the latest trends and find out what your audience loves. This can help you devise effective marketing techniques and ventures for the growth of your business. With Pinterest, you get full access to the trending topics among your target audience. You get to see what they like and use that knowledge to position your own products and offers.
• Higher rate of inbound links – Since every post on Pinterest comes with a link, users can easily get directed to the original image source. According to Duct Tape Marketing’s John Jantsch, links built through images play an important role in creating actual user engagement. In fact, about 95% of the Pinterest image posts were pinned or re-pinned from the Internet. With the increasing popularity of this social media platform, this could mean a higher rate of inbound links for your website.
• Impressive user interaction statistics – In 2012, HufflingtonPost.com reported that most American Pinterest users spend approximately one hour and 17 minutes browsing through the website. It also showed that Pinterest posts with price information get 36% more likes that pins without prices. In addition, 69% of Pinterest users have reported finding an item they have purchased or wanted to purchase on the website. The number is just 40% for Facebook users, showing that Pinterest is an ideal business promotion platform for e-Commerce websites.

For more information on why Pinterest for E-Commerce businesses is necessary for your marketing strategy, and any other social media marketing questions, contact us today!