We are living in a digital age with marketing strategies evolving to online outlets and social-media sites. Sites like Pinterest and Instagram have become popular in small and large business marketing. But do you know all the benefits and resources these sites provide for business marketing on their site?
In this post, we won’t tell you which platform to select for your business, but we will share the three best attributes of each so you can make an informed decision.
Pinterest
Pinterest is a truly unique social-media marketing platform and is the second largest driver of traffic from social-media sites. It is a form of digital scrap-booking, but also an online wish list for users known for its categories in home improvement, culinary arts, fashion, and health industries. You can find a Pinterest board for anything imaginable, as long as it is approved by the Pinterest parameters. The ads on Pinterest look similar to posts from any other users perspective so they aren’t a nuisance for users.
Pinterest Attribute #1: Users are Actually Purchasing
Pinterest audiences are more of a buying mindset than any other social-media network’s users. Eighty-seven percent of Pinterest users have bought a product from Pinterest.
- 81% of users are female (male population is growing)
- 200 million actives users (as of Sept. 29, 2018)
- 75 million users in U.S.
- 55% of online shoppers pick Pinterest as their favorite social media platform
- 2 billion searches occur on Pinterest each month
- 80% of all Pinterest traffic is used through mobile apps
Pinterest Attribute #2: Pinterest Offers Great Training and Educational Resources
Using a Pinterest business account allows you to get added marketing features that help promote your brand, 500,000 businesses currently have business accounts. Over the last year, there has been a 27 percent increase in Pinterest accounts of Fortune 500 companies (ExonMobil, Wal-Mart, Apple).
A Pinterest business account allows you to tap into the full potential of Pinterest marketing.
Pinterest is actively working to make marketer’s succeed with educational marketing material for people using Pinterest for business and to overall maximize their effectiveness for business marketing.
Pinterest has developed an interactive workshop called Pinstitute. Pinstitute lets businesses connect with users, the workshop shares ways to get the most out of marketing on Pinterest. Businesses can also stay up-to-date with the tools that Pinterest offers with the Pinterest newsletter and Pinterest blog. Also seeking tips and tricks with the 25 Do’s & Don’ts for Marketing on Pinterest.Â
Pinterest wants all businesses to succeed on their site, no matter their level of knowledge. Pinterest Propel is a program that provides special services for new advertisers unfamiliar with how their site works. Pinterest users are consistently going to the site to find unique ideas. With that in mind, Pinterest is recruiting smaller advertisers in part because of their new and different ideas.
Pinterest is a very visual site, images are the cornerstone of anything you pin. A clear, high resolution image will be more visually appealing and professional the users’ eye. To succeed on Pinterest, take advantage of the tools and resources that Pinterest provides to help all business sizes succeed and track the analytics of your pins. Different studies from Pinterest analytics have shown that lighter images are repinned 20 times more than dark ones, and images without faces get 23 percent more repins as well.
Pinterest Attribute #3: Your Content Lives Longer on Pinterest
Pins on Pinterest are 100 times more spreadable than a tweet or retweet.
A pin has a 16,000 times longer life than a Facebook post. This keeps your posted content on the feed of users for much longer to allow more visibility time.
Because of Pinterest’s search feature, your content can be found by users searching specifically for your content and/or product. Other platforms use an algorithm where content dies within a day to a week depending on how much engagement it receives initially.
Instagram
Instagram is the fourth most downloaded app in the U.S. and relies more on visual imagery than text. Instagram serves as a great media outlet to now only help your business make money but also: increase brand awareness, social media engagement, grow a community, or even increase traffic to your blog.
Instagram Attribute #1: Instagram is Where the Most Engaged Users Go
Instagram has 500 million active users and over four billion Instagram posts per day. This makes Instagram one of the most user-active social-media sites out there.
Instagram Attribute #2: Small Businesses Now Have the Same Access as Big Ones
Instagram also allows small businesses the chance to compete with big companies, like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike. The old Instagram policy only allowed verified accounts, such as global brands and public figures, the option to have a business account. But the new Instagram policy has opened up to smaller business accounts that have a moderate following.
With an Instagram business profile you get access to key opportunities that allow a user to connect with your company from your profile page. Extra features include, a contact button, working hours, location, email, directions, and phone numbers. You can also add a link to your company or organization’s website in you business profile bio. This can be used as a shortcut for users to directly view your website or direct them to an event you are holding in the near future.
Having a business profile also allows easier access to Instagram ads, which are extremely affordable and even built into the same platform as a Facebook advertising account. The business profile helps to track likes, comments, and overall total audience engagement. It helps to depict a certain style of photo, filter, or hashtag that attracts more users to your posts. And with the new Instagram updated algorithm favors high-quality business content when it is showing new content to Instagram users.
Instagram Attribute #3: Instagram Has the Most Tools to Increase Audience Engagement
Hashtags are a great tool that helps to boost viewers on Instagram posts. Hashtags are used as searches for featured images instead of using keywords, like Pinterest. This is a quick way to increase visibility and reach people who aren’t aware of your business or brand. Unique to Instagram, a lot of hashtags can actually get your images more likes. In a case study, 120,000 Instagram photos were analyzed and found that photos with the maximum amount of hashtags on the photo (30 hashtags), had more than three times more likes. Now, that is not saying that you need 30 hashtags on every single image, but adding a few extra hashtags could boost your image to more users quicker.
Instagram stories allow you to string multiple pictures and videos into a “story” that disappears after 24 hours, similar to that of a Snapchat story. Bite-size pieces with a time limit of one minute do not require a ton of production. This story appears at the top of the Instagram feed and remains there as a prime spot for users to view it and provides more exposure than a Snapchat story.
Instagram live is another new feature that was introduced in late 2016. Since then, it has been updated with additional features that allow you to do a split screen option or even go live with a friend. Live offers many options for tracking your viewers during and after the video has been published. It also allows the feature of posting the live video for 24 hours for others who did not get to see it in real time.
Re-posting or “regramming” Instagram posts can be another quick and easy way to start gaining interest in your page. Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t have a native way to share others’ content. But, other third party apps allow you the ability to “regram” photos from other pages.
What do you chose?
Both Pinterest and Instagram offer great visual platforms to share your content. Which is best for you depends on your social-media strategy and business goals. Interested in learning more:
For more about setting your strategy see our posts on 11 Tips for Social Media Marketing
Finding and Engaging Your Target Audience Choose Your Next Social Media Wisely
For more on Pinterest see our post on Pinterest for Garden Centers.
For more about choosing a story platform on Facebook, Instagram, or SnapChat