Pinterest can work for B2B as well as B2C
Pinterest is a hit, that is clear, but one of the first myths is that it is for business to consumer (B2C) use only.. WRONG!
B2B companies must do their homework first before creating a Pinterest channel. Checks need to be done if the end users of your product are already on Pinterest.
There are a lot of great tools on their way, but I have found a lot of great accounts simply by using the Pinterest advanced search. For example, I currently work as the Social Media strategist for Philips Healthcare, in a regulated industry. What would be the probability that Healthcare would not be represented in Pinterest? Most people think Pinterest only has boards around themes like food recipes, design and pictures of sea and cliffs, and with a business to consumer (B2C) focus. Well, I did a search and found over 400 boards in Pinterest about Healthcare. 400 boards means that there are many more pins about Healthcare!
For any business to business (B2B) company, the same good practice guidelines to be effective in Pinterest apply just as much as they do for business to consumer (B2C) companies. Regulated industries like Finance and Healthcare still need to apply their legal and regulatory checks.
B2B Pinterest – Be innovative!
Think outside the box to make your approach innovative. Express your story with visuals, it can be a a really strong marketing channel, and do remember to be social in your pin descriptions to draw out discussion and debate. Here is a clever use of Pinterest by Asos. B2B companies should see examples like this as expressing how far they can “push the envelope”. Asos asked their community to take a picture of the contents of their rucksacks, and then asked them to email it to them. They then put all the pictures up on a Pinterest board, and will award a prize to the best one. They also would add additional points for innovative bag contents. Have a look at how it is progressing.
B2B Pinterest – Sales, SEO, and web traffic benefits
B2C companies are seeing sales uplifts due to Pinterest. In a guest post on VentureBeat, Convertro CEO Jeff Zwelling reveals that Pinterest has been making huge gains for his company’s clients:
“In Q2 2011 Pinterest.com represented 1.2% of social media revenue for e-commerce sites. It now represents 17.4% and is quickly gaining on Facebook. (That shift from 1.2% to 17.4% is based on measurements we made across 40 of our client sites — most of which are top 500 internet retailers.) We project Pinterest will be responsible for 40% of social media e-commerce transactions by end of Q2 2012, reducing Facebook’s share to slightly under 60% from 86% a year ago”.
For B2B, there are benefits more in the direction of using Pinterest as a traffic generator to your company blog or website. This is very important for B2B! If people click on your picture they can land on your website. Make sure that you are using the right keywords on Pinterest to ensure a better Google ranking for your company’s website!
B2B Pinterest – “Pin it to win it”
I love this infographic. It might give you some more clues as to how to place Pinterest in your B2B digital marketing eco-system. It is from MDG advertising.
Infographic by MDG Advertising
I love Pinterest
I am in Pinterest everyday, it is so addictive
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