Everywhere you turn, people are talking about Pinterest. That’s understandable, given its explosive growth — daily use of this new social media platform has jumped 145% since the start of the year.

With that in mind, we’ve come up with 5 ways you can use Pinterest to help your business. New ideas on using Pinterest are cropping up all the time, so we’ll be doing more updates in the future.

Here goes:

1) Use Pinterest to Conduct Market Research: You can use Pinterest as a focus group to test new products and receive first-hand reactions. The platform offers a sought-after demographic of women under 45. This demographic plays a key role in the purchasing decisions in the average household and can provide useful insight into the products or services of your company. You can ask your fans which products are their favorites as well as get them to post images of themselves using your products.

Want to join in the fun? Click here to visit Jamie Turner's Pinterest page where you'll find plenty of tools and tips relating to social and mobile marketing.

2) Use Pinterest to Sell Products: By adding a “$” or “£” to your Pin description, Pinterest will create a price banner for your photo. Users will not only see your products, but can also purchase them by following the link to the site where the product is located. It’s a great way to drive traffic back to your website.

3) Use Pinterest to Offer Exclusive Content: Contests are a terrific way to engage your customers on Pinterest. You can draw more attention to not only your pinboard, but to your website by encouraging your audience to browse the products and link to them. You can also offer exclusive discounts or other promotions that can increase your followers.

4) Use Pinterest to Stylize Your Brand: Pinterest can be a useful way to express your brand by displaying an image beyond your products and services. You can show what you’re interested in by linking to other websites and following others’ pinboards. You can also humanize your brand in presenting consumers with insights about your company as well as put a face to it by introducing employees.

5) Use Pinterest to Build Relationships: You can use Pinterest to provide helpful information to your prospects and customers. For example, Oreck showcases more than just their products on their Pinterest account. The company has pinboards including Tips for the Home, Words That Make Us Wise, and Furry Friends. You can use Pinterest as a way to build a long-term relationship with your prospects and customers.

The Take Away: If your company isn’t on Pinterest yet, it should be. With Pinterest being dubbed by many as the social media site to watch in 2012, it is time to make use of its marketing potential. The site already has a mobile app, 10.4 million registered users and is claiming to be the fastest-growing website ever.

If you’re in need of some inspiration, check out these great branded accounts on Pinterest:

• Nordstrom
• Whole Food’s
• Michael’s
• Chobani
• The Today Show
• Mashable
• Oreck

Still interested in learning more about Pinterest? Then check out this short, 60-second video by Jamie Turner that provides a video tour of Pinterest and all it has to offer.

About the Author: Brittney Leigh Smith is a marketing analyst for the 60 Second Marketer.

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012, 6:12 am   |   Social Marketing, Social Media  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback