Pinterest: B2B Boards That Will Dazzle Your Clients

Consumer brands have been on Pinterest for a while, since it's the best suited platform for visible content. With 48.7 million users (April 2013) and explosive growth, there's big potential even for b2b companies to establish themselves on the platform.

I'm going to guide you through 5 essential rules for creating a Pinterest account for your b2b that will attract and engage your b2b clients.

First, some Pinterest stats:

• 26% of online b2b marketers used Pinterest to distribute content during 2012.
• Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than visitors referred from non-social channels.
• Visitors from Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase over other major social media sites.
• Pinterest users spend 10% more money on average than Facebook and Twitter users.
• Pinterest appears to be the stronger vehicle for brand association: 43% of Pinterest members agree that they use Pinterest to “associate with retailers or brands with which I identify,” compared to just 24% of Facebook users who agree to the same use with Facebook.

Rule #1: Dedicate time!

In the early days of social media, social media accounts were handled somehow "on the side" of traditional marketing activities. Very little time and resources were dedicated to online interactions, and social media were treated as another advertising space were one could place their ad and leave.

As social media evolves, the audience has become more demanding. As the world is spinning faster every day, people begin to treat Twitter as the new helpline: when they tweet a business, they demand instant response.

It means that resources needed for social media can't be neglected anymore. My prediction is that in the future for a marketing department of 10, about 9 people will be dedicated to social media marketing, and traditional marketing tasks will been down-sized to possible 1 full-time position.

Action point: Handling social media is not about sending out one or two random posts per day. It requires strategic planning as well as creativity and the ability to handle interactions promptly. Dedicate a proper amount of time for those taking care of your Pinterest, Twitter or whatever platform you choose to be on!

Rule #2: Use bold images!

No matter what, Pinterest is for visual pinning. Make an effort to find eye-catching, emotional images, since those are the ones who are shared the most.

Don't think stock photos. People don't pin what they've seen a thousand times before. They pin surprising, original content.

If you're not a skilled photographer yourself, or haven't got the time - try a creative commons service, like photopin.com. Just remember to give credit to the source!

Rule #3: Create intriguing boards!

Don't pin all your content in one board!

Create different types of boards that gives your visitors a explicit overview of what's in there.
Give the boards clear, yet intriguing titles and choose the nicest image in there for the board cover.

Examples of different types of Pinterest boards

• Create a board for customer testimonials. Pin images with quotes from happy customers. Use pinwords.com or quozio.com to make pinable images of text.
• Tell the company story in a board. Pin images that feature your people and premises as well as images of the product/service.
• Create separate boards for webinars, whitepapers, articles and news.
• Create boards for the niche you operate within and pin related news and info.

Rule #4: Interact & Engage!

With your Pinterest boards in place, start to engage with potential and existing clients.
On Pinterest you may:

• Repin clients content.
• Comment on clients or potential clients pins (in a non-spammy way - no selling!)
• Invite certain people to pin on certain boards on your Pinterest account.

Rule #5: Share on social media!

 

Share your pins on social media like Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.
There's a much higher click-through rate from Pinterest than from any other social media at the moment, so it's definitely worth a try to direct your clients to your website via your Pinterest account.

Bonus: Two Hot Pinterest Infographics

Source: wishpond

 

Source: sandbox

Article courtesy of Social Media Today