Pinterest Tips for Brands in Non-Sexy Industries
You would think I have no business being on Pinterest. Everything is stacked up against me: I’m a male, I’m not crafty, and I spend most of my workday thinking about search engine optimization and reputation management. I don’t exactly fit into the normal demographic of Pinterest and my gender doesn’t typically produce the types of content that goes ‘viral’ on Pinterest. And yet, somehow, I’ve found myself spending more and more time on this fast-growing social media site.
In my recent deep dive into learning more about the social network, I launched a tool that helps WordPress site owners overlay the ‘pin button’ onto images on their site. It was a fun development process, and selling it has enabled us to see how people from all different industries are using Pinterest to get new traffic.
If your business is in a non-sexy industry, you might think that it doesn’t belong on Pinterest, but that just isn’t the case. Just as with any other social media property, if you do some research and poking around, you can find a way to carve out an identify for you business on the site, no matter what you do. To illustrate my point, here are 3 examples of companies you wouldn’t expect to be working to build out a Pinterest presence.
1. Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college located in Ohio, US. By taking a quick peak at their Pinterest boards, you get a good idea of what the school is all about. They know that food-porn is popular on Pinterest, so their board ‘Co-operative Friendly’ contains co-op friendly recipes, which indicates that food, environmental responsibility, and organic agricultural practices are important to them. The board “All Four Seasons” shows great pictures of their students enjoying campus life year-round. And ‘Oberenthusiasm’ contains a ton of videos with people having a blast and doing great things at the college.
This type of profile is a great tool for convincing prospective students to come to the school. I imagine that they work to get local high schoolers (and their parents) on Pinterest to follow them, which then allows them to stay top-of-mind as those high schoolers begin the college selection process.
2. Online Trading Academy
Online Trading Academy on PinterestI recently started working with Online Trading Academy on their Pinterest account. You wouldn’t think that investing, stocks, and day trading have their place on the site, but we are finding our way. Here are some specific ways that we will make OTA successful on the site:
- Infographics – Infographics do great on Pinterest, and the more topical and interesting the headline, the better. We’ll be creating our own infographics, and also sharing infographics that others put together. As long as it isn’t from a direct competitor, it is fine (and recommended) to promote other people’s content.
- Success Stories – Everyone loves a good success story, no matter the industry. We’ll be writing high quality content pieces about people who have experienced success, and take equally high-quality images to use as the picture that is ‘pinned’. A good picture combined with a good story makes for pinnable content.
- Employee Profiles – We want to humanize the brand and give it a face. To do that, we’ll be inviting employees to share with us their favorite pictures of them participating in a hobby or the family enjoying a fun or unique activity. Again, this will give us high-quality content, and also the opportunity to share a story about a staff member that will make the brand more relatable.
We feel that these tactics will help make a brand such as Online Trading Academy feel natural on Pinterest despite its ‘non-sexy’ nature.
3. General Electric
General Electric on Pinterest If GE can be on Pinterest, any company can be on Pinterest. This multinational conglomerate operates in Energy, Technology Infrastructure, Capital Finance, and Consumer markets. Needless to say, its core business is a far cry from the recipes, hairstyles, mommy blogs, and children’s crafts that dominate Pinterest today. But, they’ve made it work.
Their board ‘The Archives’ contains great pictures of historical images, signs, and inventions that would typically be literally buried in the archives. Take this image, for instance; it’s a gem:
They also have a board titled ‘Fabulous Kitchens’, which features amazing gourmet kitchens. And, surprisingly, those kitchens have GE appliances in them. Considering home improvement and high-end design do well on Pinterest, this was a great idea to marry a Pinterest trend with their brand.
Don’t Be Late to the Party! As you can see, almost any brand can find a way to slide themselves into Pinterest naturally. And, if you are one of those businesses who is in the Pinterest sweet spot: cool products, food, or crafts – don’t take that for granted! Get on Pinterest now and start welcoming a bunch of new traffic.
Some brands still haven’t adopted Facebook or Twitter marketing, while others jumped on early and had an incredible head start to gain new followers and customers. Don’t make that mistake with Pinterest. If you get started now, you’ll be the early adopter that earns those new customers.
About the Guest Author Brian Patterson is an Online Marketing professional based in Northern Virginia. You can find his work in the SEO, ORM, and social media space on GoFishDigital.com
