Staying informed on new technology and trends is important to success in any industry. (It helps keep things interesting too!) I have experience managing organic and paid campaigns on Pinterest, which acts as a visual search engine where consumers discover new products and places, and make decisions about future actions. As part of my research and efforts to stay up-to-date on social media management, I wrote an article on Pinterest marketing trends and best practices. See the original post here.

Pinterest is often dismissed by advertisers as a platform for recipe sharing and DIY craft projects. But the platform is actually a major player in both the social media and search engine leagues. That’s right – Pinterest hosts 2 billion searches every month, and with the addition of Lens, a super-convenient visual search tool, the possibilities for discovery are growing. If that’s not reason enough for advertisers to reevaluate Pinterest’s place on their list of priorities, here’s a list of reasons why Pinterest is a content king.

Reasons to use/advertise on Pinterest:

Post lifespan

Pinterest is unique to other social media platforms when it comes to post lifespan. Unlike tweets, Instagram photos and Facebook posts, pins continue to garner engagement for months after the initial post. According to Hootsuite, “the average pin is repinned 11 times and it takes a pin 3.5 months to get 50 percent of its engagement.” (Hootsuite)

Experience-based content

The experience-oriented nature of Pinterest means that people are not just killing time online, but making real plans for real life. This is good news for experience-based businesses (tourism, for instance). Pinterest users compile their aspirations and dreams into boards which they can refer back to when making plans for their lives. That’s why recipes, wedding ideas and, you guessed it, travel, are so popular on Pinterest. In fact, pins about travel and tourism make up nearly 25% of all activity on Pinterest. (TourismTiger) Pinterest happens on a screen, but Pinterest users make pins happen in real life.

Purchasing decision influence

Pinterest functions like a search engine, and actually serves as one of the most-used websites for shoppers doing product research. With integrated shopping capabilities and one of the most popular sites for e-commerce marketing, it’s no surprise that 93 percent of pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases. (Hootsuite)

Top Pinterest strategies:

Optimize pin quality

• Post high-quality images and pin-able graphics.
• Use rich pins, which offer space for additional details and content on each pin that increases engagement and drives traffic to your website