1. Pinterest Emerging in the Business
World: Do Businesses Need It?
Rebecca Pappas
Jasmine Gunder

3. What exactly is Pinterest?
 A social network where you can pin things that
interest you to a pinboard
 A social media site that allows users to organize
and share images and videos from around the
Web
 Pinterest invites visitors to set up their own
"pinboards'' and tack up photos they like in
categories they invent — from vintage
motorcycles to meat loaf recipes.
 Pinterest allows small businesses to tell a story
successfully through images

4. Pinterest Stats
 Pinterest received more than 103 million views in
February 2012
 Pinterest has grown more than 4,000% in the last
six months
 The average user spends about 15.8 minutes on
the site at a time
 Pinterest receives around 12 million unique users
monthly
 Largest demographic is women/stay at home
moms

5. What Business Users have to
Say…
 Ideeli.com social media manager Sarah Conley:
“We continue the Pinterest conversation with
members by following their pins, and we love to
get feedback outside of the shopping category…”
 Fine art photographer Carl Christiansen never
liked social media but recently found that thanks
to Pinterest his sales revenue boosted by 50%
 On the site he let’s his art speak for itself

6. How are small businesses using
Pinterest?
 Small businesses are using Pinterest to create
and engage with a community of followers.
 Pinterest offers another level of relationship
building with the community, while helping to drive
traffic, create new customers and build brand
loyalty
 Hospitality businesses such as hotels and
restaurants can share design elements, recipes
or local tips that speak directly to followers

7. Should your Small Business use
Pinterest?
 Adding a Pinterest icon to your website allows
consumers to do your business marketing for
you, driving traffic to your page and promoting the
products and services of yours that appeal to
them.
 The site does have some drawbacks for
businesses. If your product or service isn't
particularly visual, your images may not tie
directly back to your brand.
 Pinterest also doesn't offer business-oriented
features, and its search function prioritizes pin
and board subjects ahead of "people," the
category that brands would fall into.

8. Hints to Retailers…
 Follow other people and invite customers to post
their own images on company pinboards
 Make sure that a Pinterest user who clicks on a
photo will be taken directly to the site it originated
from
 Creating and posting a coupon graphic is another
way entrepreneurs can use Pinterest to their
advantage.
 Add brand names and descriptions with key
words that move their images to the top of
Pinterest search results
 If no information is entered, Pinterest will only
display the site from which the site was pinned

9. Hints to Retailers…
 Pinterest boards should be interesting, fun and
compelling to create a community and increase in
traffic to the company’s website and other social
media sites
 Pinterest can be a real asset, but needs to be
active to continually engage a target audience
 Pinterest offers another level of relationship
building with the community, while helping to drive
traffic, create new customers and build brand
loyalty

10. What is Pinerly?
 “Beta” analytics of Pinterest
 Companies can now manage their pins, check
stats to see what pins work and which one’s
don’t, view popular pins, follow Pinterest users
that are interested in topics related to your
business, and schedule pins to go out at “high
traffic” times of day

11. Why Use Pinterest?
 Can increase sale revenues
 Builds relationships with customers and keeps
current customers brand loyal
 Allows a business to be interactive with
consumers

12. Things to Remember…
 Be creative with your boards
 Have text to go with your pin so that people
searching will find it
 Needs to be interactive with consumer
 Have a Pinterest icon on your website
 Link your website to your pins so that consumers
can visit your website