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Own an e-commerce business? Jump on the Pinterest bandwagon

Reading Time: 4 mins

Pinterest isn’t just a great way to showcase the culture of your business. It also provides you with a fantastic opportunity to share and market your products for free. And best of all… it’s great fun!

So, who is using Pinterest to sell their business or their products?

  • Gap
  • Etsy
  • Whole Foods
  • Travel Channel
  • British Midland International Airlines (BMI)
  • Kraft Foods
  • DKNY
  • Maybelline
  • Coca Cola
  • McDonalds

Take a look at the full list of companies and brands using Pinterest. It’s big, and that’s an understatement. From clothing companies and fashion brands to Universities, libraries and food service brands, people are getting ‘pinterested’.

While Whole Foods is using their ‘pinboards’ almost as any other Pinterest user does – to gather content they like, gadgets they think are cool, favourite recipes, great gifts, etc – other companies are experimenting a bit more. For example, British Midland International Airlines has created a lottery-style promotion on their Pinterest account. Users are encouraged to ‘repin’ images of travel destinations displayed across BMI’s 6 pinboards. Each image has a number attached to it and at the end of every week – as with the lottery – a random number generator picks out six numbers. If users ‘repin’ any of the numbered images, they are then entered into a prize draw to win a pair of free return flights to any BMI travel destination. Now isn’t that a good idea? And what a fantastic way to say ‘Hey, we’re a company that’s not too scared to have a little fun!’

Pinterest for Business

Pinterest in more detail

While corporations and smaller e-commerce businesses have begun using Pinterest, you may be asking whether or not marketers believe it will really take off. It’s still a hotly debated topic though no one can deny that everyone who is anyone in the world of online marketing has decided to give it a try – Copyblogger, SEOmoz, econsultancy – to name just a few.

According to Alexa.com, Pinterst ranks 42nd in the world for incoming traffic, coming not too far after Paypal and Tumblr. And that’s only since the hype began in 2012.

Is Pinterest for you? 

Why not take a look at Intuit’s great infographic to help you decide whether or not you should give pinning a try!

If infographics aren’t your thing, run through our quick checklist to see if you should start your very own Pinterest account:

  • You have products you want to sell
  • You’ve got fantastic-looking products which make images people will want to share
  • Your business’s culture/vibe could be well portrayed with images – think restaurant
  • You just love looking at pictures and are willing to spend a chunk of time pinning
  • You’ve got an audience that will follow, repin and share what you’ve got to offer
  • You’re willing to collect and share ideas in pictorial format

How can Xanthos Digital Marketing help?

If you’re interested in getting Pinterest logos and sharing icons added to your website, get in touch with Xanthos. This is a great new social media marketing tool that we think is definitely worth the experiment. And it’s not just Pinterest that provides the opportunity to market, network and stay in touch with consumers for free – get set up on social media with Xanthos.

We also specialise in providing clients with e-commerce solutions. To find out more about how we can help you increase business leads and boost profits, take a look at our e-commerce page and then give us a ring.

The new world of internet marketing is not something you have to fear. When you understand how Pinterest and other social media platforms can help, you’ll never turn back.