As this interesting blog/article states, there is a lot of talk about how important Pinterest is in the area of Online Marketing. It also usefully points out that Pinterest may not be for all, and that it some cases it could just be a waste of time.
I can see their point, in that as far as getting traffic goes, the site will only really work well in a small number of cases, in others the user base of Pinterest will simply not be interested.
However, with Google (and no doubt the other Engines) taking note of the number of times images on a site are ‘pinned’ the site may still well be useful in getting better SERPS rankings, simply because the site get’s some more points because of the higher ‘Social Media Signal’ that these pins result in.
I reckon the jury is out myself, but am taking no chances for my customer base and intend to try to use the medium for them to the best possible effect.
See the full interesting article on Pinterest and SEO
So, I’d like to take a moment to point out some scenarios where using Pinterest might not be the best choice for your brand.
- Your products and services aren’t visually compelling—Pinterest is all about interesting photos, graphics, and videos. Take a look at the stuff people are pinning. It’s typically pictures of pretty food, pretty clothes, pretty people, and pretty crafts. Do your products and services fit well within this visual wonderland? If they don’t lend themselves to being eye candy, maybe Pinterest isn’t right for your business.
- Your target audience isn’t young women—The average Pinterest user is a young adult female with a college education. Is this your ideal customer? Is this the person you want to spend your time and energy targeting? If not, why would you be on Pinterest?
- You’re not in the right industry—Companies who are in the fashion, food, beauty, home and garden, and arts and crafts industries tend to be the most successful on Pinterest. Again, this goes back to these companies having products that are visually appealing. If your company isn’t in one of these industries, you might want to think twice before getting on Pinterest.
- You don’t have time for building a Pinterest presence—If you want to build your brand with the help of Pinterest, you better be prepared for an ongoing commitment. Just slapping up a Pinterest page isn’t going to cut it. You have to spend time each day pinning interesting content and interacting with your audience. You won’t see results overnight. Heck, you might not see results for a long time, if at all. So don’t jump into this without being truly committed.
As to our Pinterest account, I intend to pin lots of images from my customers sites, all carefully tagged (see my blog on Pinterest tagging) and also intend to add some of my own photo’s to my SEO site, as this may too help in gaining traffic and SEO points.
