You hear tons about how to market on on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but one big platform is often forgotten: Pinterest.And yet, is one of the most powerful social media platforms when it comes to getting more e-commerce sales!Here’s why it’s so perfect for getting e-commerce sales:
- It’s great for driving traffic to your Shopify e-commerce store. According to Shopify, despite it’s smaller user base, Pinterest accounts for 25% of total retail referral traffic to Shopify stores (#2 out of all social media platforms).
- Pinterest users spend more. According to Venture Beat, Pinterest generates over four times as much revenue per click as Twitter and 27% more revenue per click than Facebook.
- It’s growing quickly. According to Ripen Commerce, 22% of Americans use Pinterest once a month. That’s up from 12% in 2012.
So, how do you take advantage of this? How can you use it to increase your e-commerce sales?That’s exactly what we’ll cover today.
Here’s how you can use Pinterest to get more e-commerce sales…
Optimized Pinterest posts get the most engagement. And the more engagement you get, the better chance you have of making a sale.Here are some tips to optimize your posts:
- Include links back to your website within your product pins. This will maximize the traffic that gets sent you to your site.
- Use the right hashtags. Hashtags are a bit different with Pinterest than other platforms. The more unique the hashtag, the better. You can include your location and special info about your product within hashtags. These can work especially well to help spread the word about content that you run.
- Compelling pin descriptions. The more compelling your descriptions, the more people will click on your pins. Aim to include some keywords related to your niche as well.
Use Buyable PinsA buyable pin is a Pinterest pin that leads to a purchase. These pins feature a “Buy It” button below the pin.They’re perfect for driving e-commerce sales because they shorten the decision-making process for the buyer.One second they’re marveling at the pin and wishing they had the product, and then they have an instant opportunity to buy it.However, buyable pins are only available with three common e-commerce platforms:
- BigCommerce
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud
- Shopify
Host Pinterest Contests
Contests are great to run on just about any social media platform. Done right, they can generate tons of attention and engagement on your Pinterest page.Here are the ingredients of a good contest:
- It should be easy to enter.
- The prize should be appealing.
- It should be mobile-friendly.
- You should cross-promote it on other social media platforms.
Here’s an easy tool you can use to create a contest: WishPond.If you do decide to run a contest, make sure you follow the contest guidelines:
- Don’t allow more than one entry per participant, and make sure to state this rule in your contest terms.
- Never suggest that Pinterest is sponsoring the contest.
- And don’t require participants to pin a specific image.
Conclusion
People tend to overlook Pinterest. But it’s secretly one of the most powerful social media platforms for selling e-commerce.If you haven’t taken advantage of it yet, now is the time to get started.Use the strategies here to start bolstering your e-commerce sales efforts!What other ways have you increased e-commerce sales with Pinterest? Let us know in the comments below!
