Let’s Put a Pin in It!
Let me start this blog post off by saying I work with all men. Yep, you heard me… ALL men. It’s exhausting and the bathroom always smells. Though I maintain God gave me more of a boy brain than most, this girl still loves all things girly, which leads me to today’s topic… PINTEREST.
Now before you turn your brains off and run to find the nearest animal to kill in an attempt to regain your masculinity, just hear me out on this one. For years we women have scoured magazines, websites, and other women’s brains in an attempt to find the next greatest project, gift, recipie, etc… with pinterest we now have one resource to trust without question. What this means is we no longer go to google to find what we’re looking for, now we just pop up our handy dandy app and pin all of our ideas into one place until we have time to go back and create or buy it. Now for someone like me, the frustrating part of pinning things is when I find something I like but then can’t find a way to buy it. It seriously makes me crazy people.. I mean why show it to me if I can’t have it!!!! Though it’s true that most women pin things like cute outfits and craft projects, it would be a mistake to write this amazing platform off. So you sell arrows, or cameras, or turkey calls…. what on earth could this platform do for you??
Well let me tell you just that! For those of you who haven’t met me yet, I’m a big ol’ fan of oreos. My husband on the other hand is a big ol’ fan of things like marathons and triathlons…do you see the disconnect here? So Father’s Day is coming up and I had no clue what to get him, so what did I do… I’m sure you can guess by now… I SEARCHED PINTEREST. My darling athletic husband is now getting the latest and greatest triathlon gadgets. On my own I never would have found any of these products, but with the help of someone’s pin, some nice male dominated company just got $150 of my hard earned money.
So am I suggesting you go out and create boards with this summer’s latest fashions? Of course not, but what I am saying is that you need to be visible. Take an hour out of your life and load your products into pinterest. I think you will be thoroughly surprised what can happen. Use descriptions that fit with a woman’s brain – that means less technical and more practical. For example using tags like “gifts for hunters” will help those clueless women like me find the things her husband really wants for Christmas, instead of that sweater he will never wear.
Currently you can include a link directly to your site or product. Not only is this great traffic, but it can also lead to a sale. If you want to be really crafty use a smart URL so you can track how many clicks are coming to your site from your pins. It might even be a good idea to blog about your products and link your pin there so that your audience can really understand the benefit of buying your item that they may be unfamiliar with.
On top of the great things Pinterest can do for you organically, they are also making some big changes! Before long you will be able to purchase items directly from Pinterest by clicking on “Buy It” instead of “Pin It”. This will eleivate the problem of finding something you want, without the ability to purchase it for yourself. Now with minimal effort I can search and dig through boards and purchase with very little effort! Even better, Pinterest isn’t even making you (the retailer) share the products.
It’s time to get with the program people – embrace the women in your lives, you know we’re running the show anyway!
