Should You Be on Pinterest? Here’s a List of Lists

Don't you just love a list? I do. So when I started to look into fodder for this blog post, I ended up with three different lists and I couldn't decide which one to focus on. So I decided to make ... um ... well, I decided to make a list.

1. Reasons why your small business should be on Pinterest
2. Ways to use Pinterest for your small business
3. Companies who are successfully using Pinterest to grow their businesses

Let's tackle all three.

10 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Be on Pinterest

1. Pinterest is a sizable platform to reach desired audiences: With more than 150 million Pinners, Pinterest can help you reach in-demand audiences. More than half of the people on Pinterest are women and well over half are under age 55. But male users have grown 120 percent this year. So the audience is broadening.
2. Investing in Pinterest pays off long-term: Pins last forever, so your content has a longer shelf life. When you create high quality, relevant Pins and optimize your website, you'll see results.
3. Pinners are open to your brand marketing: Two-thirds of the content saved to Pinterest comes from businesses. When asked who they would rather follow, 83 percent of Pinners said they would prefer to follow a store or a brand rather than a celebrity.
4. Pinterest influences purchase: A large majority of Pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy. According to research released by Millward Brown, 87 percent of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest.
5. Pinterest drives significant referral traffic: When looking at referral traffic to websites, Pinterest is second only to Facebook. That means businesses with click-worthy content on Pinterest have a better chance at driving conversions and other desired actions on their website.
6. Pinners have larger shopping carts: The average order value from Pinterest referral traffic is $58.95, compared to $55 for Facebook, according to Shopify research.
7. Pinterest informs you of emerging trends: Pinterest can give you powerful signals into emerging trends and popular products in a given industry, especially in fashion, home and garden, food, and beauty. This info can help your business improve its line of products and services.
8. Pinners have more purchasing power than non-Pinners: Active Pinners have a 9 percent higher average income than non-users, and Pinners say they spend less time consuming traditional media like magazines, catalogs and television.
9. Pinterest can help your brand fit into someone's life: Pinterest's interface is perfect for users who want to be inspired and who want to save and collect "pretty things." When you add a mix of aspirational Pins, you're giving people creative ideas that can help them plan for what's next.
10. People check their Pins while shopping in your store: According to Ahalogy's 2015 Pinterest Media Study , 67 percent of Pinners consult Pins on their mobile devices while shopping in stores, making it important for retailers to add high quality Pins that help people understand how the product works, why it's a must-have and how else they can incorporate it into their lives.

7 Ways to Use Pinterest for your Small Business

1. Promote your products
2. Feature your blog posts
3. Share videos
4. Conduct market research
5. Create a space for collaboration
6. Expand your website
7. Highlight clients, colleagues and others

6 Businesses Finding Success on Pinterest

"You eat with your eyes first, and I think Pinterest really amplifies that. We are showing people beautiful visuals of pies, but they are attainable. We provide the products to help people create them at home, in a very simple way, so they don't feel overwhelmed."

"Pinterest is the number one traffic source to our website and has the highest conversion rate compared to other platforms because it helps people conceptualize how our product fits into their home."

"When I started the company, I created secret boards with my partner so we could collect ideas on the direction we wanted to go with branding and bag styles. It was our go-to place - a place to store ideas and have everything in one place."

"I came out with a line of really big statement earrings for the holiday season and as soon as the collection launched, women told me that they were intimidated by them and didn't really know how to wear them. I thought of creating Pinterest boards with clothing inspiration to show women easy outfits that they can wear with the earrings."

"Pinterest for me is a way to communicate with my clients. I encourage them to get on Pinterest and save Pins and create boards of suits they like. They can then show me what they have in mind. It's more effective than explaining what they have in mind. Pinterest gives them a visual language."

"We share our inspiration through our Pinterest page, which can be anything from a vibrant interior to a graphic concert flyer. It helps tell the story of our brand before people even find our products or the shop."

Diane Laney Fitzpatrick of Digital Content and Services helps small businesses DIY their social media and digital media. She can be reached at diane@dianelaneyfitzpatrick.com .