Pinterest: leading customers to your store
Even though Pinterest cannot boast as many users as Instagram, the network has its own unique features that can provide irresistible marketing opportunities. Pinterest enables users to create unlimited folders or ‘pinboards’ and present images thematically to other users. The target group is something to bear in mind here; unlike Instagram, Pinterest followers tend to be people from outside of your personal network. There is also a big difference in the image quality. Although private photos are not completely discouraged, there is a strong emphasis on professional, high-quality images. Pinterest offers no filters or photo editing tools, demonstrating that photos should be of a high quality before they are uploaded. A further advantage is that you can upload images to your Pinterest both via an app and via a browser on a desktop or laptop.
Although it is not possible to upload videos directly to Pinterest, entries can contain links to outside sources. How you choose to use these links is up to you; whether they lead to informative or entertaining YouTube videos or directly to your website or web store, they can be a great method of generating traffic. Unfortunately, embedding your Pinterest updates on other websites and social networks is not as easy as it is with Instagram; to create a link, you first have to generate an embed code using a widget builder. While this leaves Pinterest falling short of the mark in terms of compatibility, their advertising opportunities compensate for this drawback. Their ‘promoted pins’ feature offers the possibility to create paid advertisements aimed at other users, which, although useful, can prove relatively expensive. Overall, these differences between Instagram and Pinterest even out, presenting a level playing field in terms of marketing.