By Robbin Lynn Crandall
It was bound to happen. Because why would any social media platform let itself lag behind the rest when it comes to promotion? Or making money, for that matter?
CEO Ben Silbermann of Pinterest, the popular virtual bulletin board platform, has announced that to ensure Pinterest is here to stay, he will start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses.
But, he says, this doesn’t mean users will start seeing a bunch of garish banner ads.
This is good news.
In fact, I was surprised to learn his main interest does not appear to be money. He is quick to reassure ‘pinners’ that “nobody is paying for anything yet.” He admits to not having quite figured out all the details, but what he can say is this:
Promoted pins will be…
- Tasteful: A refreshing change from some of those pop-ups we find frustrating and intrusive.
- Transparent: He will always let us know if someone has paid for what we see.
- Relevant: He swears we’ll actually be interested in the stuff that gets promoted. (That would be nice!)
Improved, based on feedback: If we keep letting him know what we think, he promises to keep working to make things better.
Make no mistake: Pinterest is a huge contender in the web community—it has grown to 54 million users (an 82% jump) over the past year or so. After some shot-in-the-arm funding to the tune of $200 million, it has been valued at $2.5 billion. And it’s also one of the largest sources of referral traffic on the web.
One could safely say that Pinterest is here to stay, and Ben hopes to make it stick around for sure by implementing the promoted pins.
Why this could be good for business owners
First, if you are one of the ‘select group’ of business owners who is initially chosen to try out the promoted pins, your pins would be seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Translation: People = Consumers for your product or service. And being one of the first to try it out is a definite attention getter.
Second, if promoted pins work well (based on feedback Pinterest receives), even better. Chances are then good that promoted pins will be available soon for all business owners.
And third, if your pins are interesting enough, it could drive more traffic to your Pinterest boards. Play your pins right, and you could also end up driving more traffic to your website, your landing pages, and your other social media sites where you sell products and services.
In a nutshell, promoted pins could help small business owners gain attention, drive traffic, and make sales or gain business.
And who couldn’t use more sales and more business?
Robbin Lynn Crandall is a Food & Travel SEO Web Copywriter, Certified Social Media Consultant, and Freelance Writer at Crandall Copywriting. She works with small- to mid-sized business owners to improve their marketing strategy, including their website and social media presence, along with a slew of marketing materials. A self-proclaimed foodie and lover of All Things Italian, she loves living in New England and snow, and never more than when someone else is shoveling it. You can contact her at robbin.lynn.crandall@gmail.com.
