Great article on how to use Rich Pins to promote your business!

T324 has been pro-Pinterest for businesses for a while, and the evidence keeps supporting our position. Pinterest appears to be committed to an ad revenue monetizing model and moving fast, with a clear vision. Unlike, well. Facebook.

Seriously, 15x??!

I know I personally have spent much more than I should on things I found on Pinterest since I started using it last year.

Things I would never have found without Pinterest. Pinterest is a retail surfacer beyond compare, even if it isn't a better image search engine than Google yet. I might be better off if I hadn't learned about Dkode shoes, from Portugal- my violet oiled-suede and purple leather Dkode Cecilys, shipped from London, are the most expensive shoes I've ever bought in my life. Not sorry.

Now Pinterest is introducing Rich Pins, a value-add for businesses, and they're free for now, so if your business is an applicable category, it's a great opportunity.

Social Media Examiner, a very useful site that we often Pin business tips from, has a great article about the new pins.

Rich Pins are amazing for retailers because they add current pricing and a direct link to the product page. It appears that they also indicate whether an item is in stock, which is actually quite a significant click-enticer. (It's frustrating to find a beautiful item on Pinterest, only to get to the product's site three clicks later and find out it's sold out.)

Do Rich Pins offer benefit to all businesses, or just retailers?

Well, Pinterest is trying hard to add value for other verticals. Restaurants and lifestyle magazines can use the recipe Rich pins, which include a recipe clip. Movie sites can use pins that include ratings, main stars and director. Which is lame, actually, but points for trying. Rotten Tomatoes Rich Pins will include the Tomatometer score, however- which is extremely useful!

 

What's involved in getting Rich Pins?

You'll need to add markup to your site, so this is a developer/website designer task for most businesses. T324 can do it for you, of course! Hopefully you're already working on getting the "Pin It" button on every page of your site and developing a Pinterest presence.

A huge part of social media strategy is getting a footprint on major social sites before your clients get there.

If you have a Pinterest profile and your company social media or marketing professional is building your presence there, you can grow your following and leverage your efforts by adding the Follow button your site as well. Pinterest has real support for businesses, offering case studies by vertical, a business blog, analytics and a widget builder.