***UPDATED FOR 2021***

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? We’ve all heard this before. Does sound really exist if no one hears it?

 

Like that proverbial tree, if a blog post never gets read, does it attract clients to your business? No. Leveraging a blog to attract traffic to your business website its smart. But only if your blog post is read.

 

Without traffic, your website, e-commerce site or blog are like trees falling in the forest. Making noise but no one is hearing. Your business website and blog need web traffic. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great sources of traffic. My favorite and the site where I consistently get more than 30% of referral traffic is Pinterest.

 

Pinterest differs from social media in that it is a SEARCH ENGINE. Despite being regularly categorized as a social media site, Pinterest is a search engine. People - or Pinners – use Pinterest to learn about products and services they want and need. It is NOT just for recipes and fashion.

 

For instance, if you are looking for a new job, you can type in “How to Find a Job” in the search bar. The following pins are relevant. The tabs across the top can help you narrow the results.

 

 

Or suppose you need help with SEO for your Etsy shop. If you type in “ETSY SEO” in the search bar, you will see lots of pins. Again, you can narrow your search by clicking on the tabs at the top.

 

 

Maybe you need a business coach. You can find people offering business coaching by typing in “Business Coach” in the search bar and choosing “People” in the drop-down menu.

 

 

What services and products do you offer? Can your target audience find you on Pinterest?

 

If you aren’t already using Pinterest to drive traffic to your website, you are missing out on a terrific source of free traffic.

 

 Here are 6 reasons why your business should use Pinterest:

 

1. 459 MILLION ACTIVE USERS. According to the Pinterest Business page, there are over 459 million active users on Pinterest, worldwide, every month. 459,000,000. Your target audience is probably already using Pinterest. That is more active users than both Twitter and Snapchat combined.

 

2. 85% of Pinterest users have purchased a product because of Pinterest. What this means for your business: visitors who reach your website from Pinterest are warm targets for your business. Make sure your website is set up to capture email addresses. You should also use links and funnels to guide these interested potential customers to your product pages.

 

3. Average time spent on Pinterest, per visit, is 14.2 minutes. What this means for your business: You have a short time to capture someone’s attention. However, since Pinterest is a search engine, the chance of someone finding your pins is pretty good. (as opposed to other social platforms, where searching out information is very difficult). Use attractive, eye-catching graphics. Plus complete descriptions with appropriate keywords, and hashtags on every pin you create.

 

4. Pinterest generates 4x more revenue (per click) than Twitter and 27% more per click than Facebook. Pinners buy and use Pinterest to find what they want. NEW STAT FOR 2021: 66% of users are actively searching for products and services to buy. 

 

5. Pins have a longer life than a Facebook post or Tweet. In fact, the time your posts spend on someone’s newsfeed is depressingly low. Your pins live forever. What that means for your business: Pins created for your evergreen blog posts will show up in search weeks, months and years after pinning. Plus, eye-catching pins on popular topics will be re-pinned by your followers and their followers. You can get free web traffic from a pin for far longer than the ‘blink and you miss it’ Facebook post or tweet.

6. Pinterest is a powerful tool for building your brand. Enhance your brand authority by sharing pins from industry experts on your curated boards. In fact, your business Pinterest account can become a ‘go-to’ for all topics related to your industry.

NEW STATS for 2021

Pinterest users are THREE times for likely to click through to learn more about a product or service than from any other social media platform. 

91% of people say Pinterest is a positive space. And 60% of adults are more likely to purchase from brands they discover on positive platforms. (And we can all use more positivity!) 

Gen Z, Millennials and men are the fastest growing audience on Pinterest. In fact, the number of men on Pinterest increased by nearly 50% last year.  Pinners under the age of 25 grew faster than in older age groups. 

85% of Pinners are actively using a smartphone. Make sure you optimize your graphics for mobile. In fact, Pinterest is #1 for mobile social media. 

 

 Sources:

1. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/pinterest-statistics/
2. https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-tops-400-million-monthly-active-users-with-gen-z-men-and-millennials-driving-growth
3. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/pinterest-statistics/
4. https://techjury.net/blog/pinterest-statistics/