Using Pinterest For Marketing

Pinterest was practically invented for interior design marketing. Think about it, a field-based entirely on beautiful spaces and visual appeal has a natural synergy with a social media site that’s all about photos and videos. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow for photo and video sharing, of course, but they’re not designed specifically for visual marketing like Pinterest.

Who Uses Pinterest and Why?

Pinterest has only been around for a short four years, but its growth has been explosive. The site drives more traffic to websites than any social media platform except for Facebook, beating more mature platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. Some 70 million users were active on Pinterest as of January 2014, and home decor is among the most popular topics.

As an expert in interior design, you know your target market. That synergizes with Pinterest. Of the 70 million users, 68 percent are women. And Pinterest fans typically tend to have disposable income - the average user has a combined household income of $100,000. These are exactly the type of people you want to target for interior design marketing.

Pinterest is two things to its users: It’s a place to collect and sort photos of things they like or things they want to buy, and it’s a place to get inspiration and ideas. Often, the people who use Pinterest aren’t just there to browse; they want to buy. With social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the intent is to socialize, network and connect.

How to Use Pinterest for Interior Design Marketing

Some interior designers never sign up for Pinterest but draw attention from it by embedding a “pin it” button on their website. The button makes it easy for visitors to the website to share photos or videos they like on Pinterest. It’s effortless interior design marketing.

That’s not a bad start, but your interior design marketing will be more successful if you go a step further and create a business profile. The process is easy because the website walks you through it. With a profile, you can create boards on specific topics within the interior design and home decorating realm.

Share photos not just of your work but the work of other designers you appreciate. Share pictures of furniture and decorative items you love. Post photographs of a piece of fabric, unique light fixtures, rare antiques or stunning kitchens - you name it. You’re not limited to photos, though. Pinterest is also an excellent forum for videos - perhaps virtual tours of newly redecorated spaces - and infographics.

Keep in mind that you’ll benefit from sharing other people’s pins, not just posting your own. As with most social media sites, you create connections by helping others promote their content. Interior design marketing, particularly on social media, is not just self-promotion. Just don’t promote content inauthentically; only repin what inspires or interests you.

Finally, take advantage of the rich pin functionality, which adds features like maps, addresses, phone numbers, your logo and your web address to pins. You might need a web developer to help with this, but it will increase your reach and improve your interior design marketing.