Watch Out Facebook — Pinterest Drives More Traffic for Etsy Sellers and Artisan Online Business Owners

It comes as no surprise that social media can bring customers to ecommerce websites. And a clear leader for driving visitors is Facebook, driving 67 percent of all socially referred ecommerce traffic last year.

However, it’s interesting to note that when it comes to Etsy — the peer-to-peer ecommerce site that focuses on handmade goods — Pinterest gives Facebook a run for its money. In 2014, Pinterest drove 31 percent of all of Etsy’s socially referred traffic, putting it in line with Facebook (at 35 percent) for top Etsy referrers. This demonstrates that small businesses selling on Etsy or specializing in unique craft and handmade products should strongly consider adopting their own Pinterest presence.

Below are a few things to keep in mind when creating a Pinterest strategy.

Pinterest Expands Its Buyable Pins Program

This data comes at the same time that Pinterest has decided to expand its Buyable Pins to more ecommerce platforms. Pinterest’s partnerships will include Bigcommerce, Magento and IBM Commerce, making it easier than ever for businesses to sell on the site. For small online businesses, the news about Pinterest’s Etsy referrals is important, since it demonstrates a willingness among Pinterest users to click on the items they see and potentially take that next step to purchase them.

By its very nature, Pinterest appeals to shoppers. Users post (“pin”) pictures of items they like to their boards, and those pictures are re-pinned by other Pinterest users. Some users keep items they’d like to someday buy on their boards, while others use Pinterest as a place to create wish lists that friends and family can refer to when buying gifts.

Consider Your Target Audience

For small online businesses, Pinterest is a great site to showcase products, especially if the items appeal to Pinterest’s demographic. The site’s membership is primarily female, which makes it ideal since women tend to be the primary decision makers when it comes to a family’s purchases. The site is also increasing its popularity among millennials, with 33 percent of 18-to 29-year-olds using the platform in 2014 (up from 25 percent in 2013).

By posting products, online businesses can increase brand awareness and attract new customers every time their products make it onto a user’s board. The best way to ensure that this happens is to make each item pinnable when it’s displayed on your website. Doing this also gives customers an easy way to save items that they would like to purchase later.

How to Incorporate Pinterest into Your Business Growth Strategy

For small business owners, the first step to incorporating Pinterest into your business growth strategy is to set up a membership and begin adding “Pin It” buttons to every product image on your site. Then, you’ll want to post images of your products, preferably in colorful, lifestyle settings, to your Pinterest profile for sharing.

Brands that use one of the compatible platforms might want to begin the process of adding buy buttons to those products, as well. According to Pinterest, since launching the new buttons this summer, the number of Buyable Pins doubled. Customers can now click and buy more than 60 million products, Pinterest says, and that number is expected to keep growing.

To remain competitive, online businesses with visually appealing, homemade or specialty products should investigate how Pinterest can boost their online presence. With such a desirable demographic of consumers ready to buy, businesses cannot ignore the appeal of Pinterest for much longer.

For more insight on Buyable Pins and social media marketing, check out our Ecommerce Tips and Trends page.

(Source of Feature Image: Business World Online)