When Pinterest debuted, the terms of service made it clear that marketing content was not allowed. Today, the rules have changed with the debut of Pinterest business pages, which must adhere to a separate set of terms than individual users must follow.
That means Pinterest is now a more viable social media marketing tool for brands, businesses, publications, bloggers, retailers, online merchants, non-profit organizations, and institutions. In a post on the Pinterest blog today, all of the aforementioned organizations and people were invited to create new Pinterest business pages or to convert their individual Pinterest profiles to business pages.
When you sign your brand up for a Pinterest business page, you’ll have an opportunity to verify your website and get a verification badge to display on your page. Just like verified badges add credibility to Twitter accounts, the Pinterest verification badge will identify high-quality sources of content. The badges will also help Pinterest users find business, brands, and so on in search results.
Pinterest Product Manager Cat Lee explains, “We want to help more businesses provide great content on Pinterest and make it easy to pin from their websites.” In other words, Pinterest is committed to making business pages a success in order to open the door for future growth and revenue-generating opportunities.
To that end, the company set up the business page creation process so it’s easy to add Pinterest buttons and widgets to a business’ website, including the Pin It button, Follow button, Profile widget, and Board widget. Each tool is designed to help businesses drive engagement with the business’ audience.
Furthemore, Pinterest is offering help through case studies, a set of best practices for businesses, and guides and documentation that explain how to use the Pinterest brand in marketing materials to align with the Pinterest brand identity guidelines.
The introduction of Pinterest business pages isn’t surprising. Now, marketers and business analysts are speculating about what will come next for Pinterest. Advertising and paid products are getting the most buzz right now. What do you think?
And if you haven’t secured your Pinterest business page with your business or brand name, you might want to go secure it before someone else snatches it up.
Image: Bunches and Bits
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
