While pumpkins may still be nestled on your doorstep, the rest of the world has already moved on to the holiday season! Nov. 1 marks the day it's socially acceptable to indulge in holiday tunes and begin purchasing items on your loved ones' holiday wish lists.
Even if you think it's still too early, the data says otherwise. Most shoppers (59 percent) will begin their holiday shopping in November this year. However, nearly a quarter of shoppers (22 percent) planned to start in October, according to a 2017 study from the National Retail Federation.
In short, it's time to put the finishing touches on your digital holiday marketing plan. You'll be happy to hear that this year, for the first time, shoppers chose online as their most popular shopping destination.
Digital marketing tactics are going to be more critical than ever this year, and you need to take advantage of all the tools available to you — including Pinterest. Even if you don't invest too much time or energy on Pinterest the rest of the year, that should likely change from now until the end of the year.
While Pinterest is a natural fit for e-commerce businesses, the platform helps brick-and-mortar stores, too. Promoted Pins drive five times more incremental in-store sales per impression than the industry average, found 2016 data from Oracle Data Cloud.
Below, learn why you'll want to use Pinterest to sell products this holiday season and how to make that happen!
4 reasons to utilize Pinterest this holiday season
Note: All data, unless otherwise noted, is 2017 data from db5 and Colloquial Insights.
1. 93 percent of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases, and 87 percent have made a purchase after seeing a product they liked on the platform, according to 2015 Millward Brown data.
2. 50 percent of surveyed pinners said they create boards for products they want to buy. That number reflects an industrywide average. Pinners interested in travel, home, auto and style were most interested in purchasing products.
3. 50 percent of Pinners make a purchase after seeing a Promoted Pin.
4. For every $1 spent on Pinterest, companies earned $2 in profit. That translates to a $4.30 return per $1 invested, found 2017 Analytic Partners data.
3 ways to sell more products on Pinterest
1. Make your Pins purchase-friendly. If you use BigCommerce, Demandware or Shopify, you can create Buyable Pins, so Pinners can find and buy your products directly on Pinterest. If you don't use the above services, rely on Product Pins, so users can see the price, availability and place to buy your product.
2. Get creative. Above all else, Pinners want inspiration and creativity. This holiday season, create Pins that showcase the ooh and aah factor of your products. Think highly stylized images over standard product photos. Also, create DIY projects, recipes, gifts and party ideas using your product line. If you're creative, you can develop these concepts on your own, or hire a blogger or social media influencer to create this content for you.
3. Use keywords. You can start by using the keywords you target on Google, but go beyond that. Type in your targeted keywords on Pinterest, and make note of the suggested terms. Just keep digging to discover the gems. Or you can test the waters with Promoted Pins and see what keywords Pinterest recommends.
