Vincent NG
It seems like there’s so many different ways to be in contact with people these days, e-mail, text, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Twitter and the list just goes on and on, so why should you care about Pinterest’s messaging system and why is it important for your business? Read on curious pinner!
What Exactly is Pinterest Messaging?
Pinterest messaging system is a private messaging system that allows for you to send private messages to users who follow you on Pinterest. You do not need to follow them back, as I incorrectly sated in episode 13 of my Pictures to Profits Podcast.
Beyond your followers, you’re also able to message your friends who are on Facebook who have a Pinterest account, as well as people who you follow on Twitter and who follow you back who have their Twitter account connected with their Pinterest account.
Okay…I know that was a mouth full, but now you know the extent of who you can communicate with on Pinterest.
What makes it different from other messaging systems like Twitter’s direct messaging and Facebook’s Messenger, is that the tool is geared towards those who enjoy sharing ideas in a visual manner. This can help can facilitate complex projects that would be hard to explain through words and is also an excellent tool for those that don’t want to send photo attachments back and forth. Through the messaging system you’re able to share texts, pins, boards, and links.
This allows for easier back and forth communication. In the past, you would send someone a pin through Pinterest or to their e-mail, however, there was no way to privately communicate in a stream line way that kept track of what was happening in the conversation.
The Pinterest messaging system works across all platforms, so you can message people on iOS, Android and desktop versions of Pinterest.
Pinterest Messaging Allows for Group Communication
Unlike Twitter’s direct messaging system, Pinterest’s private messaging system allows for you to have group conversations with up to ten different Pinterest users at one time. This particular feature can be beneficial for projects that require a lot of visual co-ordination among a team.
For example, if there are several people involved in planning a fundraising event, and one of the members found a great idea on Pinterest she wants to share, she now can, and receive feedback from others involved.
Let’s move on to five tips for how businesses can use the Pinterest messaging system.
5 Tips for Using Pinterest Messaging for Businesses
1) Help VIP Customers or Clients with their Planning
What makes Pinterest messaging so wonderful is that you’re able to streamline all the conversations in one place. With the new messaging system, you’re able to help your customers plan better projects.
Imagine that you’re a wedding co-ordinator and your helping your client plan out how to decorate her reception on Pinterest. Before you had to send pins one by one. Now you’re able to send her different pins done at different weddings as well as decorations you planned with your previous wedding clients. Your client can then pick and choose which ones work best for her and put them onto her own secret board.
Or in the case that you have a VIP customer who buys a lot of your products, you can send her a pin of a product that she may be interested in and she can now pin that into one of her collections instead of trying to sort through all the hundreds of e-mails she gets a day.
Here’s a Pinterest Intermission:
You’re only able to share pins and boards that are available to the public. So if you have a pin on a secret board, you’re not able to send nor drag that pin into the Pinterest messaging system.
However, once a pin has been sent to a user, she can choose to put that pin onto one of her secret boards. Let’s get back to our regular programming shall we?
2) Develop Better Relationships with Your Followers
I enjoy commenting on Pinterest, but one of the major challenges is that when I do comment on someone’s pin, and he happens to be using a smartphone, the comment that I’ve left behind is barely noticed. The reason this happens is because the notification looks like any other notification whether someone repins or like one of their pins.
It’s only on the iPad or desktop version do people see a preview of the comment. What this means is that if you are trying to engage with your fans on comments, they’re probably not going to take notice.
However, if you are looking to develop better relationships with one of your followers on Pinterest, the Pinterest messaging system can allow you start that conversation back and forth.
One of the aspects of the Pinterest messaging system I like, is that I can drag a particular pin into the conversation and mention how much I enjoyed this pin he posted. It’s hard to comment on an old tweet from 5 months ago, but you can still message someone about their pin that he posted from five months ago.
Here’s an example of SociallyApt and myself having a conversation on Pinterest messaging. She sent me her compliments about my 31 Days to a Better Pinterest Page board.
This can be especially helpful in starting relationships with influencers who follow your Pinterest account.
3) Create Group Boards with More Ease with the Right People
Inviting other users to group boards was a bit of a hassle, because you may have wanted to invite someone who you thought would make a good contributor, but there was no way to directly message her to explain why you want to invite that person to your group board.
Sending users group invite that shows up at the top of their feed without proper explanation is always a little weird.
Now with the Pinterest messaging system, you’re able to message your followers and tell them, “Hey I noticed we create pins that have the same theme, would you be interested in joining a group board about XYX?”
This way you’re attracting the right people to join your group board and you’re not blind siding them with an unexpected invite.
4) Reward Your Most Engaged Pinterest Followers
One of the best things about the Pinterest messaging system is that you’re able to communicate with engaged loyal followers. Let’s say you have someone that has been pinning a lot of your content, and is responsible for driving quite a bit of traffic to your retail site.
Now, with the new messaging capabilities, you’re able to message the follower and say , “Hey, thanks so much for always repinning our products. We want to send you a coupon code for your loyalty. Upon check out, use the coupon code within the next two weeks, and you’ll receive 20% off the order. Thanks again for all your support.”
Or if you have the marketing budget, imagine sending them a free gift for those that have truly been engaged with your content. Imagine the word of mouth marketing that could generate.
Let’s be honest, we love brands that appreciate us for what we do!
5) Get Feedback from Your Pinterest Followers
Chances are it’s going to be difficult to be able to contact many of your Pinterest followers directly through e-mail, however, with the new Pinterest messaging system you’re able to send your followers messages and ask them questions.
Since every social network operates a little bit differently from the others, you’re able to to send surveys or questionnaires to people who specifically are following you and are using the Pinterest platform.
This will help give you insight into how your followers are interacting with your Pinterest page.
Those are five tips on how businesses can use the Pinterest messaging system for their business. If you’ve got a creative idea on how businesses can use the Pinterest messaging app, it would be fantastic to read about it. Drop me a line in the comments section, and share.
Additional Resource:
Curious to know how you can re arrange your pins in a board? That’s what I did for my 31 Days to a Better Pinterest Page board to organize it from day 1 to day 31. Learn how to rearrange your pins within your boards.
