Photo Sharing for B2B Online Marketing

For your customers, photo sharing sites are definitely the current trend. Pinterest has changed the way women share recipes, workouts and good books, while Instagram has embedded its antique view of life into everyone’s memories.

Though consumers share a lifetime of memories here, you can make use of these online marketing tools as well. You need to be where your customers are – and many businesses and consumers alike have flocked to these sites. So, take advantage and reach new customers, one pin at a time.

Drive Traffic

Businesses use every possible outlet for driving traffic back to their site. From keywords in blog posts, to commenting, taking part in forums and social media – they are all efforts to get customers back to your home page. Because photos are more effective at eliciting attention than text, this is a great source for traffic.

• Pin from your site: If you add pins directly from your website with the “Pin It” plugin on your toolbar, you will automatically imbed that link into the pin. So, even an accidental click will take them right where you want them.
• Choose the right landing page: Always relate your link to the photo you’re sharing – from products, to your sign up page or a blog post. If they’re curious enough to click the photo, they’re likely going to be interested enough to look around wherever you send them.

Make it Effective

With Twitter, you can throw a few new blog posts out and call it a day. With Facebook, you can answer a few comments and move on. With photo sharing sites, however, you have to work to make them effective. This is less about engagement and more about enticing customers and converting.

Photo sharing tips:

• Make it compelling: Pinterest is all about great photos – people share what looks good, what they’re inspired by, and what intrigues them. Your photos are the main aspect, so you have to make them good.
• Make it relevant: You want to appeal to your customers, so keep your photos relevant. Whether you use infographics, phone pictures or professional photos, be sure that your customers will care about it.

Show Authority

Your business blog is about adding value, and so are your photo sharing efforts. However, it’s important that you also show some authority here. While these sites are filled with fly-by-night pinners, you have to show you’re actually serious.

• Do your research: Know what your competition is doing; what are others in your industry having success with? You don’t want to copy them, but rather take their tactics and make them better.
• Accompany it: Don’t just put out photos, add in text as well. Whether you share a tip or trick, or information about a product you sell, you’re photo is only as good as the value it will bring to your interested customers.

B2B marketers have a notoriously hard time with social media, but photo sharing can be a valuable tool for the many B2B companies who have yet to start using it. So, instead of avoiding it all together, make it work for your business, and take advantage of the opportunity before it’s replaced with the next online fad.

Photo credit: onlinebusiness.volusion.com