Social media marketing, an effective marketing method for many companies, offers businesses the ability to increase website traffic, boost sales, improve relations with customers and build a solid reputation. While many companies today are focusing their SEO methods on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest is another social media site that some businesses are beginning to use with excellent results. Although Pinterest may not be the best addition to the social media strategy of every company, there’s a good chance that it can be an excellent traffic method for your business.

How can you decide if Pinterest is a good traffic method for your social media marketing campaign? Here are a few things that can help your company decide if it is a good fit.

First, a simple look at your company’s Google Analytics can show if you already have traffic coming from Pinterest. It’s possible that your company’s customers and website visitors are pinning photos from your site. If Pinterest is already a great source of referral traffic for your site, then using Pinterest as a traffic method is a great option.

Next, take a look at your business website. Do you have a lot of visual content like videos or pictures on your site? Does your site offer infographics? If you have a lot of quality visual content, then Pinterest may be a great fit for your company. Pinterest is all about visual content, so a site that already has great visual content can definitely reap the traffic benefits this social media site has to offer.

Once you decide to use Pinterest as a method of traffic generation, you can use several techniques to drive traffic to your company website. One simple method is to take images from your company’s blog and then pin those images to your Pinterest account. A great picture can generate interest and eventually drive more traffic to your blog. Interacting with followers on Pinterest may also lead to more website traffic. Many companies actually offer contents via Pinterest for their followers, which can lead to an explosion of traffic to your site.

Of course, if your company has no visual content available and you are in a business that does not lend itself to visual content, Pinterest may not be the best option for your social media marketing campaign. However, many companies are finding that Pinterest is an excellent way to boost website traffic, especially if proper SEO techniques are used to optimize the results you enjoy when using Pinterest for marketing purposes.