Social media is increasingly becoming a virtual space for people to interact and share their interests, empowering social media channels to claim a fair share of the online marketing industry. Pinterest, one of the recent channels, has quickly evolved into the third most used social media channel, behind Facebook and Twitter, thus luring in digital marketers.
What are people doing on Pinterest?
Users or “pinners” pin image-based content to their “pinboards”, with short descriptions. Each pinner can follow other like-minded people and groups based on the category of their interests. While sharing images, which carry hyperlinks to the originating site, pinners let other pinners know their choices or recommendations. Due to its image-sharing specialty, a pinner within minutes can critique hundreds of context stories and decide which they will repin on their pinboard or click through to visit the referring website, to tell or sell the initial inspiration.
What makes it a hot sell for social media marketers?
Launched only two years ago, Pinterest recently surpassed LinkedIn to become the third favourite social media channel, specialising in image sharing or “image-pinning”. It stands second, next to YouTube, when the average time spent ( nearly 16 minutes per day) by a user on the platform is taken into consideration. However, if the the amount of Pinterest images viewed vs YouTube videos watched is compared, an online marketer can comprehend the overwhelming content marketing potential of this channel.
Another inspiring fact about Pinterest is its users. Almost 70 per cent are women and nearly half of them have children, with nearly a quarter having a household income above $100K. Though Facebook is still the heavyweight in terms of users and traffic, Pinterest refers more traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. And shoppers referred to retail sites by interest spend more money than Facebook and Twitter combined.
Due to these interesting and promising facts, online marketing companies have also stepped up discussions about how pinteresting their clients or products are. And yet there are others who are deciding if it is just another round of pin the tail on the new social donkey. To help, here are some tips for a successful Pinterest marketing strategy:
Vie for top-pinned categories: Popular categories are the most pinned on the platform, therefore pinning your products here is the best route to success. Home, arts, crafts, style, fashion, food, inspiration, education, holidays, humour, products, travel and kids are the most popular categories, with food remaining one of the fastest-growing categories.
Genuine and interesting content: Genuine content specifically tailored to the interest of your current or intended followers is most likely to bring you more loyal followers and potential customers. Contrary to what you might think, you don’t have to be original to the entire world; online platforms are showing us more and more, you only need to be interesting to your current followers to engage them.
Aspirational content: Pinners on Pinterest pin any image for its visual appeal and if it appeals to their interests. Pinning images that are interesting with sharp, shop-the-look or aspirational scenes will evoke pinners to click on the buy button and bring them to your site.
Track the conversions: Blindly investing resources in online marketing does not make sense. This is the golden rule of digital marketing and Pinterest cannot be an exception to it. If you are investing resources in pinning images to Pinterest, then you should also have the outcome of the campaign tracked. You must monitor and review the conversions of your investment by tracking referrers, traffic and sales.
Have influencers work for you: Some years ago bloggers with a massive reader base were massive wins for digital marketing. Their word of mouth would do wonders for websites. Now their reign is being taken over by influential pinners on Pinterest. Sponsoring influential pinners for your product will help leapfrog your brand into converting Pinterest success. Where possible, run this in parallel with your own pinboards and content.
Last but not the least, like in any other social media strategy, make sure all the content you pin or have your sponsored leaders pin for you, is relevant to your business or the destination site. Pinning or sponsoring loads of glossy photos of earthquakes or politics will earn a negative reputation for your brand, if you sell gadgets.
Pinterest is presently the fastest-growing social media platform, promising huge ROI for the right product with the right marketing strategy. Every month its 27 million unique visitors scan through loads of images, coming up with tons of ideas for their wall. On a recent weekend outing to the local park with my recently-born twins I found out why. One of the mothers summed up Pinterest’s potential perfectly: “It’s like your own glossy magazine, made just for me, without all the articles.” Instantly, in my head, I saw the apple falling. What could be a greater source of inspiration for an advertiser than that?
References:
http://mashable.com/2012/02/01/pinterest-traffic-study/