The Power of Pinterest

Hello, my name is Erin Stephanie and I am a Pinterest addict.

Okay, I have finally admitted it long after everyone else around me knew I was addicted to the website – I didn’t receive the title “Miss Pinterest” at my sororities annual awards last year for no reason. Besides my love for the social media site, I have become a big advocate of brands using Pinterest as a way to engage with their target audience.

As an early adopter of the phenomenon that is Pinterest, I have begun to see a rise in consumer focused companies tapping into the Pinterest potential within the past year. Brands such as Whole Foods, Etsy, Modcloth, Southern Living Magazine, and Mashable have been successfully using the platform to engage with their audiences and not only promote their products, but tell their brand’s story. While Pinterest is sweeping the nation and quickly joining the ranks of Twitter and Facebook, the idea of it being used as a marketing tool is still in its early stages.

It is important for a brand to understand that success on this newer platform lies in the ability to fully understand the purpose, audience, and topics.

For those unfamiliar with the website, Pinterest users collect, organize, and share content they find visually interesting to boards within a specific category. This is done through pictures that link back to websites, blogs, or other social media sites, such as Tumblr. Essentially, Pinterest is a virtual one stop shop for organization. The website is user friendly and unlike Facebook and Twitter users, Pinterest users are not as involved in conversation – most of the activity is “repinning” pictures to pinboards.

Here are some quick stats on the average Pinterest user:

• 28 million users per month
• Ages of 25-54
• 79% of users are females
• 57% of users have incomes greater than $50,000

While there may be an abundance of categories on Pinterest, the following are the top 10 most popular categories, according to Mashable: home, arts & crafts, style/fashion, food, inspiration/education, holiday/seasonal, humor, products, travel, and kids.

It is important to note that Pinterest is not a stand-alone marketing tactic, it needs to be used in conjunction with your pre-established social media plan. If you are considering using Pinterest, check out these stats on how Pinterest can help boost your brands social media image:

1. High referral rates

According to a study conducted by Shareaholic, Pinterest rivaled Twitter in referrals to a company website and overpowered the likes of Youtube, Reddit, Google +, and LinkedIn.

2. 70% of brand engagement comes from users not the brands

In fashion and retail this number jumps up to 82% community driven content; the PR girl in me is excited to see this statistic. When I pin on Pinterest, I am saying that I endorse this product, idea, or project. I am showing my followers that this is something to take note of. According toBlogHer, a whopping 81% of users trust the advice and information that they get from Pinterest – significantly higher than Facebook and Twitter users.

3. Pinterest users spend more money

On average Pinterest users spend more money and make more purchases than Facebook users, often spending more than double the amount than Facebook users per transaction.

Before jumping onto the bandwagon and adding Pinterest to your social media marketing plan, consider the following necessary criteria:

• Do you have visually interesting photos to use?
• Do you know your brands story? Brands are not one-dimensional and cannot be treated as such. Accordingly, your pins should consistently tell your brands story.
• Who will manage the account to ensure interaction and compelling content creation?
• Do you have any interest in the demographics of Pinterest?

If done properly, and in conjunction with your established marketing efforts, Pinterest could be a nice addition for your brand!

Happy Pinning!

Originally posted on colesandcolomy.com