by Kathy Barton, Senior VP of Social CRM
Pinterest is a social photo sharing website based on the old-fashioned bulletin-board. You “pin” photos on your virtual board based on a given theme, such as Pets or Things I Make. The site’s mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Pinterest has become the go-to site for women 25-34.
Pinterest has been attracting a lot of attention due to reports that in February, Pinterest beat Google Plus, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter for referral traffic to online publishers (i.e. stores or brands). Granted, Pinterest at 1.05% of referral traffic pales in comparison to Google at 49%, but since Pinterest is still invitation only, this is a big deal, and has caused businesses to sit up and take notice.
So, should Pinterest be your next marketing project? Maybe. Here are some things to consider.
1. Is your product or offering visual? Clearly, it’s a lot easier to pin a picture of a pair of shoes or a dress than a piece of software to the board. If you are a B2C company, with women 25-34 as a target, then invest in some compelling images of your products, and add a “Pin it” button to your product pages. Create your own boards with themes that will appeal to your buyers, and pin great photos of things that match this theme, including your products (but not just your products.)
2. What about images of the results of what your company does? If you are a non-profit, or have a strong affiliation with a charity event, or if your employees participate in these events, strong photos of this participation might serve as a good recruiting tool on a company Pinterest board.
3. If you are a B2B services company, without a strong visual element to what your company does, then Pinterest may not be the best place for you to invest your time.
4. Finally, make sure you read Pinterest’s Terms of Use. Pinterest’s members are solely responsible for what they pin and repin. They must have explicit permission from the owner to post everything. An individual person may not be worth pursuing for copyright infringement, but your company might be.
July 24th, 2012 5:44 am
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