Pinterest might as well count as one of the top marketing buzzwords of 2012, as its explosive growth (even though it’s still in invite-only status) has left marketers scrambling to get a good idea of how to utilize it to promote their own business and products.
The Business Insider cites that traffic to Pinterest.com increased over 40x in the past six months (as of December 22, 2011), and Experian Hitwise (who also provided the graph to the left) cites that 58% of the traffic are female and 59% are between the ages of 25 and 44.
For businesses that cater to men and women between the ages of 25 to 44, Pinterest is the ideal digital medium to get involved in.
Furthermore, even though 25 to 44 is the fastest-growing age group, users outside of the demographic can still be seen as active users on the site.
Even though Pinterest is still in invite-only, companies are still getting accounts and beginning to providing inspiration and product ideas to their customers.
In order to figure out how a business can utilize Pinterest, it’s important to recognize how a business is gaining revenue from their current customer base and to capitalize on that existing interest.
E-Commerce Websites
For e-commerce websites offering fashion, accessories, food, home decor, and other visually-appealing products online, using Pinterest as another extension of a company’s e-commerce site is a good way to drive links and display available products in a more basic way — by using photos only.
For instance, Gap has a Pinterest account that has several different boards, one being their GapFit board to market their new line of athletic apparel:
Clicking through images of available products takes the user to that product page for more information and ordering. Along with pinning their own products, Gap also has pinned other links and images that deal with fitness and health motivation, such as a healthy recipe from Real Simple and a music video for a song that is good for working out to – Bulletproof by La Roux.
Just like with any other type of social media, sharing a company’s own products and services along with providing other relevant information and resources is what helps consumers connect and help the company be seen as more of a resource rather than a solely a retail business.
Inspiration Resources
Another company already involved in Pinterest is Lowe’s, a home improvement store that offers everything from lumber to patio furniture. Lowe’s has done a great job of providing home improvement and decor ideas, along with do-it-yourself project ideas, which are a large majority of links and photos that are pinned on Pinterest.
By offering up inspiration and project ideas, Lowe’s has positioned itself to be an inspiration resource. They have continued this idea on their project website, LowesCreativeIdeas.com, which offers do-it-yourself design and project ideas for the home and garden. The Lowe’s Pinterest board links to projects from the Creative Ideas website, as well as product pages from their own website and project tutorials on other blogs.
By enveloping the do-it-yourself online community, Lowe’s has become a resource on design and do-it-yourself projects, which can increase their consumer loyalty and return offline and online visits and purchases.
Other Niches
A company doesn’t have to be in fashion, food, or home improvement in order to be successful on Pinterest. By focusing on visual content instead of text content to link to their services, products, and relevant industry content, almost any company can find a way to use Pinterest to connect with their current and potential consumer base.
For instance, a social media company such as The Social Robot offers infographics about the Internet and social media use:
This way, the company is sharing content, but in a visual manner. Thinking creatively and focusing on adding more visual content to websites can help bridge the gap between sharing content on a website and also sharing it via Pinterest and other visual-based social media communities.
Screenshots taken February 6, 2012.
Has your company started using Pinterest? Has it been successful? Let us know in the comments.
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