Pinterest: Business Marketing on A Visual Platform

All social media people have their most and least favorite platforms. I must admit that Pinterest is pretty low on my personal list of favorites. But I think it is because I am not it’s primary demographic. What I will say is that Pinterest is a great platform and is an extremely valuable platform for businesses in certain industries. The thing to note with social media is that not every platform will offer the same benefits others can provide. Using the wrong social media platforms can even hinder business by investing too much time and efforts on a platform that will produce an insignificant return of investment.

Pinterest is a discovery platform. It is a highly visual repository of ideas for different projects and interests. From articles about home decor and recipes to infographics on social media, Pinterest has a lot of information on a very diverse collection of topics. Each piece of content, or pin, contains a visual element, a caption and a link. These pins are gathered and organized into collections called boards. It is very different than any other platform but it is in these differences that it draws its strength.

And Pinterest is a strong player in the social media marketplace. With 70 million active users and counting, it is becoming a major player. But what is more impressive than its user number is that 80% of its users come to Pinterest with the intention of buying something. Another interesting aspect of Pinterest is that 68% of its users are female. Initially that number was a lot higher and the pins were a lot more focused on home decor and recipes. Since its inception, it has become more centrist in both its user gender demographics and its content. Pinterest has quickly started to develop its expansion of users at a relatively faster rate in comparison to some of its competitors.

Though the strongest topics on Pinterest remain decor, recipes, weddings, fashion and babies, a lot of companies have jumped aboard and done exceptionally well. I thought I would take you through some of the more unique success stories today.

• Sony Electronics – I am going to start with one that you would not expect. Sony has about 40k followers, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but is a good representation on Pinterest. They have exactly what you would expect from an electronic mega-brand who pins tons of pictures of tech saavy products. However, they also have boards for pretty colored products and something that I think is really cool – a board called “Shot with a Sony.” That board is dedicated to photos shot with a Sony camera. It features around 100 amazing photos shot by customers on their Sony cameras. The best part of their social presence on Pinterest is that they respond to every comment posted. I think the greatest success with social media comes from the personalization of engagement.

• Lindt Chocolate – Now I am going to talk about my favorite Pinterest brand, Lindt Chocolate. They do something that I think really think is awesome. They have everything you would imagine to be on their boards including pictures of their chocolates as part of every occasion and important food dishes. However they did something pretty unique last year. They partnered with Autism Speaks and held an online auction of porcelain bunnies autographed by everyone from Betty White to Drew Brees. I think this was a pretty awesome way to use a social networking to fundraise for a great cause.

• US Army – I am trying to feature some of the unique and successful pinners and I don’t think I could have done this without bringing up the US Army – not your first thought of brands that would be on a platform dominated by women. But the army kicks butt on Pinterest. Their profile is one you have to check out. It is filled with emotional pictures of the ultimate sacrifice, amazing photos of the army in action, precious pictures of army babies and much more. It is truly an amazing use of this platform that you need to check out in order to understand the true quality of Pinterest.

Pinterest is a major player in the social media world. But for many people, it still serves a purpose for recipes and crafts. There is a lot of great content out there by some very surprising brands. I encourage everyone to sign up and log in to Pinterest. You will be surprised at what is out there and the potential that it holds. The upside on this is that you even get to organize it!