If you went to your CEO and said, “I want to allocate time to a website that is primarily used by furniture restoration geeks and women designing their dream wedding,” what kind of response would you expect?
Now, if you went to that same CEO and said, “I want to investigate a new social platform that’s driving more referrals than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined,” how do you think that would go over? (Jesse Noyes, Eloqua)
You know the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” That’s the power of Pinterest. It’s the epitome of that expression. On a daily basis over 20 million people use Pinterest to discover, share and get inspired by people with similar interests. Marketing Profs recently reported, “Pinterest is arguably the hottest social media site on the Internet—user traffic to the online social catalog has skyrocketed since mid-2011—but the website also boasts strong audience engagement, retention, and virality among its core demographic.”
So, how can a brand in the building products industry benefit from Pinterest?
Let’s take a closer look. The Huffington Post recently published an infographic with these amazing Pinterest user insights:
- Pinterest users spend an average of almost 16 minutes on the site per visit (12.1 for Facebook).
- 50% of Pinterest users have children.
- Almost 70% of Pinterest users are female.
- 97% of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women.
- As of January 2012, Pinterest had received just under 12 million unique visits.
- Pinterest receives almost 1.5 million visitors each day.
- Pinterest provides more referral traffic to other sites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.
Your customers aren’t even on Pinterest yet, or are they?
Take a minute, go to Pinterest and do a search for contractors (hold on to your hat). Wow, there are so many. You’re in disbelief. You’ve been talking about reaching out to architects and designers too, to drive awareness and sales through that segment. Guess how many of them you can listen to, follow and talk to on Pinterest? I’ll give you a hint….it’s a number with at least 5 zeros. Bazinga!
So, how does all this relate to you and your brand?
In order to be interesting to decision-makers, you need to be interested in what they like and why they like it. 97% of users on Pinterest are women. Research shows that they make the majority of purchasing decisions. They are on Pinterest for an average of 15 minutes a day. Looking for ideas. Researching products. Making purchasing decisions. Sharing their finds and opinions with everyone. Word-of-mouth is a powerful byproduct!
Your Brand on Pinterest
There are so many reasons for your brand to become Pinteresting, but what’s the real value? Can it help you leverage your brands position in the marketplace? The answer is yes! Start with these:
- Interact with specific audience segments more intimately
- Garner awareness and participation through conversation and visual stimulation
- Showcase new products
- Idea Gallery – “How To’s” for using products creatively and more efficiently
- User Gallery – Customers showcase success stories
- Drive traffic to your site
- Influence purchasing decisions
Pre-pinning Strategy
Before deciding whether Pinterest is right for you, consider four things:
- What marketing goal can it influence?
- How do we measure the results?
- Who will manage it?
- What added value does it provide to our current marketing mix?
Pinterest may be new, but it’s no novelty. Your brand can benefit from becoming Pinteresting. Happy pinning! Here’s to making your presence felt!
P.S. Don’t look now, but more opportunities are just around the corner. Manteresting is in beta…I’ll keep you posted!
