Overview

If you want to raise your company’s market and customer interest through social media, it’s simple, try Pinterest! Pinterest is a social media platform that allows businesses to promote their company’s products, projects, events, services, and purpose through the visual aid of high quality images to millions of potential customers at the click of a button. Unlike other social media sites that focus on marketing through the use of words, Pinterest let’s users get the full picture on what your company has to offer by viewing and sharing images that can be linked to any website. Whether you are the marketing coordinator of a large corporation or the starter of a small business, once you learn the proper way boosts your company’s brand through Pinterest, you will have wished you had started pinning sooner.


Pinterest in Brief

Pinterest is a platform that allows individuals and businesses to post and save pictures to different pinboards on their profile. Pinboards frequently are organized by different categories or groups of images that are similar to one another.  Users are also able to follow and share pins with their friends. With a wide range of topics to choose from and a search bar to help find more specific images, you can pin just about anything. From vacation destinations and DIY projects to your favorite recipes and the latest fashion trends, Pinterest has it all.


The company is based in San Francisco, California. It was founded by Evan Sharp and Benjamin Silbermann in 2008 as Cold Brew Labs Inc., later making the name change to Pinterest, Inc. in 2010. Pinterest employs over 400 pinployees in the fields of Engineering & Project, Creative, Business, Community, and Culture. The platform is funded primarily by investors, but has recently started acquiring revenue through business accounts and promotional pins.


With over 70 million users, the United States holds nearly 50 percent of its user population, while other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and France, only hold about 2-5 percent of users. It should not be a surprise that of those 70 million users, nearly 83 percent are female. Pinterest contributes almost 25 percent of retail referral traffic. About 30 percent of Pinterest’s website traffic is linked from the use of search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask. Another 3.5 percent of traffic is linked from social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Youtube, and Reddit. Pinterest users can also find their favorite images by using the free iOS or Android mobile app, which scored a rating of 4.5-4.6 out of 5 stars from user reviews.


Pinterest in Operation

One company that benefits tremendously from Pinterest marketing is Etsy. Pinterest is Etsy’s top traffic driver and helps connect Pinners with the 800,000 online shops that Etsy has to offer. In addition to posting products that are for sale, Etsy shares tutorials and DIY projects to help strengthen the relationship with their followers.  Lowe’s, Sephora, and Whole Foods Market have also learned how to successfully market on Pinterest by increasing their followers, web traffic, and sales. By pinning DIY projects, makeup tutorials, and organic recipes, users are more likely to purchase the specific materials from the business directly since there is not many or any competitors that carry the specific products used in the pins.


The Today Show promotes their news stories, viewers’ favorites, and behind the scenes photos on their profile to keep followers up to date and entertained at all times. Ellen DeGeneres pins her take of important pictures that need to be shared, including funny texts, pets, babies, and tattoos. Sticking to what she does best, Ellen has gained nearly 264,000 followers by sharing her witty sense of humor.


And who could forget the famous wedding board? Companies, such as The Knot and Green Wedding Shoes, help pinners plan their dream wedding by posting images of flowers, dresses, rings, gifts, and much more that go into planning that special day. Other companies, such as Four Seasons, help plan honeymoons and special vacations by posting jaw-dropping images of destinations everyone would love to visit.




Pinterest’s Pros and Cons

One pro for companies using Pinterest is that they are able to promote their company to a wide range of existing and potential customers with a continually expanding market. Once you have captured the interest of certain followers, soon their friends will begin to follow you, and a domino effect will occur, resulting in a ton of new customers. After all, Pinterest’s users generate about 70 percent of brand interaction, rather than the brand marketing itself. Another benefit of using Pinterest is the referral traffic. The hyperlink on most pictures will take the user directly to the company’s website. This will increase sales with the company that posted the image, rather than the user having to search for the product and possibly purchasing it through a different business.


One negative aspect of companies using Pinterest is that the platform has such specific demographics, mainly targeting young women in the United States. This may be very beneficial for businesses that are trying to reach this specific demographic, but most companies need a wider scope in order to succeed. Another negative point of businesses using Pinterest is that the business must have a product or service that can be photographed in a way to make customers want to buy into the business. Some businesses, such as plumbing companies, banks, or cable providers, are not visually appealing, so marketing through other platforms would be more productive. Other companies may have visually appealing pictures, but the product or service may be easily duplicated, allowing users to benefit from the marketing efforts without contributing any revenue.  




Analysis

Pinterest is a fun, innovative, and visually attractive way to market your company through social media. Although Pinterest is a great social media platform for some companies, it can be hurtful to others by wasting time that could be spent marketing through more productive platforms. It is important to understand your business well enough to decide if Pinterest is a beneficial marketing platform. Though it has not occurred yet, I believe Pinterest will soon begin to post advertisements and more noticeable promotional pins as the platform’s business accounts increase. As for now, keep pinning, posting, and sharing to promote businesses that love Pinterest just as much as you do.



References

Borchardt, D. (2012, April 6). Pinterest is a $7.7 Billion Company. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2012/04/16/pinterest-is-a-7-7-billion-company/

Company Overview of Pinterest, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=139264388

Deamicis, C. (2013, October 23). Why Pinterest makes no money but is now worth $3.8 billion. Retrieved January 30, 2015, from http://pando.com/2013/10/23/why-pinterest-makes-no-money-but-its-now-worth-3-8-billion/

Helmrich, B. (2015, January 21). Pinterest for Business: Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7552-pinterest-business-guide.html

Hemley, D. (2013, December 13). 26 Ways to Make Pinterest Work for Your Business. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-tips-for-your-business/

Pinterest.com Traffic Statistics. (2014, December 31). Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.similarweb.com/website/pinterest.com

Rampton, J. (2013, September 5). Pinterest Marketing Tips: What You Can Learn From 20 Big Brands. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/228181

(n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2015, from www.pinterest.com

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