Pinterest is an online pinboard where users can curate and collect things they love. Even though Pinterest is still in beta, the feverish rise of pinning and pinners continues to rise. One thing is certain: a pin is worth a thousand words. And it may be worth even more in traffic and dollars. (See article: Pinterest sends more traffic to sites than LinkedIn, YouTube and Google +).
Before Pinterest opens up to advertising, your consumer brand has the chance to inspire your customer's lifestyle. If you use Pinterest well, it could become your most effective social media tool yet.
Here are our top ten tips for consumer brands on Pinterest:
- FOCUS ON WISH LISTS & REGISTRIES: If your website has wish lists or gift registries, make sure they are "pinnable" using the Pin It button.
- START FANSPOTTING: It's important to monitor your Pinterest account. See who's pinning for you and how they choose to express your brand. Identify influential fans and fold them into your efforts.
- UTILIZE INFORMAL MARKET RESEARCH: Pinterest activity (the users and the content) is informal market research. It can allow you to identify your consumers and see how they perceive your brand. Inspiration works both ways.
- BE INSPIRING: Beautiful, unique images go viral. Show a mood, idea, or inspiration piece that helped create your product or brand. Share looks, styles, or your product in action. Your boards should be a mix of product and other content to show the interest or theme.
- CREATE A COMMUNITY: Create group boards with a stated theme or idea encouraging your fans to share with you, making your boards collaborative and truly communal. Be social at the pin party and Repin from others.
- MAKE IT EASY TO SHARE: Add the Pin It button to your product detail pages and to any brand content. Fans should be able to share your imagery as inspiration, not just your products.
- TRACK THE ACTION: Analyze your pins. Use site analytics to track pin behavior from your website, popularity, and traffic. Data is paramount in ecommerce and can uniquely offer insights to the brand rather than vice versa.
- MAKE IT EASY: Add a Pinterest Follow button in your listing of social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc).
- SHARE YOUR PRICING: Use your price when you post a product. To add a price to a pin, type the $ or £ symbol followed by the number amount in the description and pin.
- GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE PINNING: Give your designer or creative director board authority. Who better to pin for your brand than the designers or creative team who make your product?
Social media's darling, Pinterest, is worth exploring and doing branded content the right way:
- Authentic
- Inspirational
- Showing essence of lifestyle
- and of course good content, not self-promotion
Speculation abounds concerning Pinterest's future, including its revenue model and its ultimate value for brands. But for now, the best way to evaluate it is to start pinning (and make sure it's worthy!).