Pinterest Puts Your Products Into My Ideal World
By Eliece Hammond
Irresistible collections of bright recipes, funny pets, cute outfits, fast cars, funky crafts, celebrities, places to travel, celebrations, inspiring quotes, and interior décor. I am hooked on Pinterest. Here’s why you should be, too: Because Pinterest is about to go from 10.4 Million registered users to 12 Million users in one month.
Quick, Easy, and Irresistible
I’ve been trying to come up with a formula that describes the engagement level of Pinterest. That absolute glee factor of finding a gem, a rare and beautiful visual thing that I can post on my Pinterest board and claim as a representation of who I am, and I think I got it. It’s like shopping.
I post stuff on Facebook to share with my friend and family that I find to be current, hip, entertaining, informative, or just plain fun. I tweet stuff that I find inspiring, relevant, important, or just plain fun. I pin stuff on Pinterest for posterity. It’s not just for right now, it’s going in my Pinterest closet. It’s going on my board until I say otherwise. Often, I find other users sifting through my board “Happy” or “My Style” which is a broadly curated collection of stuff I have uploaded, pinned from the internet, and mostly, repinned from other pinners! In fact, most of my time on Pinterest is spent repinning stuff that shows up in this long, beautifully critiqued list of recent pins from all of the people and companies I care most dearly about. It’s like Google Reader, except the bloggers are just pinners and it takes them two seconds to come up with new material.
No Place for Traditional Sales Tactics
My favorite stuff to repin comes from experts and companies, and I try to repin the good stuff they post as quickly as I see it so I can be the first one to post it. It’s like being the first kid on your block to get the cool new sneakers. Except, I didn’t leave my house and it didn’t cost me any money.
Here’s what’s really endearing about the engagement with companies on Pinterest, they aren’t trying to sell me their products (which is a Pinterest rule, and a best practice), they are engaging in a fun social media tool with me on an even playing field and the stuff they come up with blows my socks off. I am way, way more likely to try a recipe from Kraft when it shows up on my recent pin feed like this:
I don’t read emails when Kraft sends them, sometimes they filter straight to my spam, often I unsubscribe to some or all until there is a promotion.
Tell you what I do love: having a great pair of shoes pop up on my Facebook page so that I can click the link through and pin the picture before I buy them:
Or even better, I can pin several outfit options to go with the pair and purchase the one I like best. Instant wardrobe specialist!
This points to something special about Pinterest – it’s 97% women! Whatever your company does, I guarantee it appeals to women at some level. Everybody is getting in on this action, from Sony and the Boston Celtics to West Elm and GAP.
Pinterest as a Pre-Purchase Resource
The most interestingly pervasive thing about Pinterest is it is the ultimately pre-purchase tool. I see your post, I like your post, I repin it to a board like “For the Home”, “My Style”, or “Supplies I need”, usually in conjunction with several other items that fit the description and you have built your item into the ultimate solution for my dream living room, my perfect date outfit, or my ideal desk drawer. And trust me, I am coming back for more.
Bottom line: your customers are on Pinterest and you should be, too.
That’s where we come in. Dream Local Digital has experience working with small businesses to bring longstanding brand messages and reputations for excellent customer service into the social media arena. Contact us today for a FREE marketing consultation.
