If it’s your job to make your business more marketable on the Internet, chances are your Facebook page and Twitter profile have been active from day one. (If not, get those going, and then come back.) But according to recent data, those two social media superstars are being joined by a third that’s been rapidly gaining users and marketing power over the past months: Pinterest.
Although one of the babies of the ever-expanding social media family, Pinterest enjoyed a growth rate of more than 4,300 percent in 2012. If you need a quick reminder, Pinterest has attracted users of all ages—though the largest age group is 25 to 34 years old—as they can assemble “boards” of related images by “pinning” images from other users, creating a more visual blogging experience that lends itself well to the consumer world. Last April, Pinterest represented 17.4 percent of social media revenue. In fact, 69 percent of online customers who visited Pinterest found an item there that they purchased, as compared to 40 percent of customers who visited Facebook. Moreover, posts that had prices displayed got 36 percent more likes than those without, and Pinterest accounted for 25 percent of retail referral traffic.
According to Danny Maloney, the CEO & co-founder of the Pinterest marketing platform PinLeague, over a third of the top 1,500 US brands utilize Pinterest for business. For instance, the travel company Jetsetter encouraged a million Pinterest users to make boards reflecting inspirational travel destinations; doing so increased Jetsetter page views by 150 percent. Additionally, the jewelry retailer Boticca found that providing “pin” buttons across its own Web site made Pinterest its number-one social referrer, with 10 percent of sales and Pinterest users spending twice as much as Facebook users. Other popular retail brands with strong presence on Pinterest include L.L. Bean, Lululemon and Nordstrom’s; while many of these retailers don’t necessarily offer discounts or promotions, users are drawn to the brands through contests and visual appeal. Since there is not yet direct advertising on Pinterest, acquiring new users and followers is a much lower cost to businesses – a penny to 50 cents per user, as compared to 50 cents to $2.50 per new Facebook user. And what’s more, Maloney noted that less than one percent of posts on Pinterest are negative in tone – so positive feedback rules.
It’s definitely a developing platform, and businesses are still figuring out the best ways to harness what it has to offer. But in terms of visual appeal, e-commerce revenue, and user enjoyment, Pinterest just may turn into a marketing force to be reckoned with.
Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
