SBC Advertising Blog: Pinning Power: Make the Most Out of Pinterest for Your Brand

By Lyndsay Thiebert, Interactive Copywriter

The latest social site in the spotlight is doing more than just attracting 10 million-plus users in its first two years. Pinterest is also building a strong — and valuable — reputation in the digital marketing world.

Because Pinterest, like most social media sites, allows brands to connect with and better understand their consumers, the added bonus is an incredibly high percentage of engagement. More than 80 percent of Pinterest pins are repinned or shared on another board, so retailers’ products or ideas are bound to reach a broader audience.

Consumers love Pinterest for their personal agendas, but how does it fit into a retailer’s grand plan? The same way it does with consumers — to plan, inspire, discover and, of course, share.

Themed boards known as Pinboards create an opportunity for retailers to tell stories via images and captions. Retailers can create Pinboards for many purposes:

Promote an upcoming event
Generate excitement for a product launch
Set the mood for a seasonal campaign
Provide tips or advice around a specific product or style
Learn something new about an audience

No matter the reason, retailers convey their brand’s essence and personality through every pin on these Pinboards.

Brands like Real Simple, Starbucks and American Eagle have successfully exemplified and appealed to their customers’ lifestyles with boards focused less on product and more on hobbies such as cooking, organizing and styling to connect with consumers by relating to things they might like.

Strategic Pinning

The brands winning in the world of pinning also understand the importance of content strategy and planning. But determining the stories to tell and images and content to share can be one of the biggest challenges for a retailer. Those who do it right grasp the big idea of a campaign and assure each piece of the content puzzle works together, regardless of the platform.

Elmer’s, an SBC client, has employed a conservative, yet successful pinning strategy with its loyal — and growing — community of 2,000 followers. The retailer’s well-defined and thought-out Pinboards appeal to some of their main audiences like DIYers, crafters and teachers. And with a strong sense of omni-channel marketing, Elmer’s promotes numerous boards via Facebook and Twitter to generate more awareness of its Pinterest presence.

Look Who’s Pinning

When it comes to demographics, Pinterest has what you might expect, a majority of women users, but also something more — a strong and growing following of men. Women make up 80 percent of the pinning population, so it’s only natural for retailers to focus on the female demographic, especially considering that women account for 85 percent of all consumer purchases. If a woman loves what she sees, she won’t hesitate to click through to buy or learn more. With this in mind, it’s why no wonder why a recent report from Cambridge, Mass.-based content-sharing site Shareaholic found Pinterest to be one of the leading traffic drivers to retailer websites.

Now let’s not forget about those men getting curious about pinning, too. The number of guys joining Pinterest is growing: 10 out of the top 45 Pinterest users are men. And according to ZoomSphere, the most-followed men on Pinterest aren’t all about sports; these guys love design, architecture, travel and fashion, too.

The Final Pin

Ultimately, with the rise of Pinterest and the continuing evolution of social media, retailers are once again in the business of selling themselves and a lifestyle. Successful brands accomplish this through storytelling and content. In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, how consumers shop will continue to change. Regardless of the medium, it’s imperative to understand your brand’s personality and how to communicate that.

Check out the following infographic published by Buzz Referrals for the full rundown of the social media site, including user demographics, a comparison of how Pinterest stacks up compared to other social media sites and a few marketing tips on what tactics have worked best so far.