Last week we had a discussion question about how businesses could use Pinterest to engage with customers, so I know this is a little late, but while reading through my blog roll, I came across a very interesting article about the exponential growth of Pinterest of late here and wanted to share.
The number of users increased by 400% from September to December 2011 and just in the month of December alone they has 7.51 million unique visitors to the website.
From what I've read, it still seems quite uncertain as to how successful Pinterest will be for businesses in terms of actually driving traffic to stores and purchases, but there are some business in where I think it could work. The article mentions the Pinterest accounts for HGTV, Nordstrom and West Elm and all of these businesses have one major thing in common - they are very visual. Design, art and fashion are all very visual and built from inspiration. For an interior design company, Pinterest would post images of work they've done in the hopes of getting followers interested in their business services, or post some of their favourite products that would only be available at their stores.
I could also see Pinterest working successfully for cosmetic brands and fashion brands, not only for posting new collections, but making the creative process more available to consumers - breaking down the lines of what use to be a secret or proprietary in the planning process, but is now made available through social media outlets. For now, I'm using Pinterest specifically to inspire upcoming wedding plans, but I'm going to be on the look out to see how Pinterest continues to develop within the retail space.
Hi Sarah - I sent this link to another student in our class revealing a recent study on the demographics of Pinterest. I think that by having a better idea of who is pinning on this social networking site will allow marketers to include Pinterest in their online social marketing strategies. There is a massive following for Pinterest that would allow companies to get their products and messages out to a very large audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't know how successful Pinterest will be at increasing traffic to actual stores but I think with time, online sales will definitely go up.
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/
Hi Sarah - I agree with you, I think there still needs to be knowledge developed on how exactly to measure users and success/results, but with time, I believe that will happen. Thanks also for sending the link - very interesting!
DeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pinterest has a lot of interesting potential as a marketing tool. I work in the government sector promoting water conservation behaviour and I'm wondering if we can incorporate it into our outdoor landscaping program. Lots of great gardening pin boards on the site and it might be a good way to get feedback on some of our demo garden designs and compliment our YouTube videos and facebook outreach.
Hi Julie - I really think that Pinterest could be interesting for your industry. It could be good for feedback, but could also be used as a way to get users to interact and perhaps participate in a contest. Again, I'm not sure of the logistics of something like this, but I think eventually, with more growth and knowledge, something like this could be possible.
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