Businesses Becoming Pinned To Pinterest

Pinterest: it's a marketer's dream.

 

Pinterest.com is the latest craze in social media. As the name suggests, it's an online and social pinboard.

The site allows users to share pictures of things they love; everything from recipes to workouts to photos of George Clooney. But, it's not just for personal use. Many businesses are also becoming pinned to the site.

"It lets companies get inside the head of the consumer" says Anthony Juliano, V.P. of Marketing for Fort Wayne's Asher Agency.

Juliano advises companies on how to benefit from social media.

"When you look at what Pinterest does well, it really comes down to three things. Number one: it's very easy to use; it's very easy for people to share content. Number two: it's very visually appealing. It's a nice-looking site and doesn't have a lot of clutter that some other social media sites have. And then third, it's image based and I think that represents a longer trend when people are looking to communicate via images rather than via text because text is more difficult than images" he says.

When you first log in, Pinterest will give you suggestions of categories to follow, like food or home dcor. It then allows you go to make boards. Name them what you'd like. Take for instance 'Recipes to Try.' Then, pin pictures to the appropriate board. It's a win-win for the business and the consumer. Users are sharing ideas and products, while companies are attracting new customers.

But, Juliano says Pinterest isn't for everyone. So what kind of company would benefit from using Pinterest? A great example is Fort Wayne's own Vera Bradley.

"I think Pinterest has tremendous potential for a company like Vera Bradley, because its audience is predominately female, because it promotes a product that is visual and it's a great company with a decent-size budget."

Both men and women can use Pinterest, but it's definitely targeted more towards the ladies. In the U-S, 83 percent of Pinterest users are female.

"In a lot of households the women who are Pinterest's primary audience are the people who control the family budget, so there's a lot of potential for retailers in the long term" says Juliano.

Juliano's advice to companies considering becoming 'pinned:' "Take a close look at your organization. Take a close look at your audience and say 'Is Pinterest aligned with these things.' If it is, then it is worthy of investment."

To give you an idea of just how fast this site has grown, last May Pinterest had just around 400,000 users. Today it has around 13 million.