Pinterest: Social Media’s Underdog

When you think of Pinterest, you likely think of hundreds of recipes, countless DIY projects, and a goldmine of home decor inspiration that maybe one day you’ll actually utilize. What you’re not thinking – Pinterest eats its competitors alive.

Since the site’s launch in 2010 this visual bookmarking, online scrapbook of sorts has been steadily (and secretly) sneaking up on the big social networks. Let’s just consider this past holiday’s online sales report: IBM Digital Analytics specifically looked at Facebook and Pinterest sales, finding “Facebook referrals drove an average of $101.38 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $105.75 per order.”

So what’s making “pinning” so successful for brands?

• High Referral Traffic: Majority of users have a research mindset. When done correctly, Pinterest delivers high quality and high value traffic straight to your website simply by linking images properly.
• SEO Benefits: Both page and pin descriptions, board names, and image titles are all prime real estate for utilizing campaign keywords. Look at organic search results to understand the opportunity, review what currently triggers a Pinterest result and “pinjack” some of those terms. Renaming images from DSC001224.jpeg to “DIY-costume-ideas.jpeg” will also yield better search performance.
• Visual Content Marketing: Images grab users attention quickly and successfully. Creating pinnable images, which includes copy written on the photo (ex: Social Media Marketing Tips), provide more information at a glance.
• Extended Shelf Life: Pins are available forever. An image pinned 2 years ago can and will continue to get engagement today. Content shared on Facebook can be lost in the shuffle of algorithm changes or user settings.
• Promoted Pins: Jumping on the Facebook and Twitter ad dollars bandwagon, Pinterest has introduced Promoted Pins. These pins hardly look like ads, are heavily shared, and are available to all advertisers. Pinterest has seen success across an array of industries during their beta version, stating “Brand advertisers achieved about a 30% bump in earned media (free impressions!) from their campaigns.”

Pinterest isn’t the average social media network but it also shouldn’t be underestimated. If you’re looking to improve your social media presence, we encourage you to contact us today.  Ferocious Media is an award-winning full-service digital marketing agency with offices in New York, Colorado and Connecticut.