Whoever invented Pinterest, I love you (Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp, one of whom I hear is a neighbor of a classmate). It’s extremely addicting, and mine seems to have grown just a little bit too much. But back to the point.
What is Pinterest?
For those of you who don’t know what Pinterest is, it’s basically a website that allows people to share pictures and links to other websites. You can either re-pin other users’ images, or you can use the “Pin It” button that you install on your toolbar to pin any picture that is on a website.
It is similar to any other social media platform, since you can add friends, like their pins and re-pin or “share” their ideas. There are a ton of categories to search like food, clothing and interior design. You just make a board, name it (Food for example or in my case, Nom Nom) and then pin anything food related to it. It’s become a problem for me. So many delicious recipes, so little time.
But how can you use it for things like advertising?
It’s not as popular as having a Twitter or Facebook but companies are jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon and using the site to promote themselves. Pinterest even offers special business accounts rather than the regular personal ones.
One of the good accounts I’ve come across is Oreo, which uses the different boards to promote things like recipes, Oreo art, Oreo history and Oreo moments. They have used it to increase awareness about all things Oreo and it shows consumers that there is more to their brand than just a cookie.
Columbus Alive! also has a Pinterest that tells people about all of the things that there are to do in Columbus. One board is for dining, one is for drinks and another is for style.
The businesses can link their Pinterests to the company websites which also allows users to see both the website and Pinterest account when using a search engine. The names of the boards can also show up in searches, and the companies can pick specific images that they pin so that consumers who click the images end up at a new destination that is relevant to the company.
Pinterest contests can also increase brand awareness by offering prizes for those who re-pin their images the most.
There are a number of case studies showing how Pinterest has increased recognition for companies and what they have done to get their numbers up. For instance, the popular site Etsy has used Pinterest to dramatically increase sales by showcasing their products on Pinterest.
Nothing is perfect though
While Pinterest is great and it can really help brands to get their name out there, the one problem I have with Pinterest is the links. Sometimes they don’t work, sometimes they’re dangerous and sometimes they only link to a picture rather than the tasty pesto chicken recipe I wanted. If there was a way to weed out malicious links and to make sure that pictures linked to the correct sites, it would be heaven. But sadly I’m not that technologically savvy so I’m not sure how they could do that. But it’s a thought.
Emily Ann PR 