Are You Pinteresting? 6 Points to Remember

Although Pinterest is two years old, it leapt to popularity this year as people flocked to the site and the media took notice. Meanwhile, many figured out that Pinterest pin boards mean publicity and, in some cases, dollars.

But there are probably a few things you still don’t know about the new social media darling, such as:

1. Mostly female users, but …

Pinterest has a reputation for its mostly female population, and for the most part it’s true. However, it’s not as skewed as you might think. While one study said the site is almost 90 percent women,another study showed that the percentages were closer to 70 percent women, 30 percent men. It’s not 50/50, but there are still a number of men visiting the site. It shows there’s definitely a huge market on Pinterest.

2. Time on site is loooong

Facebook has the market cornered on visits, but there’s one area where Pinterest has it beat: time spent on the site. The average Facebook user spends 12 minutes checking out what their friends are doing. On Pinterest, it’s up to almost 16 minutes, just behind YouTube at 16.5 minutes. Part of the reason for Pinterest long time on site is likely due to the ease of its mobile version, where you can just scroll … and scroll … and scroll …


3. Growth from the Midwest

While we normally associate tech growth with an area such as California or New York, Pinterest’s growth can be attributed to the Midwest. From there it swiftly spread to across the country. Goes to show that if you capture the Heartland, you’ve got the nation’s heart.

4. It actively discourages self promotion

Businesses looking to send traffic to their stores and websites are faced with a problem: Pinterest etiquette dictates that users don’t self-promote. As a result, it’s forced many businesses to return to the drawing board and determine how to shift people from Pinterest to the checkout line without crossing the imaginary promotion border. The key is to keep it simple, light, and fun, just like the website itself.

5. It’s No. 3

Pinterest is now the third most popular social media site on the Internet, behind Facebook and Twitter. Not No. 3 among women, or No. 3 with Etsy sellers—it’s No. 3 overall. In March alone, when the site’s meteoric rise began to plateau, it still boasted more than 104 million visitors, with Twitter getting 182 million and LinkedIn coming in at No. 4 with 86 million.

6. You cannot pin from the iPhone app

The Pinterest iPhone app only allows you to view the boards, you cannot pin. However the paid app for iPads does allow you to pin. Pins look super on the iPad with its great screen.

Why Yes I Am Quite Pinteresting

Experian Hitwise finds Pinterest is the new No. 3 social site on the web (total visitors), just slightly ahead of LinkedIn.

Massive growth and popularity prove Pinterest is a wise avenue for your marketing efforts.

But how do you use it?

Pinterest: A Guide for Marketers

One of the first things you need to understand about Pinterest is what the heck it is. The site is “A content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to their pin board.”

Pinterest allows users to create customized themed boards to pin their images, video and other objects to. The board and theme are as creative as the individual and for marketers this can be ripe ground for our talent.

Demographics

Hitwise classifies Pinterest users into three categories:

Boomers & Boomerangs: Boomers and Boomerangs are a contemporary consumer segment consisting of baby boomer-aged parents and their grown-up children living under the same roof. In these upscale households, most of the parents are in their 50s and early 60s while most of their children are teenagers and young adults in their 20s.
Babies & Bliss: Babies and Bliss represent the premier lifestyle for large families in America. With a majority of households containing at least five people, this segment is a haven for large broods living in new suburban subdivisions. Parents in this segment tend to be in their 30s and 40s.
Families Matter Most: A fast-growing segment, Families Matter Most consists of young, middle-class families in suburban locations leading active, family-focused lives. Nine out of 10 households have kids (nearly two-thirds have multiple kids).
As far as gender goes, a large percentage of the users on Pinterest are women. Google Ad planner shows Pinterest with an 80 percent female and 20 percent male demographic, ages primarily 25-44. The site caters to their interests so there’s no surprise there.

Men, however, are slowly migrating to the site and finding interest in their own ways. Sports teams have even created Pinterest boards for their male audience.

Benefits

There are many benefits to using this new social networking site for marketing a brand. Just like any other social site, brands stand a chance to reap the rewards of reaching more customers, driving more traffic, and selling more products.

Traffic

According to Shareaholic, Pinterest sent more referral traffic to websites than Twitter did in February this year. The site still doesn’t beat out StumbleUpon as a referral traffic source, but is slowly climbing the ranks becoming a contender.

Over the summer, Pinterest became the top social media referrer for MarthaStewart.com and MarthaStewartWedding.com. The site is sending more referral traffic than Facebook and Twitter combined.

Cooking Light magazine’s website shows Pinterest as the second highest traffic referrer behind Google. The most popular topics that seem to drive traffic are in the wedding, arts and crafts, culinary, décor, design, and fashion industries.

Sales

For Etsy store owners, Pinterest has proved to be a boon to their success. The site caters to the creative and interesting, the unique.

Users are encouraged to share the prices of items in their pins, by placing a “$” prefix before the price. Attractive prices can certainly garner a click through and potential purchase.

While we certainly don’t recommend promoting the heck out of your products, adding boards to showcase your products that in turn can help sell them is a good idea.

Reach

If people love your products, there’s a good chance you’ve already debuted on Pinterest. Here’s a trick: Check for yourself by going to pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com to see the users pinning your photos. You may find that customers pin many photos, have photos that get re-pinned or liked, and even have some Pinterest followers comment on their pins. These are all opportunities a brand’s name is spread and the reach is expanded.

Marketing on Pinterest: Quick Tips

Legalities: One of the biggest concerns with a site like Pinterest is the copyright and trademark violation liabilities. When you pin content that doesn’t belong to you, you run the risk of infringing on the rights of that content. While some opt to tearfully delete their inspiration boards, others act more cautiously when utilizing the site. Post content you own the rights to or share content from others who own the rights.

Stay Relevant: Pinning photos that relate to your brand and are organized in the proper board is suggested. Random photos that aren’t relevant to the themes and topics on Pinterest may not fare as well. Stand a chance at getting your pins seen by tailoring them to the topics popular on Pinterest. These popular pins show on category pages that receive many more Pageviews and can result in traffic and expanded reach.

Optimize: A recent infographic put together by Pinnable business, illustrates the important optimization areas for your images in order to cater to Pinterest. From file naming to description length, each of these areas are important to understand and optimize. Additionally important is optimizing each pin description. Remember to add a call to action when applicable and you can even drop a link.

Become Pinteresting: Simply adding a few boards and pins to Pinterest aren’t going to cut it. Find ways to create your own niche on the site. Garner a following; get known as the expert in a specific niche or topic on Pinterest by sharing interesting content. (Image viaAgbeat.com)
Hashtags: Pinterest understands hashtags, so use them. Use categories or keywords as hashtags, or even joke around with them to add some humor just like on Twitter.
Add $: Remember, adding the “$” in front of a price will automatically add the pin to the Gifts section on Pinterest. When applicable, remember to add “$” to your pins.
Let us help you by putting a Pinerest button on your web site to encourage pining.


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AUTHOR: Scott Shabot