I Have Some Ideas That May 'Pinterest' You: Eye Candy in Social Media Marketing

Social media has become a highly visual interface for connecting people with information.  Simply put, the eye naturally gravitates to images.  In social media, that means status updates containing photos, videos or other graphics are more likely to receive comments or get interaction.  For those interested in sharing all the things they like online with friends, a new platform has recently exploded on the web.  Enter Pinterest, an online pinboard for hobbyists, planners, and dreamers alike.

According to Wikipedia,“Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The mission statement of Pinterest is to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting.”

For personal use, Pinterest is a wonderland of fun images, phrases, articles and stories.  It’s visually stimulating and entertaining.  As a business, there are a few ways that you can turn a personal social media platform into something useful for building your brand.

Product Launch – When launching a new product, companies can determine initial reactions to the product’s look and feel.  Get first-hand opinions and see how many consumers re-pin your images, and easily analyze sentiment from the results.

Show Your Personality as a Company – Any company can quickly and easily connect with their audience by posting fun stories, photos and other information on the company pinboard, all related to their industry or field.  For example, a landscaping company can post photos of client lawns or spectacular photos of yard sculptures found in a favorite magazine.

Creative Interaction with Consumers – Companies can create pinboards that invite customer participation, and then showcase those results.  This allows business owners to thank their supporters by integrating them into their marketing efforts.  For example, a clothing store might pin a clothing item sold in their store and invite customers to pin matching items found online to the board to complete an entire look.  The clothing store can then create a pin featuring all items, and thank customers for participating.  The customers feel special, creative and inspired to continue interacting with the brand.

Pinterest is a somewhat new platform in social media, but holds great potential for the future as a unique marketing tool for businesses.  Companies can create more buzz around new or existing products, and provide a unique interactive experience with their customers.  With social media becoming more and more visual, it’s no surprise that businesses now need to be ‘seen’ online (literally) in more ways than one.