If you haven’t already heard, there’s a new ‘socialite’ on the block: she dresses well, emanates inspiration from every inch of her body, and is currently one of the most talked about of her kind. And she’s definitely pin-up worthy.
Who’s that girl?
‘She’ is in fact one of the newest and hottest social media platforms, and don’t think we’re being sexist or misogynist by referring to Pinterest as a woman, because while it’s a platform for one and for all, for both sets of chromosomes, 97% of the social platform’s Facebook fans are women. Not surprising, considering the homepage, no matter how many times you hit ‘refresh’, will display any one of these four images:
- Some edgy, crazy nail art
- A very rustic, yet modern kitchen
- A plate full of banana, oatmeal, blueberry or choc-chip muffins
- A cute, tiny animal
What is Pinterest?
The main purpose of Pinterest, according to the site’s own mission statement, is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Think of it as an ‘online scrapbook’: users can upload their own pictures to create what are known as ‘pins’, or they can simply ‘repin’ other users’ pictures to create some visually compelling content. Pictures of the same topic can also be collated onto your own ‘boards’ for super organisation and ease for your followers. Boards are a great feature for users that are planning a wedding, or who work in the creative industry such as designers, crafters and interior decorators, because they act as virtual ‘moodboards’ that take a lot less time to make. Boards are also a great way to gain traffic if you come up with an unusual, funny or link-bait worthy topic.
According to statistics, Pinterest is on the right track towards outshining popular social platforms YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined. No wonder so many small businesses and companies are flocking to the site to see how it could help them drive sales. But there are some negatives to using the social site as a means of raising sales figures – if your brand isn’t particularly visual, the chances of gaining big traffic figures aren’t great. Pinterest and its users don’t want to see self-promotional ‘pins’ either, so the best thing to do is either come up with your own Pinterest marketing strategy, or just give it a go, because you’ve got nothing to lose.
What’s so good about it?
So what do we think pulls in over 11 million unique visitors a month to the platform? Well…
- Internet browsers are renowned for being lazy on the web. Pinning a picture of Nike’s newest kicks is much quicker and more convenient than writing about how much you love Nike’s newest kicks.
- People are naturally visual creatures, and a picture is bound to make more of an impact on a user than a paragraph of text.
- Pinterest is a great place for inspiration, predominantly in the home décor, crafts and food and drink categories. It’s also becoming a hugely popular platform in the fashion world for displaying different ways of styling a particular item, or simply for lusting after the newest collection of Mulberry handbags.
It will be interesting to see just how big Pinterest becomes. Whether it is a product of pure hype, or whether it in fact does have the mileage to grow and last, we will soon find out!
Are you signed up to Pinterest? What do you think of the new ‘online scrapbook’?
Sources:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400187,00.asp
http://mashable.com/2011/12/26/pinterest-beginners-guide/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222740
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9224501/Pinterest_takes_on_social_e_commerce_worlds
