Guest post by former Copeland intern Stefanie Grieser
Blogging advice: Love it or leave it , a previous Copeland blog post stressed that regularity in a blog is key and in order to achieve that you must love blogging and “wholeheartedly believe in it.”
Well, I guess that puts me in the “leave it” pile. I did, however, discover something that gives me a happy medium. It’s this new thing called Pinterest.
As it turns out, I am not the only Pinterest fanatic. Apparently it’s the new “it” social media thing and is rapidly growing. So what is Pinterest? What makes Pinterest so great? And why is not just another social media sharing service?
Pinterest is an online, virtual pin board. It creates virtual links through images and videos, called ‘pins’ which can then be categorized, organized and shared on ‘pin boards’. I like to think of it as some sort of mix between a blog, Twitter and Flickr.
In today’s digital era, images and photos are far more likely to be shared than an article. There has been a significant shift in the power of visual content which makes the visual aspect of Pinterest very compelling, but that’s not the only factor that makes it so successful. Few other social networks have captured the combination of self-expression, content sharing and visual imagery in such asimplistic way. On top of that, it is another great marketing tool that engages conversation, forecasts trends and drives product sales.
And why can Pinterest work for your business?
It’s focused. Like I said, pin boards are categorized by interests and the search functionality will allow customers to find products or services they are already interested in.
On the other hand, people also love to surf Pinterest and you don’t even have to be a member to simply browse. This allows customers unintentionally stumble upon your product. Can anyone say goldmine?
The photo has a link that redirects your customer back to your site where they can purchase the product.
It a social network (duh), allowing you to engage with your customers.
There is so much room for exploration and creative marketing campaigns!
Graphic Designers (Heck, even ad agencies), this one is for you. You can showcase your portfolio on Pinterest, provide a description on the piece, the concept behind it and any other information you might want to provide. The same goes for artists and photographers.
Restaurants and bakeries, you can upload photos of your dishes. NPO’s you can share your orgainization’s story through quotes and pictures to promote your cause.
LinchPinSEO’s infographic shares some more neat ideas on Pinterest marketing so check it out.
As a marketing student, I created a pin board that focuses on advertising and is my substitute to a blog. I have already pinned some of my favourtie advertisement work. My comment below the image allows me to explain why I enjoy (or don’t enjoy) a certain advisement or marketing campaign and credit the specific agency. The comment isn’t as long as a blog post of course, but doesn’t have a word limit either. I can still write a short blurb expressing my opinion. People can comment on my pins just like they comment on a blog and can also “repin”, similar to Twitters retweet function. It is a work in process, but feel free to check out my Pin Board!
All in all, I believe that this new social media platform has huge potential and room for creative, innovative, engaging and focused marketing strategies.
Tags: blog, business, merketing, pin board, pinterest, social network, stefanie grieser, trends