What is it?
Pinterest is a visual-only social network. Users pin and repin images from the web and organise them into boards. It was launched in March 2010.
A pin is an image linking back to the website it was pinned from. There are three ways for users to get pins:- They can pin any image on a website by inserting the link to that website on Pinterest, or by using a browser plugin. These pins link back to the website.
- They can browse Pinterest for images that were already added to the website by other users, and repin (reblog) them. These pins still link back to the original website.
- They can upload images from their own devices. These pins don't link.
Something important to note: the link on a pin can be edited. Thus, a pin can lead to any website, not necessarily the one it was originally repinned from.
A pin comes with a short caption (which can be changed every time it is repinned) and can be commented by different users. It can also be liked (without being pinned). Boards can be shared, having multiple users pin to the same board.
Recently, Pinterest introduced "rich pins," meant for businesses and bloggers. A rich pin includes extra information. Recipe pins, for instance, can now feature a list of ingredients, ordered by type. Fashion items can feature price and the brand name.
How is it used?
Mostly, Pinterest is used as a digital scrapbook or collection of moodboards.
The biggest part of users do not actually use the links attached to the images. They use it for the sole purpose of collecting images and organising them into categories. A smaller percentage use it as a bookmarking site, pinning articles and blog posts to read later.
As the audience is mostly female, popular trends and topics are fashion, cooking, weddings and do-it-yourself projects. Younger users (20 to 30 year-olds that live a fast-paced urban life) pin clothing items and accessories, make-up tutorials, healthy and easy food recipes, places they would like to visit, interior design ideas, quotes, memes, and inspirational photos. The older female user bracket (30 and above that have a more relaxed lifestyle, often sit-at-home moms) pin wedding ideas, child-related items (rooms, toys, DIY's), knitting tutorials, garden ideas, baking and all sorts of recipes.
Pinterest is also used by designers in a more practical manner, where they collect references, resources and inspiration to use in future work. Graphic, Web and UI/UX designers pin logos, icons, web & app designs, typography, infographics, magazines, posters, illustrations, etc.
Businesses use Pinterest for marketing and promotional purposes as a rapidly growing trend, especially in the fashion, food and travel industries.
Fashion brands pin their products or moodboards with their products, and these images spread quickly and often go viral. The benefit is the link or the caption that leads back to the purchase page for the item. These brands also pin visual tutorials for styling, make-up and healthy eating/living as content marketing, as well as quotes and general inspiration images that relate to the brand's emotional values.
Companies in the travel and hospitality industry pin photographs of different travel locations, hotels, restaurants, etc. As "wanderlust" is a highly trending topic on Pinterest, these images also get a lot of traffic easily, and can link back to the company's website, where the trip or services can be purchased.
Food does great on Pinterest, similar to Instagram. Companies in the food industry pin images of their own products, recipes, or making-of photos.
Audience
The majority of Pinterest's audience is female (over 70%). Moreover, roughly 75% of its traffic comes from mobile devices. The largest part of its audience resides in the United States: 20% of all US internet users have a Pinterest account, compared to only 8% of European users (according to Digital Marketing Ramblings).
The websites seems to attract older audience, as about two-thirds of its users are over 35 years old (according to Marketing Charts).
There are over 70 000 000 accounts on Pinterest, of which about 500 000 are business accounts
Marketing
Because of its target group, Pinterest is a great marketing tool for:
- fashion / cosmetics brands
- travel & hospitality industry
- food industry
- individual bloggers
- artists and designers
SEO
With links attached to every pin, and billions of pins circulating the website, Pinterest would appear to be an SEO goldmine. However, it is not so easy, as all the links are nofollow (according to Moz).
Nevertheless, there are still endless SEO opportunities. A pin link does not contribute to ranking, but a thousand clickthroughs do. Growing a following on Pinterest is faster and easier than on other social networks, and can be extremely beneficial.
Linking all your pins to your blog can drive immense traffic, if your following is big enough.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the best technique to use with Pinterest. Pinning lots of quality images daily, posting on group boards, and following other users grow a strong following quickly. Linking all these pins back to your website or blog is what works wonders. Good pins go viral in a matter of minutes.
Visual tutorials are a great example of Pinterest Content Marketing. As already mentioned, cooking, make-up and styling tutorials are sure to bring in a lot of traffic. Do-it-yourself projects as well are a great idea: these can include interior design and gardening, knitting, home-made cosmetics, art projects.
For formal, serious brands, infographics are a good idea for Content Marketing on Pinterest. Brands that have a relaxed, personal tone-of-voice can also use quotes and memes.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate links are special links to products in online vendors such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, etc. If a user comes to the product page through an affiliate link and makes a purchase, the affiliate user gets a commission.
Placing affiliate links inside the pins would be quite an easy money-making technique; however, Pinterest does not allow for that, as the website would get spammed with product images.
Black-hat marketers have found ways to overcome this restriction, but such techniques are advised against, as they may cause the account to be banned.
Conversion Rates
Pinterest users are known to "have their wallets open" i.e. be much more likely to purchase than other social media users. Thus, they bring in a higher conversion rate.