The image-based social media site allows retailers to build their online brand presence.
What is it?
Pinterest is a new image-based social media site that allows users to organise and share images by ‘pinning’ – or posting – them to virtual themed boards. Other users can then ‘re-pin’ images they find to their own boards, by searching for key terms or by ‘following’ other users and boards. This spreads the image throughout the Pinterest community.
Why are we talking about it now?
Launched in the US in March 2010, Pinterest has experienced a huge increase in users and traffic from the UK in the past few months. Several retailers have started to use the platform in recent weeks, which is now driving more referral traffic to retailer’s sites than Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace combined, according to PRDaily.com.
The site currently has 10.4 million registered users worldwide, and is growing fast.
How can retailers use it?
Pinterest is a design-led site, relying heavily on images. This makes it a great way for retailers to share original content from their own sites.
There are two ways for retailers to take advantage of the popularity of Pinterest. They can start by creating an account and a selection of themed boards that they can use to share their own content.
Retailers can encourage customers to share content on their own platform. To do this, a retailer can add a ‘Pin It’ button to their own websites to make sharing easier for users and a ‘follow’ button to enable customers to view the retailer’s Pinterest board.
What are the benefits of using Pinterest?
Using the social networking site is a good way to build brand presence online, introduce the retailer’s product to a new audience and ultimately increase sales. Images are linked to the retailer’s website, so users can click through to the transactional site. Retailers can also monitor the kinds of images being shared and searched for by users in order to keep up with trends.
Which retailers are using Pinterest?
Several retailers have begun using the platform to share and promote content in the UK.
Online fashion giant Asos has created several boards to highlight current trends and collections.
The boards are curated by Asos staff and are a mixture of Asos products and photographs from respected fashion bloggers.
Department store Liberty has created boards with themes such as Liberty prints and archive store photographs. In the US, Gap and Barneys also use Pintertest.
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