Pinterest was launched in March of 2010, but did not immediately find success. Many people did not understand the value behind the concept of saving (or, “pinning”) websites to collections called boards. The site finally become popular in 2011, at which point an investor said that Pinterest was an “overnight success four years in the making” (Carlson, 2012).
The social media platform Pinterest describes itself as “the world’s catalog of ideas” (Pinterest for Business). The company’s mission goes beyond the digital world; it says that it seeks to “help people discover the things they love, and inspire them to go do those things in their daily lives” (Pinterest for Business). This platform, due to its applicability to everyday life, can be a huge asset to businesses, who hope to use social media strategy to influence daily purchasing decisions.
Many companies have found success by using Pinterest for marketing purposes. The average order value of sales from Pinterest is $123.50, which is higher than any other social media platform (How Pinterest Drives Online Commerce). Research also shows that 93% of all “Pinners,” or users, use Pinterest to plan future purchases (The Definitive Guide to Pinterest for e-Commerce, 2015). Some of the top brands on Pinterest are in the retail industry. L.L. Bean has over 5 million followers, Nordstrom has over 4.5 million, and Lowe’s is above 3.4 million.
Pinterest comes with a variety of features that people can use to participate in eCommerce. For instance, Pinterest has a feature called buyable pins, which has been compared to a virtual shopping cart. This allows a user to add items to her cart, which is saved across devices. Then, the user can check out on any device, without leaving the Pinterest app or web page (Stambor, Z.). This simplifies the online shopping experience for the customer, which is better for brands. Organizations can add the “Pin it” button to their product pages, which allows users to easily save them to their Pinterest pages for future purchasing. This is a useful feature, which also increases convenience for the customer.
Businesses can also use Promoted Pins to increase their reach. They are a form of advertising; businesses can pay to promote their pins, which means that Pinterest will broadcast it to specific demographics of users. If done successfully, this can help increase engagement and drive e-Commerce sales (What Are Promoted Pins?). Another feature that businesses can use to boost engagement is group boards. This feature allows users to create boards that can be edited by other users that have been invited to collaborate. Organizations can invite their customers to add to their Pinterest boards, which creates brand community and a sense of ownership of the company. This also helps to continually curate content for the company, with almost no extra work on the part of the company’s marketing team (Bullas, J., 2013).
Sources
Bullas, J. (2013, July 24). How To Use Pinterest's Group Boards To Get More Exposure For Your Business. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/03/04/how-to-use-pinterests-group-boards-to-get-more-exposure-for-your-business/
Carlson, N. (2012, May 01). Inside Pinterest: An Overnight Success Four Years In The Making.
The Definitive Guide To Pinterest For E-Commerce. (2015, February 13). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from http://marketingland.com/definitive-guide-pinterest-e-commerce-115042
How Pinterest Drives Online Commerce. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.shopify.com/infographics/pinterest
L.L.Bean Pinterest Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/llbean/?eq=l l bean&etslf=7990
Lowe’s Pinterest Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/lowes/?eq=lowes&etslf=2881
Nordstrom Pinterest Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/nordstrom/?eq=nords&etslf=2953
Pinterest for Businesses. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://about.pinterest.com/en/press/press
Stambor, Z. (n.d.). Pinterest makes a major e-commerce push. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/06/28/pinterest-makes-major-e-commerce-push
What are Promoted Pins? (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/what-are-promoted-pins
