By Jeffrey Ross and Patti Moloney
Pinterest has been grabbing headlines recently, its popularity soaring to new heights. Referred to as the social media service of the future, the site has 70 million users worldwide and that number is growing. According to a Forbes article by Jeff Bercovici entitled, “Inside Pinterest: The Coming Ad Colossus that Could Dwarf Twitter and Facebook,” the online tool holds huge potential for business-to-consumer marketing that could trump even Facebook. Bercovici notes, “If Facebook is selling the past and Twitter the present, Pinterest is offering the future.”
Purchasing power
Not yet five years old, Pinterest is a social media platform made up of virtual bulletin and vision boards that users create themselves. They simply ‘pin’ their favourite images to the boards, making a virtual wish list. Users can re-pin other users’ photos and each pin is linked to a website, which is where the real purchasing power lies. “The future is where marketers want to live,” writes Bercovici. “When a user pins an image of a wedding dress or a coffee table to one of her boards, she’s sending up a signal flare to the merchandiser who might want to sell her that wedding dress or coffee table.”
For jewellers, Pinterest’s visual platform is the ideal place to showcase your highly visual designs. With the site still in its infancy, the time to gain a presence and build followers is now, before it grows even larger. Another reason why jewellers should take notice? The site’s most active users are exactly who you’re trying to reach: women. Bercovici notes 80 per cent of Pinterest users are women and the site’s U.S. user base is projected to reach 40 million this year alone. In addition, the site has doubled its number of active male users this year, broadening its reach even more.
Another bonus is the wealth of its users. E-commerce consultant RichRelevance found in a 2013 study tracking nearly 700 million shopping sessions that Pinterest shoppers spend on average nearly $170 per session, compared to $95 per session by Facebook shoppers and $70 per session by those on Twitter. In a Harvard Business Review article by Alexandra Samuel entitled, “Data-driven Pinterest Tactics that Drive Sales,” the author notes “social media sends more customers into stores than the Internet pulls out: one in five Pinterest users has bought something in a store after pinning or liking it on Pinterest and one in three Pinterest users under 35 has done so.”
