Unlock the power of Pinterest: Connecting with your target consumer

by charlene_voisin | May 1, 2015 9:00 am

By Jeffrey Ross and Patti Moloney

[1]
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.”

Getting started

[2]

With this social media platform holding a plethora of new opportunities for the jewellery industry, the only remaining question should be, “How do we sign up?” Setting up a business account is free and can be easily done from the Pinterest website. Next, verify your company’s website with Pinterest, so it can be linked to the pins you create. This will generate traffic to your site and is the biggest benefit of a business account. Once your account is set up, you will want to invite people to follow you. Consider e-mailing your customers to let them know you’ve joined Pinterest and ask them to follow you.

The next step is to create virtual bulletin boards on which to pin photographs. It’s crucial you give the boards generic names—think of topics people are likely to search for. For instance, a ‘Behind the Scenes’ board could show repairs in action, team members hard at work, or other store shots. A ‘Before and After’ board can display the beautiful work you’ve done with custom or remodelled jewellery. A ‘How-To’ board can display infographics on how to change a watch battery or safely clean jewellery. Holiday boards and bridal are also popular on Pinterest.

A group board is another option allowing you to invite other users to pin to your board. The benefit to a group board—also known as a community board—is you can dramatically increase your followers and the number of re-pins. It’s also content you don’t have to spend time creating, while still increasing engagement with your company and brand. To create this type of board, simply enter the e-mail addresses of your customers in the ‘Who Can Pin Field’ when setting it up and Pinterest will send a message inviting them to participate.

Once you have your boards set up, the fun really begins. Creating pins can be an exciting process, but there are some important details to keep in mind. First, ensure each pin includes your store’s website URL in the description. This is an effective way to generate traffic to your website and will allow users to easily find products they’re interested in purchasing. The page that people land on is up to you. It could be your homepage, an e-mail sign-up page, or perhaps your store’s online catalogue. It’s also crucial to include ‘Pin It’ buttons on your website to allow people to easily pin your products to their Pinterest boards.

Be sure the pins you create include your logo, as well as keywords that resonate with your business’s image. Effective keywords can ensure your pin is viewed by people searching for similar products. Popular content for pins include behind-the-scenes photos, checklists for the season’s must-have items, look books, infographics, and videos. To create pins like infographics, a pictorial how-to, and even logos, consider using Canva or PicMonkey. Both websites offer free registration and great templates for generating new content. Photoshop is another handy tool for adding your store’s logo or pricing to images. When you start pinning images, you will also have the option to send the pin to Twitter. Be sure to do this for maximum exposure.

Casting a wider net

[3]

As business owners, our instinct is often to take photographs of all our products and pin them to our boards. While it’s true you should pin popular and unique items you carry, you must also offer something more. Consider creating boards with home décor or bridal themes and pin other people’s items that share something in common with your brand. This allows users who aren’t necessarily searching for jewellery to be introduced to you and will help you cast your net out farther. Just be sure any boards or pins you create unrelated to jewellery are still consistent with your brand or store identity, as well as the message you’re trying to convey.

In a Search Engine Journal article by Eric Sornoso entitled, “Pinterest Goes Native with Advertising for Brands and Businesses,” the writer notes engaging with those you are following, as well as with people following you, is a vital component of Pinterest. “This means ‘liking’ items pinned by others, leaving positive comments, answering every question, greeting new followers, providing helpful commentary, etc. The idea is to be friendly and creative when promoting your brand. Take a look at what your competitors are doing on Pinterest and emulate the positive aspects of their marketing strategy,” Sornoso writes.

Beyond the standard pins described previously is a more in-depth type known as ‘Rich Pins,’ which hold extra information on the pin itself. There are five types of rich pins, including movie, recipe, article, place, and product. This last category is highly beneficial for jewellers, as it can include real-time pricing, availability, and where items can be purchased. With this type of rich pin, pinners are notified when products drop in price, thus allowing them to take advantage of special sales in a convenient and immediate manner. To create a rich pin, you must submit your website to Pinterest for verification and approval. The process of setting up rich pins is rather technical and requires your website contain meta tags, making it an ideal job for your webmaster or site developer. Despite the technical aspect of product pins, the benefits of real-time information can translate into increased sales and a larger client base.

Another useful tool offered to Pinterest’s business users is analytics. This tool allows you to learn more about your customers and what they really want. You will discover what pins and boards from your profile are most popular, what other users like to save from your website, who your Pinterest audience is, including gender, location, and other interests, what devices people use when they’re pinning or re-pinning your images, and how the ‘Pin It’ button on your website leads to referral traffic from Pinterest.

‘Promoted pinning’

It’s an exciting time for Pinterest, and with the company newly offering direct advertising, the time to raise your presence on the social media platform is now. Unlike Facebook and Twitter where advertising is jarring and usually unwanted by its users, Pinterest is the ideal platform for native advertising: a method of online advertising that corresponds to the form and function of the platform on which it’s being used. Pinterest is designed to share images of items you like, making native advertising a seamless addition to the site. The company recently completed its pilot testing of direct advertising with targeted influencers, including The Gap and Lululemon. In January, Pinterest opened ‘promoted pinning’ to the public, positioning itself as a very powerful purchasing platform.

Jeffrey Ross and Patti Moloney are a husband-and-wife duo that has used innovative thinking and technology to develop and expand their line of Dimples charms across Canada. They are also owners of Jeffrey Ross Jewellery, a custom jewellery design studio in Uxbridge, Ont.

Source URL: https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/features/unlock-the-power-of-pinterest-connecting-with-your-target-consumer/

---