The simple concept of an online corkboard has completely changed the way people do business. Pinterest users have the power to influence industry trends and promote sales, so retailers must use Pinterest to their advantages instead of ignoring it in favor of other forms of social media. If your marketing strategy does not include Pinterest, you are missing out on a great way to get your products in front of your target market.
The Pinterest social media network is a simple concept. Users pin their favorite things to virtual corkboards, allowing them to organize the pins by category. Some people take pictures of their favorite meals or pin photos of their favorite clothing. Retail companies are taking advantage of this concept by encouraging people to pin their products and making it easy to display the price and availability of each product. Kim Shandrow spoke to Heather Peterson, the founder of an online retailer that sells rare and vintage knit fabrics. Peterson recommends creating Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook accounts for your store so that you can drive traffic to your website.
One of the biggest reasons retailers like using Pinterest is that the site has 25 million members of varying ages and income levels. This makes it easier to post content that appeals to your target market, whether it is teens who are interested in fashion or baby boomers who need medical equipment. The popularity of Pinterest has prompted retailers to add Pinterest sharing buttons to their websites and create their own accounts on the network. One of the drawbacks of using this site for marketing is that many retail marketing professionals don't know how to use Pinterest effectively.
If you think Pinterest is a waste of time, think again. Facebook shoppers spend only $95 per shopping session, but Pinterest users spend almost $170 per shopping session. This far exceeds the amount of money Twitter users spend during each shopping session, which is only $70. Eager to take advantage of all that Pinterest has to offer, Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Urban Outfitters, and other major retailers have created accounts. The cost of acquiring new users is also much lower for Pinterest than it is for Facebook, making this marketing technique very attractive for retailers. It costs $0.50 to $2.50 to acquire a new Facebook user, but only costs $0.01 to $0.50 to acquire a new Pinterest user.
Retailers must always be on the lookout for cost-effective ways to get their products in front of customers. Pinterest gives them a cost-effective way to do so, making it one of the best marketing tools currently in use. If you do not use Pinterest to promote your products, consider creating an account, so it's easy for current and potential customers to share your content.
(Photo courtesy of pakorn / freedigitalphotos.net)
Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.
Register or sign in today!