Have you considered using Pinterest as part of your social media marketing outreach? The platform gets somewhat less focus than the bigger players, but Pinterest is definitely worth consideration, particularly for B2C brands selling any type of visually appealing products (you can check out the most Pinned products of 2015 to get some idea of what products are resonating on the platform and how they're presented).
But where Pinterest performs particularly well is in buying intent, a fact that the platform is looking to highlight in a new blog post promoting the benefits of the platform for business.
From the post:
"Pinterest captures shoppers in many mindsets, which is why we've seen some impressive shopping stats, according to Millward Brown: 93% of Pinners have used Pinterest to plan for or make purchases and 52% have seen something on Pinterest and made a purchase online."
Those are impressive figures, and considering that Pinterest now has more than 100 million monthly active users, the numbers are worth taking note of.
The platform's seen a range of updates in the last 12 months, all focused on making it a more appealing destination for eCommerce and product discovery. First, there was the addition of Buyable Pins which makes it easier for those searching on the platform to connect with businesses and order their desired items quickly and easily.
Buyable Pins rolled out in June and already there are more than 60 million items available for direct purchase on the site, and Pinterest is working to expand the option to support more e-commerce platforms. Pinterest also released a new searchable pins option which enables users to highlight specific items within a Pin image and search for them across the 50 billion Pins on the Pinterest network. The system uses image recognition to find likely matches, helping users locate the exact products they're looking to buy.
These are all intelligent, important additions for the platform, and given the data on how Pinterest users actually use Pins to inform their purchase decisions, there's definitely a strong case for any consumer facing brand to consider building a presence.
Pinterest has also made note of how Pinners utilize the platform within their off-platform purchase journey, saying that:
"Our insights team found that Pinterest inspires people to buy something similar to something they've seen on the platform. This is especially true in categories like parenting, health and hair and beauty, where Pinners are more likely to buy an exact product they've seen on Pinterest."
Make note of this - if you're in one of these three categories, people are looking on Pinterest for ideas, and you should definitely be considering how you might be able to tap into that market.
It's worth also noting that 80% of Pinterest's traffic now comes via mobile device, something the platform is also keen to highlight in their numbers:
"Ahalogy found that 45% of active mobile Pinners use Pinterest to look for inspiration while shopping, especially in topics like clothing, food, and arts and crafts. People also turn to Pins they've already saved - Millward Brown found that 64% of Pinners look at items they've Pinned while they're at a brick and mortar store."
Again, while it doesn't get the focus of the bigger platforms, Pinterest's numbers are solid, particularly when it comes to purchase intent and how Pinners use the platform in their buying journey.
While it may not be for everyone, and working out the optimum Pinterest strategy can take some time, it's worthy of consideration, particularly for consumer facing brands. And given their ongoing development in on-platform shopping and discovery options, Pinterest is likely to become more important over time.
Maybe 2016's the year for you to wade in and investigate how you might be able to use Pins to best advantage.