Pinning and Winning: Best Brands Utilizing Pinterest

written by MO.com Subject Matter Resource Valerie Jennings

Pinterest is stealing the social media show. The social network is reportedly referring more Web traffic to blogs than major social networks such as Twitter, and was recently, named the third largest social network.

Pinning and winning is becoming one of the hottest brand strategies on the social media market. Here are my favorite brands and how Pinterest is impacting them now —

Who’s Winning On Pinterest

1.) Kate Spade

2.) Perfect Palette

3.) Whole Foods

4.) Wall Street Journal

5.) Mashable

6.) Etsy

7.) Style Me Pretty

8.) The Beauty Department

9.) Travel Channel

10.) Nordstroms

How Consumers Are Transitioning From Pinning To Purchases

According to Media Post, here is how consumers are transitioning from pinning to purchasing.

• Consumers are 21 percent more likely to purchase a product after seeing it on the Pinterest site.

• Some 37 percent of Pinterest account holders login a few times during the week, most users have created between two and five boards; 28 percent said they login a small amount of times a month; 15 percent login in once a day; 10 percent, a few times a year; and another 10 percent, many times a day.

• The most purchased products that go from pins to purchases seem to be food and cooking products, followed by fashion and clothing.

Pin It To Win IT: How To Utilize Pinterest For Social Contests

According to HotHitMedia , these tips can help companies utilize Pinterest for social contests.

• Have fun with Pinterest and try creating a type of photo contest. For example, if a company sells some type of DIY projects, invite your customers to post a completed picture of their projects for entry into a contest. Be sure to display the photos in a unique photo board.

• Many companies are creating “Pin it to Win It” sweepstakes giveaways. “Pin it to Win It,” sweepstakes often include getting people to re-pin an image with a certain description. Often, the winner will receive the prize he or she re-pined.

• Companies are asking their customers to create a board of their favorite products and enter those personal boards for consideration into contests.

• Create some deal saving coupons that can be re-pinned and shared on Pinterest. You can even create your own coupon. Companies are often adding a “Pin-It” button to their coupon page.

While Pinterest may be the hottest social network to check out, don’t forget that Facebook will always be an organic player when it comes to cultivating a financial hotbed for prospecting. It is important to have a robust social strategy that targets the best social channels for your brand, audience, prospecting, SEO and SMO.

JSMM is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing, mobile, Web videos and website design and development strategies. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate.