Supercharge Your Pinterest Marketing ROI

Content is king in the social media marketing jungle, especially when it comes to words and pictures. Pinterest is the fastest rising star in the images category.

Pinterest the image based social network which continues to grow, having attained an increase of 2000% in 2012, and 28 million US visitors as of December 2012 by comScore.

Pinterest has achieved the kind of sticky factor, addictive nature, and hockey stick growth curve which makes it worth the dizzying $1.5 – $2.5 billion valuation (so far it has raised $138m).

The real strength of Pinterest, as far as brands and social media professionals are concerned, is in the demographics. Forbes reports Pinterest is very popular with “college-educated females between the ages of 25 of 44.”

Known as a sweet spot for brands, due to their purchasing power, and prolific use of e-commerce and social networks.

TechCrunch has already christened it Amazon, but social.”

Great, But How Do I Use Pinterest Information?

Because of the absence of a public API, Pinterest is still not the easiest social network to engage with as a business or agency.

The Pinterest for Business portal was launched in the last quarter of 2012, which is a sign an API is coming, and it has made things simpler.

However, being able to market a brand on this platform is only half the equation, which is why the API issue is important to be aware of.

Without this kind of access data is hard to come by, and if something can’t be measured, how do you gauge the ROI of a marketing campaign?

That is where startups like Socialrithmic come into the picture. Socialrithmic launched an analytics and publishing tool, called Pinster, (currently available in free beta).

This product allows you to gain a valuable understanding of your audience, including how and when best to engage with them.

What Does Your Audience Want?

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann, credits marketing, not algorithms, as the reason behind the websites success.

It all comes down to inspiring images, authenticity, and Pinterest being a place where people indulge their passions.

There are three key ingredients when it comes to engaging on this very active social network – authenticity, humor, and passion.

The most successful brands skillfully blend all three within images. These images work best when they are either real, real and funny, or have a definite ‘wow’ factor.

Running contests is another way to leverage the massive potential of Pinterest, and it has already worked well for brands like GE, HP and the University of South Florida.

Given the fact that Wired reports that “a Pinterest user is 72 percent more likely to have found an item to buy on the site than a Facebook user,” jumping on the Pinterest band wagon could be key to maximizing your social media ROI this year.

What About You?
How do you supercharge your Pinterest marketing ROI? I’d love to read your ideas in the comments below.

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About the Author
Dominic Tarn is EMEA Head of Marketing for Pinster, a Socialrithmic product. Supercharge your Pinterest efforts. Follow us on Twitter @pinsterme